Chinese archeologists have recently unearthed Chinese and Japanese coins and a dainty scale made of ivory in the northern municipality Tianjin.

"These represent booming commerce and foreign trade in the area centuries ago," said Chen Yong, head of the Tianjin municipal cultural heritage protection center, who is in charge of a month-long excavation into an ancient commercial street in today's Jixian county on the city's outskirts.

The excavation, which started on Feb. 26, covered 400 square meters of the Drum Tower Front Street, located in the Drum Tower Square in the county seat, said Chen.

Chen and his colleagues have unearthed copper coins spanning from the remote Western Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 24 AD) to the end of the Qing Dynasty in the early 1900s. "We've also found coins ingrained with Japanese characters, a sign that foreign trade already boomed in the ancient town several centuries ago."

He did not say how old the coins exactly were or what they looked like.

The ivory scale was quite small but the scales on its weigh beam, only two millimeters in diameter, were still very distinct, said Chen.

The archeologist said they had also unearthed copper hookahs, hairpins, drinking vessels, bricks and tiles, but most of the heritage pieces were chinaware. "They're in different varieties, all dainty and of fine workmanship," he said.

They have also brought to light well preserved foundations of stores and residential houses.

"One store has a comprehensive drainage system and a huge kitchen range with many burners," said Chen. "We assume it dates back to the late Ming or early Qing dynasties, about 400 years ago."

Most of the ancient residential buildings, he acknowledged, were in square courtyards and had rooms on four sides.

The ancient commercial center was found last year, when archeologists unearthed relics of ancient city walls, the oldest of which dated back 2,000 years, outside the thousand-year-old Dule Temple in the area.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2004)