the production of which substance increased during the han dynasty
coins, iron
Economy of the Han dynasty
From 118 BC to 5 AD, the government minted over 28,000,000,000 coins, with an annual average of 220,000,000 coins minted (or 220,000 strings of 1,000 coins). In comparison, the Tianbao period (天寶) (742–755 AD) of the Tang dynasty produced 327,000,000 coins every year while 3,000,000,000 coins in 1045 AD and 5,860,000,000 coins in 1080 AD were made in the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD). Coin cash became the common measure of wealth during Eastern Han, as many wages were paid solely in cash. Diwu Lun (第五倫) (fl. 40–85 AD), Governor of Shu Province (modern Sichuan), described his subordinate officials' wealth not in terms of landholdings, but in the form of aggregate properties worth approximately 10,000,000 coin cash. Commercial transactions involving hundreds of thousands of coins were commonplace.
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Economy of the Han dynasty [SEP] Circulation and salaries
Merchants and peasant farmers paid property and poll taxes in coin cash and land taxes with a portion of their crop yield. Peasants obtained coinage by working as hired laborers for rich landowners, in businesses like breweries or by selling agricultural goods and homemade wares at urban markets. The Han government may have found collecting taxes in coin the easiest method because the transportation of taxed goods would have been unnecessary. From 118 BC to 5 AD, the government minted over 28,000,000,000 coins, with an annual average of 220,000,000 coins minted (or 220,000 strings of 1,000 coins). In comparison, the Tianbao period (天寶) (742–755 AD) of the Tang dynasty produced 327,000,000 coins every year while 3,000,000,000 coins in 1045 AD and 5,860,000,000 coins in 1080 AD were made in the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD).