Chinese archaeologists have recently discovered a very rare ancient Japanese coin that dates back to the ninth century in Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province.
The coin was among the many valuable historical relics which were unearthed last year from an archaeological site at Leifeng Tower in Hangzhou.
Archaeologists did not realize the importance of the coin until they recently arranged the over 3,300 ancient coins found among the relics.
This is the second coin of its kind to be found in China. The first is kept at the Chinese Military Museum in Beijing.
Measuring only 1.9 centimeters in diameter, the coin is believed to have been circulated in Japan during the ninth century.
"Since such coin had a very small circulation at the time, it is even seen as one of the rarest of ancient coins in Japan," said Zhang Changzhuo, the director of the editorial department at the magazine, Cultural Relics.
Researchers believed the coin was brought to China by Japanese monks, who were sent as envoys by the Japanese government during China's Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
The coin may have been left under Leifeng Tower for worship purposes, some say.
"The discovery of the coin indicates that there existed close ties between Japan and southeastern China at that time, especially in the field of Buddhism," Zhang said.
During the Tang Dynasty, China adopted a policy of extending co-operation with the neighboring states.
Contact between China and Japan was established in the early days of the Han Dynasty (BC 206-AD 220) and enhanced in the Sui (AD 518-618) and Tang dynasties.
During the Tang Dynasty, Japan sent envoys to China on 19 separate occasions. Students and monks swarmed into the empire to study. Many Chinese monks were also sent to Japan.
(China Daily October 24, 2002)
