Horseshoe gold ingot
First, the pre-Qin currency was different from the "Seven Heroes in the Warring States". With the development of commerce and handicraft industry and the frequent trade, real shells can no longer meet the trade needs of the people, so copper-based casting currency-copper shells appeared. China's metal smelting technology is developed, so copper shell became the most important currency in circulation at the end of Shang Dynasty and the beginning of Zhou Dynasty. Before the bronze shell appeared, friends were used as monetary units. "Peng" is the unit of measurement for the string of ancient coins, because the earliest coins were strung with ropes, and the number of a Peng was about 10-20. In the Book of Songs, Jing Ke, Zhejiang and Hubei, there is a saying: "I am a hundred friends when I meet a gentleman." I have met that gentleman, and I think it is better than giving it to a hundred friends.
1975 In February, a wine vessel was unearthed in Qishan, Shaanxi. According to the inscription above, the purple (gold) chapter (Zhang) jewels used for the sacrifice of the Zhou Emperor are worth 80 friends, and two moose skins 10 friends. It can be seen that hundreds of friends were a huge fortune at that time, which ordinary families did not have. Therefore, in the Book of Songs, it is more exciting to use "Hundred Friends" to describe the feelings of ancient women to see their Mr. Right than to give a coin to a hundred friends.
Ancient knife coins
When the copper shell replaced the shell, the unit of measurement changed from "friend" to "lǜ". "You can buy jade and deerskin in the early stage of shell coin, but how much is the copper shell worth in the later stage? According to the Ding inscription unearthed in the Zhou Dynasty, "Five husbands can buy a family for a long life", that is to say, one hundred wives can buy five slaves, which shows that the value of copper coins is great. Of course, this kind of currency is likely to circulate in the aristocratic class, and ordinary Shu Ren certainly doesn't have that many North coins.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Zhou Emperor gradually lost control of the vassal state, so the ceremony collapsed and the money of the vassal state changed. Especially after the Warring States period, big countries annexed small countries, and the currencies tended to be unified. For example, in Zhou and Sanjin Dynasties (Han, Zhao and Wei), cloth coins were used (which evolved from farm tools and looked like shovels, also called "shoveling cloth"), while in Qi and Yan States, knife coins were mainly used (which evolved from farm tools and knives), while in Qin State, Huan money was mainly used (also called Huan money after moving the capital), and in Chu State, ant nose money was mainly used (from "copper shell"
The cloth coins of Sanjin, the ring coins of Qin, the ant nose coins of Chu and the knife coins of Qi and Yan are all legal tender of the country. In addition to legal tender, there are actually precious currencies such as gold, silver, cloth, pearls and jade. In the book Guanzi in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was recorded: "The first king used pearls and jade as the upper currency, gold as the middle currency, and knife cloth as the lower currency." Guan Zi was Guan Zhong, the prime minister of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period. Guan Zhong was a native of Qi, so Qi used knife coins at that time. According to pre-Qin ancient books, due to the preciousness of Zhuyu and Huangjintai and the lack of circulation, countries mainly use their own coins.
Second, after the Qin and Han Dynasties, after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries with Bao Tong as legal tender, the unified measurement of "books with the same language and cars on the same track" was implemented. In 2 10 BC, the Qin dynasty carried out the monetary reform of "taking Qin law as the law of the world and Qin currency as the currency of the world". The Qin Dynasty used the money of Qin Banliang as legal tender. At that time, gold was used as a coin to pay and reward heroes on a large scale. Qin Banliang is the next currency that ordinary people buy and sell in circulation every day. The currencies previously in circulation in the six countries were banned in the Qin Dynasty.
After the demise of the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty inherited the coinage system of the Qin Dynasty, and the "half-two" system was adopted in the early Western Han Dynasty. Because the Qin dynasty's "half" was too heavy, the "Han half beam" was reduced. Later, due to the reduction of "Han and half Liang", the currency also began to depreciate, causing inflation, and various places privately minted coins. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to strengthen centralization, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty carried out many monetary reforms. In the fifth year of Yuanshou (1 18 BC), Liang Wudi was officially changed to "five-baht money", and it was not abolished until the fourth year of Emperor Gaozu Wude (62 1), and "five-baht money" circulated for 739 years.
Kaiyuan Bao Tong
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, five baht money was abolished and used as "Bao Tong", and the year number was used as the symbol of coins. Bao Tong in the Tang Dynasty began casting in the fourth year of Emperor Gaozu Wude (62 1), and died in the Qing Dynasty191,and it spread to 1290. Bao Tong in the Tang Dynasty generally weighed about 4 grams each, and 1000 pieces weighed 6 Jin and 4 Liang according to the Tang Heng system. After the Tang Dynasty, all coins were cast on the basis of the weight of Kaiyuan Bao Tong, and "money" became the unit of monetary weight, which is still in use today.
In addition to Bao Tong, the first year of Gan Yuan (758) was in Tang Suzong, and Gan Yuan Treasure was also cast. Heavy treasure is more valuable than Bao Tong. At that time, two kinds of products were issued, one was to use one as ten (a heavy treasure with a value of 10 copper coins), and the other was to use one as fifty, that is, a heavy treasure as 50 copper coins. Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, silver did not become a currency in circulation, and big coins were "treasures". In addition, after the Tang Dynasty, all dynasties had casting, and the main currency was Bao Tong.
