Golden melon is actually broken gold, after the skilled craftsmen to rework, into the shape of a melon, and a golden melon if according to the current price of gold to calculate, basically in the two hundred thousand or so. We know that the existence of such a thing as "gold melon" should be attributed to the current overwhelming Qing dynasty drama, the drama of the harem of the mother did not move with the gold melon reward underlings.

The emperor is not stingy in this broken gold, always a handful of bounty, so that eating soil girls are very envious. But in fact, the reward of gold melon seeds is not unique to the Qing Dynasty, it originated in the Song Dynasty, but has continued to the Qing Dynasty, and because we prefer to watch the Qing Dynasty drama, so it is mistakenly thought that it is the Qing Dynasty when it was invented. Golden Melon is actually the trimmings of gold, commonly known as broken gold. Because gold and silver were hard currency in ancient times, the purchasing power of even broken silver was amazing, not to mention broken gold.

Because of the constant changes in prices and the constant change of dynasties, the value of gold melons is different in each dynasty, the Ming Dynasty period exchange ratio of one to ten, while the Qing Dynasty is directly to one to twenty. If directly take broken into a variety of small pieces of small pieces of broken gold reward, it seems to look not very beautiful, so clever craftsmen will be these broken gold re-created into the shape of this melon, easy for the emperor to use to reward.

And the ministers who were rewarded by this kind of reward didn't actually take this kind of gold melon to go out and buy things or to exchange it for silver, because it was an imperial gift. Once it was discovered that gold in the shape of a melon was circulating on the market, the holder was to be questioned. So even if the emperor rewarded more gold melons, can only see can not spend.