Ban liang coin
Qin ・ bronze ・ 3rd century BC ・ Qin
Round outside, square within. Qin brought the money of all under heaven to this one shape. The two characters on the face, 'ban liang' — half a liang — are not ornament but the weight itself: this coin bears its own weight as its name. For the next two thousand years, the copper coin of China kept the round shape with the square hole.