Third: Paper money after Song Dynasty was not the mainstream in Northern Song Dynasty. Economic prosperity, frequent trade, large trade volume and heavy copper coins. Small currency can no longer meet the trade needs of businessmen, so paper money-"jiaozi" appeared in Chengdu, Sichuan. This kind of paper money soon replaced copper coins (iron coins), gradually circulated in Sichuan, and was recognized by the Northern Song Dynasty court. Therefore, in the first year of Song Renzong Tiansheng (1023), Yizhou (Chengdu) Jiaozi service was opened, with 360,000 kroner as the reserve, and the first issue of "Jiaozi"126,000 kroner was issued. Jiaozi can only be used in Sichuan at first, and its circulation period is three years, that is, a new jiaozi must be replaced within three years.
In fact, Jiaozi is a kind of currency deposit certificate, similar to the "acceptance bill" of banks now. For example, a businessman needs to buy 10 horses in this city 10 yuan. Iron money is too heavy to carry with you. As a result, some merchants opened a cash custody business-"jiaozi Store". The merchant only needs to deposit the money in the "jiaozi Store" first, and the other party can give a deposit slip (jiaozi). When they need money, they can always take it out. Of course, it is necessary to have a good reputation to open a "cross-store", otherwise what should I do if the donation escapes? This happened in ancient times. So, in order to ban local "jiaozi shops" and of course collect taxes, the government opened the official "jiaozi Service".
The official "jiaozi Service" had a higher reputation, so the private "jiaozi Store" was soon banned. The official "handover service" began to have reserves. However, in the later stage, there is no more. Without reserves, there will be chaos, and finally the currency will depreciate, inflation and the monetary system will gradually collapse. Jiaozi gradually withdrew from the historical stage, followed by the silver ticket. Actually, it's an upgraded version of jiaozi.
Ancient silver is fifty taels.
Silver tickets are denominated in silver and can be exchanged all over the country. Of course, there are also privately-run chain silver ticket shops, which are generally run by people with very high reputation. In ancient times, a silver ticket was a valuable bill with a sum of money on it. Because it is easy to carry, it can be changed into silver. Of course, you can also trade directly. Paper money became the official currency in the Yuan Dynasty. For example, "Central Tong Yuan Bao Jiao Note" was the legal tender in the Yuan Dynasty. In addition, every two bills in China can be exchanged for one or two pieces of silver. In addition to central bank notes, there was another currency called Yuanbao in the Yuan Dynasty (Yuanbao is divided into "gold ingot" and "silver ingot" with weights of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 50 respectively, and the official Yuanbao is generally 50 taels).
Yuan datou coin
In the early Ming Dynasty, the main currency was copper coins. During the reign of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, the "Daming Treasure Banknotes" were issued, and the buying and selling of gold and silver was forbidden among the people, so they could only exchange banknotes from the government. During the period from Xuande, Zhu Zhanji (1426—1435) to Jiajing, Zhu Houzong (1522—1566), the casting of copper coins, popular paper money, silver or physical transactions were stopped and prohibited. In the sixth year of Jiajing (1527), due to the rapid expansion of paper money, the Ming Dynasty resumed casting money. Since then, silver as a big currency began to circulate among the people. Before the Ming Dynasty, silver was an unusual currency. In the Qing dynasty, copper coins were the main ones, and silver was rare. After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, copper coins began to withdraw from the historical stage. The silver dollar, which appeared in the 16th year of Guangxu (1890), began to become the main currency in circulation during the Republic of China.
Fourth: Silver is too expensive for ordinary people to own. In fact, in ancient times, except copper coins, other currencies such as gold, silver and silver tickets were not circulated. Especially before the Tang dynasty, the output of gold and silver was not high, and it did not become a folk currency. Of course, Yuanbao is even less likely to appear in the Tang Dynasty, because Yuanbao is only available in the Yuan Dynasty. Although there was silver circulating in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was basically broken silver and needed to be weighed. It is no exaggeration to say that in ancient times, except for large transactions, silver was converted into copper coins for direct use. We saw the chivalrous man in the costume TV series, who used gold ingots for a meal without changing them, which was completely out of line with history. Why, do you say that?
Take silver in Ming and Qing Dynasties as an example. The official standard for silver ingots is 50 taels. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, 1 two silver = 1 penetration = 1 thousand copper (1 copper was about 4 grams, with a total of 4 kilograms, and 50 two equals 50 penetration, weighing 200 kilograms. ) That is to say, one or two pieces of silver are worth 1000 Wen and weigh 8 Jin. If you go out to eat, you only need10p. Do you think it's appropriate for you to take out a silver or a silver? If, in ancient times, a silver ingot was placed at any time when eating, it was not necessary to change it unless the mine was being mined at home. Like a chivalrous man in a martial arts movie, with so much money, it is estimated that he can fight and kill everywhere without being a chivalrous man.