10 tonnes of bronze coins

Photo taken on Aug 4, 2015 shows an archaeologist clearing Wuzhu coins, the common currency in wide circulation during the Western Han Dynasty, at the excavation site of royal tombs of Marquis of Haihun State, in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province. [Photo/Xinhua]

The archeological team has found more than 10 tonnes of Wuzhu bronze coins together with more than 10,000 other gold, bronze and iron items, unearthed along with jade articles, wood tablets and bamboo slips.

According to documents, 10 such strings of bronze coins could be exchanged for 250 grams (or one "Jin" in Chinese) of gold. Ten "Jin" of gold was approximately the total wealth of a middle-class family at that time.