China has a long history of using money. During thousands of years of historical evolution, it has gradually developed into a unique currency culture, which has had a great impact on many neighboring countries and regions.
It is generally believed that in Xia and Shang Dynasties, China had money. The earliest currency in China was mainly physical currency. At that time, shellfish had the widest circulation, the largest number and the longest time. Shell, bright and beautiful, durable, easy to carry and easy to count. A large number of shellfish have been unearthed in the ruins of Xia and Shang Dynasties, and there are also records about shellfish in ancient documents of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In China's Chinese characters, most of the words related to value come from "Bei".
With the rapid development of commodity exchange, the demand for money is increasing, and shells can no longer meet people's needs. In the late Shang Dynasty, people began to imitate seashells with copper, and bronze imitation shells became the earliest metal coins in China. With the widespread use of industrial currency, seashells, a natural currency, gradually withdrew from the monetary stage in China. From the appearance of bronzes in Shang Dynasty to the Warring States Period, China's currency gradually formed four unique currency systems, namely shovel currency, knife currency, ring currency and Chu currency (gold and ant nose currency).
After Qin unified China, Qin Shihuang promulgated the earliest monetary law in China in 2 10 BC, which abolished the currencies of various countries and adopted gold and copper coins as the unified currency. Gold is used for the payment of large transactions, while copper coins, that is, half a square hole of Qin State, are used for daily life. The circulation of coins of round square hole, Qin and semi-Liang in the whole country ended the chaotic state of different forms and different weights in ancient China, which was a major evolution from chaotic form to standardized form in the history of ancient China currency. The shape of this circular square hole determined by Qin Banliang Qian continued until the early Republic of China.
In the fifth year of Yuanshou (1 18 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recovered the right to coin coins in counties and counties, and the central government unified the casting of five baht. The words "five baht" are cast on the surface of the round square hole, which ensures the unified management of coin casting and distribution by the central government. Five baht has been used for more than 700 years in Tang Gaozu period, and it is the longest and most successful currency in ancient China.
In the fourth year of Tang Gaozu Wude (62 1), Li Yuan was determined to reform the currency system, abolish the five baht, and unify the casting of "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" money. Kaiyuan Bao Tong was written by Ou Yangxun in the early Tang Dynasty. The so-called "Kaiyuan" refers to the beginning of a new era, and "Bao Tong" refers to the general treasure in a unified country. Bao Tong in Kaiyuan changed to the old system of Qin and Han Dynasties, but Qian Wen didn't write the weight (coins minted since Qin and Han Dynasties usually clearly indicate the weight of money in Qian Wen), which is the evolution of ancient currency in China from voucher weight to Bao Tong and Yuanbao. Kaiyuan Bao Tong Coin is the earliest Bao Tong Coin in China. It was cast in July of the fourth year of Tang Wude (AD 62 1 year) and was used in the Tang Dynasty for about 300 years without interruption, which is also rare in the history of currency. Since then, China's copper coins no longer take Qian Wen as the standard weight, but are commensurate with Bao Tong and Yuanbao, and have been used until the "Bao Tong of the Republic of China" after the Revolution of 1911.
The "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" in the Tang Dynasty ushered in a new era in the history of China's currency. Since then, copper coins have bid farewell to the tradition of renaming with the symbol of half two and five baht, and began to change to abstraction and symbolization. "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" also established the standard image of China currency in appearance and weight. It takes one dollar as the legal unit of weight, and weighs one or two every ten dollars. The decimals of 10 yuan and 12 yuan came into being, which had a far-reaching impact on later generations.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a shortage of money because of the shortage of copper materials for casting money. In order to make up for the shortage of copper coins, the government has cast a large number of iron coins in some areas, and iron coins and copper coins are parallel. According to "History of Song Dynasty", the total amount of cast iron money in Sichuan at that time weighed 25 Jin and 82 Liang. In Sichuan, you have to pay 130 Jin of iron to buy a piece of silk. Iron money is so cumbersome and inconvenient that paper money "jiaozi" came into being in Sichuan. "Jiaozi" uses uniform paper, has a certain shape, is printed with complex patterns, and has anti-counterfeiting secrets. The appearance of "Jiaozi" is an important evolution from metal money to paper money in the ancient currency history of China. Jiaozi is not only the earliest paper money in China, but also the earliest paper money in the world.
Kublai Khan of Yuan Shizu established a unified paper money system and issued "Zhongtong Yuanbao Paper Money", and the Yuan Dynasty became the first dynasty with a unified paper money system.
In the early Ming dynasty, silver was not legal tender, and the trading of gold and silver was prohibited in the Ming dynasty. During the Ming Yingzong period, the ban on the use of silver was lifted. At this point, silver, as a measure of currency and value, has officially achieved legal status. In the late Ming Dynasty, silver was widely used in the whole society and occupied a dominant position in the field of currency circulation.
During the one hundred years in the early Qing Dynasty, silver ingots cast in the late Ming Dynasty were still used everywhere. There were many shapes and colors of silver ingots circulating in the market at that time. Silver ingots weighing less than one tael are called loose silver, and silver ingots weighing between one tael and five taels are called spatulas, which are used for general transactions. In the big deal, there is no real sycamore, but the national fake standard silver. Medium-sized ingots weighing about 12 taels and ingots weighing about 50 taels must be converted into phoenix trees at the time of payment, and then the pure silver contained in them can be exchanged for value, which is very inconvenient to use.
Before and after the Opium War, foreign silver dollars were imported into China. There are dozens of local silver dollars circulating in the market, including Spanish Benyang, Dutch Ma Jianyang, British Zhan Renyang, Mexican Eagle Ocean, Japanese Yang Long and so on. Because foreign banks don't have to weigh when they calculate the nuclear value, the people are happy to accept it. During most of the19th century, it became the first choice currency in China, and also became the catalyst for China's self-casting silver dollar. During Daoguang and Xianfeng years, imitation foreign banks rose from coastal cities with frequent foreign trade, and then spread all over the country. Guangzhou is called Guangban, Fuzhou is called Fuban, and Hangzhou is called Hangban. Among them, Shanghai Daotai is the most formal, and its weight is roughly the same as that of foreign silver dollars. In this situation, in order to safeguard national dignity and maintain the monetary system, the Qing government began to plan to cast its own silver dollar.
During the Guangxu period, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, founded the Guangdong Money Bureau in Guangzhou, bought British machines and began to cast silver coins, named Guangxu Yuanbao, which was 6,543,800 yuan in that year. This is the beginning of the official machine casting of silver dollars in China, and it is also the origin of the modern monetary unit system. The back of Guangxu ingot is decorated with dragon patterns, and the material is imitation foreign silver, so it is called Yang Long. Later, the Qing government set up a silver coin foundry in Tianjin to manufacture silver coins in a unified way. The emergence of mechanism currency in the late Qing Dynasty was an important evolution from manual coinage to machine coinage in the ancient currency history of China. Since then, not only the process of casting money has changed greatly, but also the round square hole money that has been circulating for more than 2000 years has died.