Korean yang
The yang was the currency of Korea between 1892 and 1902. It was subdivided into 10 jeon, 100 bun and 5 yang = 1 hwan.
Etymology
The word yang is a cognate of the Chinese "tael". Fun, is also a cognate of a Chinese word, fen, which is equal to yuan, whilst hwan is a cognate of yuan itself.History
Just before the yang was introduced, a small number of coins denominated in hwan and mun were minted. It is unclear whether these coins circulated. The 1 won and 5 yang coins were equal in size, containing 416 grains of silver. However, before 1892, the main currency of Korea was the mun, a denomination based on the Chinese cash.The mintage and circulation of modern currency began during the last years of the old Korean Empire as a result of contact with the West, using equipment to produce machine-struck coins purchased from Germany in 1883. The Osaka Copper Works, a Japanese firm foreseeing profit in the coin minting business, suggested to the Korean government to establish another mint in the port city of Incheon. Incheon was selected by the Japanese because it would then be more easy to bring mint machinery from Japan to Korea.
In November of the year 1892, a new mint was established in the city of Incheon which led to the old mint for machine-struck in Seoul to be demolished. New machinery and raw materials used for producing milled coinage were imported from Japan. The new Incheon Mint was entirely staffed by Japanese technicians from the Osaka Copper Works and from the Japan Mint in Osaka. The Incheon Mint prepared a completely new line of coins with very heavily inspired Japanese designs, this series also included the first copper-nickel of Korea. The Incheon Mint was relocated to the Yongsan Mint in the year 1900, the Yongsan Mint officially opened on 4 May 1900. However, the timing of this relocation was very unfortunate as the Korean Empire had started the construction of the Gyeongin Line which opened on 18 September 1899 and allowed for coins minted in Incheon to be transported at a wider distance. Minting equipment from Incheon was moved to Yongsan in September of the year 1900 and cupronickel coins at this time were struck in small quantities. The Yongsan Mint would close in November 1904 after the Japanese Empire took the rights of issuing money for circulation in Korea.
During the introduction of the Korean yang following the adoption of the silver standard, the dates on the coinage still followed the Kaeguk calendar which was based on the founding of Joseon in the year 1392 which was the year Kaeguk 1. But following the proclamation of the Korean Empire in the year 1897 the era names or regnal years of the Emperor of Korea were used instead. King Gojong became Emperor Gwangmu and in the year 1897 the year Gwangmu 1 appeared on the coins. The Gwangmu regnal year was used well after the adoption of the Korean won until the year 1907, when the regnal years changed due to the ascension of Emperor Yunghui making the Gregorian year 1907 into Yunghui 1.
Various names of Korea were displayed on the coins, these include "Great Joseon", "Joseon", and "Great Han".
Around the time of the trial adoption of the gold standard in 1901, gold and silver coins were in circulation along with some Japanese bank notes.
The yang was replaced by the won at a rate of 1 won = 5 yang.
Coins
Coins were minted in the denominations of 1 fun, 5 fun, ¼ yang, 1 yang, 5 yang and 1 hwan. The coins all carried the title of the state, "Great Joseon", then just "Joseon" and then Daehan. The name of the country on these new coins, as it had been on the coins issued in the year Kaeguk 497, was "Great Korea". But on the insistence of the Chinese resident-general Yuan Shikai the Chinese character "大" was removed from coins produced in the years Kaeguk 502, Kaeguk 503, and early Kaeguk 504. The reason why Yuan Shikai demanded this was because Korea, which at the time was a vassal state of the Qing dynasty, said that the inclusion of the character "大" was an affront to the Chinese Empire.Until 1897, the dynastic dating system was used, where the founding year of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392, was year 1. Starting in 1897, the regnal year of the monarch was used instead. Because the era name changed into the regnal name during the transition into the Korean Empire only a very limited amount of coins was struck during this era. Because the cupronickel ¼ yang was the most profitable to produce this denomination saw a large amount of counterfeiting of it, the amount of counterfeits in Korea became so uncontrollable that the imperial government declared them to be legal tender, this policy proved to be disastrous as the public would soon distrust the coinage.
Most of the coins of the Korean yang were produced at the Incheon Mint but from 1898 coins were also produced at the Yongsan Mint.
1 fun coins were produced during the years 1892, 1893, 1895, and 1896. It’s notable that they weren’t produced in 1894. All 1 fun coins were produced at the Incheon Mint.
5 fun coins were made during the years 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1899, and 1902, but not during the years 1897, 1900, and 1901. There are varieties of the 5 fun with small characters, medium-sized characters, and large characters. All 5 fun coins produced until 1899 were minted at the Incheon Mint, while the 5 fun coins of 1902 were produced at the Yongsan Mint.
The ¼ yang coins were produced during the years 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, and 1901. The varieties of the ¼ yang coins include those produced with small characters and large characters. Until the year 1897 they were produced at the Incheon Mint, but from 1898 they were produced at the Yongsan Mint.
The 1 hwan coin was only produced in the year Kaeguk 502 or 1893 in the Gregorian calendar.
Counterfeit cupronickel ¼ yang coins
The majority of the ¼ yang coins were dated Gwangmu 2 and the coin dies used to produce them were replaced with others that had the same date of issue after they had become worn out. Official coin dies were also rented out to licensees, and at one point even to non-licensees. The Japanese first struck cupronickel coins in Osaka that were later imported to Korea, then they imported the machinery used to manufacture them and struck them in Korea. Some of the unofficially produced ¼ yang coins can not be distinguished from the genuine specimens.The Korean government would eventually establish a system for designating cupronickel coins as being "Official", "Class-A counterfeits", and "Class-B counterfeits", these coins all had varying market values. Even the government produced "official" coins were accepted at a discount, this was because base cupronickel coins had completely flooded the market. This uncontrollable situation would lead to more than half of all currency circulating in Korea at the time being cupronickel coins. Removing these coins from circulation would prove to be a tough predicament for the Japanese during the latter half of the 1900s.
List of Korean yang coinage patterns
| Denomination | Composition | Diameter | Weight | Thickness | Mintage | Obverse image | Reverse image |
| 1 pun | Brass | 23.4 | 3.3 | 1 | |||
| 5 pun | 98% copper, 1% tin, and 1% zinc | 27 | 6.9 | 1.5 | |||
| ¼ yang | Initially cupronickel and then copper around silver | 20.7 | 4.8 | 2 | |||
| 1 yang | 800‰ silver | 22.5 | 5.2 | 1.5 | |||
| 5 yang | 900‰ silver | 38.6 | 26.95 | 2.5 | 19,923 | ||
| 1 hwan | 900‰ silver | 38 | 26.95 | 1.5 | 77 |