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Case file s1300 · Money and markets · 157 BCE
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157 BCE
S-93 W Han banliang, Wendi, 179-157 BC, 24mm: The front and reverse sides of a metal coin, 24 mm in diameter, issued during the reign of Emperor Wen (r. 180–157 BCE) of the early H
S-93 W Han banliang, Wendi, 179-157 BC, 24mm. Prof. Gary Lee Todd. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
157 BC (death of Emperor Wen, which began the fall; Deng Tong's own death is undated)
Place
Yandao, Shu (Ya'an, Sichuan), and Chang'an (Xi'an), China
Field
copper mine and private coinage · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Han imperial grant at the emperor's pleasure; confiscation (mo ru) by order of the next emperor
Historical event
Emperor Wen's 175 BC edict allowing private minting of coin
Money and marketsCrowns and successionAncient worldEast AsiaChina

Emperor Wen gave his favourite a copper mountain and the right to mint coins; the next emperor took everything, and he died owning nothing

Deng Tong was a boatman from Nan'an in Shu. The Book of Han says Emperor Wen dreamed a boatman pushed him up to heaven, found Deng Tong with a torn coat like the man in the dream, and favoured him from that day. The emperor gave him huge gifts of cash and made him a senior grandee. A face reader said Deng Tong would die poor and starving. The emperor answered that making him rich was in the emperor's own power. He gave Deng Tong the copper mountain at Yandao with the right to cast his own coins, and "Deng coins" circulated across the empire. When the emperor had an abscess, Deng Tong sucked it clean. Asked who loved him most, Deng Tong named the crown prince. The prince was made to suck the abscess, did it with reluctance, and resented Deng Tong from then on. In 157 BC the prince became Emperor Jing. Deng Tong was dismissed and sent home. Someone accused him of minting coins beyond the frontier. Officials confirmed it, confiscated everything he owned, and still found him owing a large debt. The Grand Princess sent him money, and officials seized it on arrival, so that he kept not a single hairpin. She then arranged his food and clothing. Sima Qian records that he died without one coin, living in another man's house. Sima Qian placed him among the emperors' favourites in the Shiji, chapter 125.

What the law took from it

A fortune that exists by one ruler's grant ends with that ruler; Deng Tong held his mine and his mint at the emperor's pleasure only.

Sources
  1. zh.wikisource.orgScholarship
  2. zh.wikisource.orgScholarship
  3. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Emperor Wen gave his favourite a copper mountain and the right to mint coins; the next emperor took everything, and he died owning nothing,” story s1300, https://www.celebrity.estate/deng-tong-copper-mountain-157-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Money and marketsCrowns and successionAncient worldEast AsiaChina