Rashidin Khan Khoja. Kucha mint. AD1864. Dungan Revolt. 1862-77 One of the bloodiest revolts in China's late-Qing dynasty. An uprising of Muslim Huizenga and other Muslim ethnic groups centred around the western regions of Shaanxi, Qing Hai, Ningxia as well as Xinjiang provinces against the Manchu Qing Dynasty. An estimated 20 over million people were recorded to have been killed brought about by the Revolt as well as resulting famine. The rebellion was subsequently quelled by the armies led by the famous Qing General Zuo Zongtang and firmly secured China's hold over what is today's Xinjiang province. This coin was minted under the authority of one of the lesser known Muslim leaders of the Revolt Rashidin Khan Khoja. Although his role was not of an active rebel but rather of a spiritual one, his expedition was overshadowed by more powerful leaders such as yaqub beg. It employed a Chinese cash design but with distinctive Arabic texts as testament to their Islamic identity and independence.
Fun Trivia: Americans may not know who General Zuo Zongtang is but would definitely know about General Cho's chicken. FYI, General Zuo has nothing to do with the dish nor does it exist in China..
Yes, the coins from the rebellion are interesting pieces. In fact, I like all "red cash" from Xinjiang. Of course, its not the first Arabic script on a cash coin. The very first coin made in Sogdia after the Islamic conquests was a Sogdian cash coin with Kufic, (early Arabic) writing.
Nice one. I wish I had a pic of mine. Its a very interesting coin. However, so is your red cash. Xinjiang cash in the Ching period were called red cash due to the color of the copper they used to cast them. All are very scarce, especially compared to normal Ching cash, and are a very interesting subseries.
Thank you. The Kufic script coin were also known as Proto-Qarakhanid coins as these people eventually formed the Qarakhanid Empire in Central Asia and fully adopted the Islamic coinage design very soon. As I understand these Chinese cash design variants are temporary and thus very rare. I agree with you about the copper red cash being pretty interesting. They were that because of the higher copper purity alloy they use as opposed to the more brassy Qing circulation variant. But unique to say that they were tri-lingual adopting also Arabic script.
The Qarakhanids, an empire soon to be divided in a Western and an Eastern dynasty, fighting each other all the time, they were experts in fratricide. But they made very attractive coins, like this beautiful dirhem dating from AH 426 = AD 1035. 25 mm, 4,11 gr.
It always amazes me how "Westerners" do not know Eastern civilization or history. We all know of WWII where millions died in Western Europe and the Pacific. However, who of us in the West were aware that 20 million died in China during the Dungan Revolt in 1862-77? The combined losses during the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, and the Indian Wars during that same time period does not even come close to the Chinese losses during that time!
interesting coin, I've never seen anything quite like it. ...and have to admit, I'd never heard of this rebellion before. thanks for sharing LS!
Please don't mention it. Those were bloody times. Take into account the casualties of the Taiping rebellion as well, the death toll was enormous
I love these pieces. I have two with Arabic script. I will do some pics for this thread. I don't believeI'm not able to do this as I'm not at home right now. They sure catch your eye when you see them in a large group while sorting. I have no idea monetary value. It really doesn't matter, they are quite cool coins. Makes Hartill worth every penny just finding one. Nice thing about Kufic, its a lot easier to read.
These pieces are not very scarce on the hartill Scale. But they are interesting nevertheless to see something different on cash coins. I collect a theme of non-Chinese script on cash coins. Some also quite common but others very rare...
