Coin China Northern Song, Zhenzong - Wen, Tian Xi, Regular script - 1017 / 1022

This bronze coin was issued during the reign of Zhenzong, the third emperor of the Northern Song dynasty, under the era name Tian Xi (??), which spans from 1017 to 1022. It has a face value of one wen and is a cash-type coin, characteristic of medieval Chinese numismatics.

Struck in bronze, it weighs 3.68 grams with a diameter of 24.5 millimetres. Its legend is written in regular script (??, k?ish?), one of the official calligraphic scripts used on Song coins. The arrangement of the characters follows the traditional alternating vertical-horizontal reading order characteristic of Chinese coins of the period, with the inscriptions Tian Xi Tong Bao (????) distributed around the central square hole.

Historically, the Tian Xi period corresponds to the final years of Zhenzong's reign. The emperor, weakened by illness from 1020 onwards, saw effective power gradually shift to his consort, Empress Liu, who exercised a de facto regency until the accession of Renzong in 1022. On the foreign affairs front, the Northern Song kingdom maintained the relative peace established by the Treaty of Chanyuan (1005) with the Liao, at the cost of an annual tribute. This diplomatic stability fostered relative economic prosperity, reflected in particular by sustained monetary production, essential to the rapidly expanding domestic trade.