Posted 2017/6/13
The pictographic character “Quan” (“泉”) is like a stream of water flowing out from a mountain crevice in the oracle bone inscriptions( ), hence its initial meaning of “spring water”. In the small seal script, it’s written like this, ( ) retaining the form in the oracle bone inscriptions. The structure in the regular script (“泉”) is a variant of the small seal script version, with a water (“水”) radical at the bottom indicating its relation with water.
In ancient China, “quan” was interchangeable with “qian” (“钱”, meaning “money”), because the flow of money is just like that of spring water. So “quan” was used to mean “money”. In the Three Kingdoms Period, currencies called “quan” worth of 500 and 1000 coins were issued and in the Tang and Five Dynasties, coins bearing “Qianfeng Quanbao” (literally “money treasure of the Qianfeng Period) and “Yongtong Quanhuo” (literally “money in permanent circulation) etc were issued. These currencies, bearing witness of the wide use of “quan” as money, were handed down to later generations. Some men of letters of later ages especially preferred calling money “quan”, for they thought it was a more elegant name for money and a way to indicate their indifference to fame and wealth.
