Research on Gold and Silver in the Tang and Song Dynasties: Focusing on the Monetary Function of Gold and Silver

Author: (Japanese) Kato Fumitake
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Kato Fumitake (1880-1946) graduated from the Department of Chinese History at the Literature Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University in 1906 and earned a doctorate in literature. He was a professor at the Literature Faculty of Tokyo University. He was a pioneer in the study of Chinese economic history in Japan, with major works including A Study of the Economic History of China, An Outline of the Social and Economic History of China, and Research on Gold and Silver in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In 1927, Research on Gold and Silver in the Tang and Song Dynasties won the Imperial Academy Prize of Japan, and in 1944, the China Joint Reserve Bank organized the translation and publication of the Chinese version. Given the continued importance of this book for the study of Chinese currency, especially the history of gold and silver currency, Zhonghua Book Company is now reprinting it based on the 1944 translation. The original translation was in traditional vertical characters, but this reprint has been converted to simplified horizontal characters and some obvious errors have been corrected. The original translation often used fragmented sentences for citations, differing from today's standard punctuation norms, and the quoted classical texts also varied from today's standardized annotated editions.