Song Dynasty was historically divided into Northern and Southern Song. The former was the first part of the Dynasty. In 960 AD China was reunified under the rule of Chao K'uang-yin, a general of the previous ruling Tang Dynasty. After taking over the leadership in China, he renamed himself into Sung T'ai Tsu. As a leader he showed strong character and managed to keep the entire army strictly under his control but after his death, there was no successor who was able to maintain the army and the empire had its defenses weakened. The territory controlled by the Sung Dynasty was not as big as the lands that the Tang Dynasty had under its control.

It was decided that after making peace in 1004 with the Khitans, located in the north-east, and in 1044 with the Western Hsia, located in the north-west, the Song Dynasty should pay a certain amount of gold so it won't be assaulted. Some people were unhappy with the fact that they have to pay high taxes in order for their lands not to be attacked. There were conflicts between those who agreed to pay and those who would rather combat the invaders.

Finally in 1110 AD the emperor of the Song Dynasty was able to form an alliance with the Juchens of Manchuria and fight the Khitans off the lands of China. Five years later the goal was achieved. However, after getting the Khitans out of China, the Juchens managed to conquer the capital of Song, Kaifeng. The invaders made prisoners the emperor of the dynasty along with his son. Then came the second part of the Song dynasty, called Southern Song.

The second son of the Song emperor managed to escape to southern China and settle new Song Dynasty, the capital of which became Hangzhou. The ruler renamed himself into Kao Tsung. Due to the fact that the new dynasty was not very strong from the military point of view, it was theoretically not able to take over the northern territories of China from the invaders, the Juchen. However, they managed to register significant developments in the field of trade. After cutting off their usual route coming along the Silk Road, the Juchen involuntarily pushed traders to starting a new road, and namely the road the led to South-East Asia and India. The economy marked a stunning growth after the creation of paper money. The end of the Song dynasty came in 1279 AD when Mongols invaded from the north and took the life of the last emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Money During the Song Dynasty

The main feature of ancient Chinese coins issued during the Song Dynasty period is the characters written on coins by the emperors themselves. The first one to start this tradition was Emperor Tai Zong. The emperor had many talents, but his most favorable was calligraphy. It is worth mentioning that his writing was highly appreciated by later calligraphers. He was the one to write Chun Hua Yuan Bao characters which were bold and unrestrained. Coins written by Tai Zong, represented the peak of the monetary culture in the Song Dynasty. After him, a lot of emperors wrote for the Chinese coins.

The next emperor of the Song Dynasty was far from being successful. His name was Hui Zong and he was highly unqualified, having virtually no interest in politics, appointing sneaky ministers to control the country, while Hui Zong himself enjoyed his luxurious life forcing people to pay high taxes. Though he was not good in politics, he had talent in art, which led to a great development in sewing, painting, calligraphy, as well as ci poem. Hui Zong managed to develop his own font, called shou jin.

It is believed that Da Guan Tong Bao, are the four characters that reveal the entire talent of the emperor in calligraphy. Calligraphers consider writing on the coin as the most difficult task, being more complicated than the process of seal cutting as well as writing on plaques. Da Guan Tong Bao are very hard to configure. However, Emperor Hui Zong was able to reach harmony though his talent.

During this period the dui qian coin was struck. This coin for the first time was issued during the period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten States. The dui qian coin became very popular. If literally translated dui qian means "couple coins". Identical bronze purity, weight, dimensions, outline and other characteristics are featured in two coins. All of the features have the same characters but written in different fonts. Let's say one coin has its characters written in cursive font while another coin has the same characters written in regular script.

In the period between 1023 and 1180 there were 30 pairs of dui qian struck. The value of coins increased as Chinese emperors along with one of the most famous litterateurs Su Dong Po and the historian Sima Guang included their calligraphy on dui qian coins. These couple coins represent the great of Chinese for symmetry.

New service for money remittance was developed in the period of the Song Dynasty, and namely during the time of Northern Song Dynasty. Fei qian registered a fast development, being introduced by the Chinese government back in 971 AD. According to some information, in the period between 995 and 997, the level of remittance reached an enormous number of 1,780,000 guan (1 guan = 1000 cash).