Source: Beijing Evening News With the progress of the environmental improvement project of Yonghegong Street, "Eight Scenes of Yonghe" will be presented to the public one after another, namely, a glimpse of the city wall, the Zen rhyme of Confucianism and Taoism, the graceful and graceful time, the elegant collection of Huaicheng, the ingenuity of Baoquan, the whispering of green curtains, the courtyard assistance and the sea eye collection. Among them, the "Baoquan Ingenuity" scene at the east exit of Fang Jia Hutong is named after its proximity to the "Baoquan Bureau" of the Ancient Mint and the former site of China Machine Tool Plant. Author: Hu Liping Baoquan Bureau, the largest coin-minting institution in Qing Dynasty, has four coin-minting factories, and its north factory is located in Beixinqiao, south of Yonghe Palace. By tracing back to the historical origin of this large mint, we can get a glimpse of the casting system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and understand the ancient people's monetary concept ... Baoyuan Bureau and Baoquan Bureau: the most important mint institution in the Qing Dynasty, Baoquan Bureau, with a long history. As early as the 21st year of Yuan Dynasty (136 1 year), Zhu Yuanzhang set up "Tianfu" in Tianfu (now Nanjing). In the first year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1368), the imperial court set up Baoquan Bureau in each province, and together with Baoyuan Bureau, made money for Hongwu Bao Tong. After Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing, he set up the Baoyuan Bureau in Beijing, which was subordinate to the Ministry of Industry. In the second year of Apocalypse (1622), Baoquan Bureau was established in Beijing, which was a mint under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. After the Qing court entered Beijing, following the Ming system, Baoyuan Bureau and Baoquan Bureau were set up in the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs respectively, and casting bureaus were set up in various provinces. In the sixty-first year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (1722), the imperial court stipulated that only one bureau was set up in each province, and the name of each provincial bureau was unified with the word "Bao". Since then, the mints established in various provinces have frequently increased or decreased. Until the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, only Baoyuan Bureau and Baoquan Bureau in Beijing were left, and the mint bureaus in other provinces stopped production one after another. In the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), Baoyuan Bureau was abolished. In the second year of Xuantong (19 10), Baoquan Bureau was also cancelled. According to the Financial History of Beijing, in the fourth year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty (1726), Baoquan Bureau was reorganized and four factories were set up to coin coins, all of which were located in the Dongcheng boundary. Zuodong Factory is located in four hutongs of Dongsi Pailou, with twelve stoves; South Block Factory is located in Liangqian Hutong, Dongsi Pailou, with 12 furnaces; Xizuo Factory is located behind Qianfo Temple in Beiluoguxiang, with fourteen furnaces. Beizuo Factory is located in three hutongs of Beixinqiao, with twelve stoves. There are fifty main furnaces. Southeast West No.3 Factory and North No.3 Furnace No.1 Factory. If there is excess copper and lead, add pedestal and drum casting. "Its north factory is in Beixinqiao Third Hutong on the east side of Yonghe Palace Street today. Beixinqiao No.3 is located in the south of Yonghe Palace, which runs east-west. It belongs to the existing house of Beiju in Ming Dynasty, and is called Wang Daren Hutong. The Qing dynasty belonged to the yellow flag, which was called along the Qianlong period. During Xuan Tong's period, the eastern section was called Zhao Gongfu and the western section was called Wang Daren Hutong. During the Republic of China, it was still called Wang Daren Hutong. 1965 During the rectification of geographical names, it was renamed as Beixinqiao Santiao. During Yongzheng period, Baoquan Bureau North Factory was located in Wang Daren Hutong. Because the factory has disappeared for more than a hundred years, it is difficult to determine its location. According to legend, Baoquan Bureau is located in the middle of the hutong, with three gates facing south, and a hard-mountain tile house with a gold plaque on a black background hanging in the middle, which reads "Baoquan Bureau". Inside the door is a shadow wall. There are three entrances and dozens of houses in the yard. Thirdly, there are nine main rooms and five east-west rooms in the courtyard, which is the office space of Baoquan Bureau. The mint workshop is located in the East-West Annex of the Second Hospital. At first, 12 casting furnaces were set up, and later they were added. According to the Qing Hui Dian, Baoquan Bureau set up a right assistant minister of Manchu and Han Dynasty to cast money, and set up an official supervisor of Manchu and Han Dynasty to cast money. The messengers and post cards sent by the two municipal councils were responsible for accepting copper and lead, enforcing the money law and supervising the services of burners and craftsmen. The ambassador's duty is to restrain craftsmen, guard materials and take charge of storage; Pen-paste style is a middle-level and low-level official in the bureau, who is responsible for the translation and sending and receiving of Manchu-Chinese documents; The next level is to command the money-casting craftsmen to make casting furnaces. Baoquan Bureau, as the most important money bureau in Qing Dynasty, is a central mint bureau with huge organization and complicated casting technology. At that time, there were eight lines in the factory, such as watching fire, turning sand, brushing ash, miscellaneous work, filing edge, rolling edge, grinding money and washing eyes, and the management of craftsmen was very strict. On the one hand, it restricted their personal freedom, and at the same time, it took severe punishment measures. During the period of Xuan Tong, almost all provinces in China stopped casting money. Only Baoquan Bureau cast a small flat coin of "Xuan Tong Bao Tong" with a weight of one dollar, and the quantity was very small. After the Revolution of 1911, with the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, Baoquan Bureau was abandoned. Today, of the four factories of that year, only the East Workshop located in Dongsi Hutong is left, and it is also the only former site of the Qing Dynasty Mint in Beijing. The other three factories are gone, and so is the North Block Factory located in Santiao, Beixinqiao. Why ancient coins use the word "spring" instead of the word "spring" of Baoquan Bureau is quite meaningful. In spring, ancient sounds are connected with "money". Because money circulates like spring water, some people call "money" spring water. According to the history of ancient currency development in China, money was also called' spring' at the earliest. " "Official Map of Emperor Li Zhou" says: Jia Gongyan is sparse: "Spring and money have different names today. "History of Eating Goods in Han Dynasty" says: "Therefore, goods are more expensive than gold, beneficial to knives and flowing in springs." As early as the Warring States period, money has been called "spring". After the first emperor built the Qin Dynasty, he unified the monetary system and stipulated that "half a square hole round money" was the unified currency of the empire. Because the inside of Qin Banliang's excircle means "flowing around in all directions", "spring" refers to the square hole money in the excircle. In the Western Han Dynasty, money was often regarded as currency. In the fifth year of Yuanshou (BC 1 18), Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, ordered the abolition of the coinage right of counties and counties in the early Han Dynasty, and changed it to the central unified coinage, setting up the "three officials of Shanglin", that is, Guan Zhong (in charge of casting money), Bronze Jian (in charge of raw materials) and Lian Loss (in charge of modeling) to form a central coinage institution, which was responsible for casting. In the first year (AD 8), Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, seized Liu's political power, changed the name of the country to "Xin", changed the dynasty, and issued money indiscriminately. At the same time, because the word "Jin" beside the words "Qian" and "Zhu" has the same structure as the traditional word "Liu", which violates its taboo, it was formally replaced by "Chun" to cast "Pinchun" and "Buchun". Since then, the practice of "Chun" replacing "Qian" has been widely used and passed down, such as Sun in the Three Kingdoms period. The "treasure" of Baoquan Bureau means "treasure" and is also the floorboard of "money". "Money" has been called "Bao Tong" since the Tang Dynasty. According to China's coin culture, "Bao Tong" means a popular treasure. Since the Tang Dynasty, money has been changed from "heavy" to "treasure". In the fourth year of Tang Wude (62 1), he cast "Kaiyuan Bao Tong", and the inscription on the coin surface was written by calligrapher Ou Yangxun. "Kaiyuan" means to start a new era. Since then, the name "Bao Tong" has been used by generations, and the word "Bao Tong" is often given the title of year, dynasty or country, and is endowed with the meaning of peace, prosperity, prosperity, Taichang, Yongchang, Daan and Duanping. The Qing Dynasty followed the old system of past dynasties and still regarded "Bao Tong" as a folk treasure. Kangxi Dictionary records that whenever Qian Wen calls Bao Tong, there are common currencies such as Kangxi Bao Tong, Qianlong Bao Tong, Jiaqing Bao Tong and Xianfeng Bao Tong. Baoquan Bureau once cast "commemorative coins" for Cixi. "Commemorative coins" are the currency issued by the state to commemorate major events and outstanding people. Baoquan Bureau once cast commemorative coins for Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Qianlong and Empress Dowager Cixi, but the format of ancient commemorative coins is quite different from that of modern commemorative coins. In fact, there was no such name as "commemorative coin" in ancient times, which was called "palace money". This is a special kind of coin, which is used as decoration and reward in festivals and celebrations in the palace. If it is cast for the emperor's birthday, it is commonly known as "Shouqian". Copper and technology are better than those in circulation. It is said that in order to celebrate the 60th birthday of Emperor Kangxi, Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has carefully minted a batch of "longevity coins" (also known as "auspicious square hole coins for dragons and phoenixes") as birthday commemorations. The work is neat and exquisite, with deep facial expressions, solid wear and edge contours, and flat ground. The characters "Bao" and "Quan" in the upper and lower Baozhu regular script are recited, and the pattern is generous and beautiful. Emperor Kangxi praised it after reading it and presented this "celebration commemorative coin" to the princes and ministers. In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her 60th birthday, and the court will hold a grand birthday celebration ceremony for her. Therefore, it also informed the world that all yamen and princes should prepare birthday gifts for Lafayette. Officials in Beijing, large and small, are looking for rare treasures everywhere to please Lafayette. Officials of Baoquan Bureau of the State Council took great pains to cast longevity money. He asked Baoquan Bureau to handle this matter, and let ten old craftsmen with exquisite casting skills gather in Wang Daren Hutong North Factory near Yonghe Palace, bought a furnace of casting longevity money, and repeatedly told him that every working procedure should be strictly controlled, and there should be no carelessness or mistakes. Ask whoever had an accident in which process. YEATION, a craftsman, refined brass and carefully designed the style and characters of coins, and finally cast a unique longevity money. The words "Long live without borders" are written on the front, and the words "Dai Ya", the official gift of Cixi, are used on the back, which is simple and meaningful, highlighting that this coin was specially cast for the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Unexpectedly, the Japanese fleet provoked a war in the Yellow Sea, and the Beiyang Navy of the Qing court heard the news and rushed to the war, and the whole army was wiped out. The war has disrupted Cixi's birthday plans, and she has no face to squander any more. She wants to send a message to cancel the celebration of the Summer Palace, and all the tributes should be free. Only the longevity money cast by Baoquan Bureau entered the palace in advance and was presented to the Queen Mother, who loved her.