After the Opium War, due to the massive outflow of silver, silver was in short supply, which caused a serious financial crisis. At this time, Wang Maoyin, who works in the Ministry of Housing, was deeply worried and devoted himself to research. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the financial crisis intensified. At that time, there were various ideas, such as casting large amounts of money and issuing non-convertible notes without restrictions. In fact, they all advocate inflation to ease the financial crisis. In view of this phenomenon, in order to alleviate the financial crisis of the Qing government, in September of the first year of Xianfeng (185 1), Wang Maoyin, then the Taoist priest of Shaanxi Province, presented the Banknote Law Folding to Emperor Xianfeng, and put forward his own idea of issuing banknotes, which was considered as the first plan of his currency reform.

He believes that issuing bank notes (issuing bank notes) "can't be without disadvantages" and points out that issuing bank notes has ten disadvantages, but compared with casting big money, "emphasizing two advantages and ignoring two disadvantages" is only a "last resort" when the financial situation is extremely difficult. Therefore, in order to make the circulation of paper money smooth, we must pay attention to and prevent the inflation disadvantages brought about by the unlimited issuance of paper money, and achieve "seeking for the people first, and then seeking for the favorable country", which constitutes the starting point of his monetary reform proposition. This understanding summed up the failure experience of paper currency issuance in past dynasties seriously and pertinently, and it can be said that Wang Maoyin's understanding of the principle of paper currency issuance has reached a high level. Based on this understanding, the banknote processing scheme proposed by Wang Maoyin can be summarized into three main aspects:

First, the issue of paper money should only be used for "replenishing silver" and "not giving up silver to accept paper money". After the issuance of paper money, silver coins did not withdraw from circulation, but were circulated several times as much as paper money and paper money at the same time.

Second, the issuance of bank notes should be "step by step, limited to one system" and "fixed". "Otherwise, there is no fixed amount of money, it is inexhaustible, and it seems to be a big profit. I don't know that the more you pay, the lower the value. "

Third, paper money must be cashed. It is argued that the imperial court should "allow people to donate money to officials, or pay for food, or take money to the bank to exchange cash, so as to strengthen people's love for money."

Wang Maoyin's idea of issuing bank notes was put forward to alleviate the financial crisis. At this point, it was in line with the intention of the rulers of the Qing dynasty at that time, but its specific ideas were hardly the same as those of the Qing court. Therefore, at the beginning of the proposal, it was refuted and the proposal was not adopted. Although 1853 issued "official notes" in May and "treasure notes" at the end of the year, they all opposed Wang Maoyin's ideas and suggestions, because they could not be fulfilled and the quantity was large. However, because he was the first person who advocated the issuance of paper money by the Qing court after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising, the purpose of issuing paper money was to solve the financial crisis. In addition, in June 1853 1 1, Wang Maoyin was promoted to the right assistant minister of the household department. Although Wang Maoyin was promoted, his suggestion was not adopted. Since May 1853, the measures to deal with banknotes run counter to this idea. Therefore, after promotion, he wrote to the court "On Discounting Big Money" and opposed casting big money.

Resolutely oppose "casting big money"

Since Daoguang, the phenomenon that silver is expensive and money is cheap has caused a lot of controversy among the literati groups in the Qing court at that time. The Qing court began to make big money from 65438 to 0853. In view of the saying of casting a lot of money and the bad consequences caused by casting a lot of money, Wang Maoyin gave "On the Discount of Big Money" to Xianfeng Emperor on June1853 65438+1October 2/kloc-0. It is believed that: "the banknote method is empty by reality, although empty can be real;" Big money is virtual, seemingly real but actually virtual. "That is to say, although paper money has no value, if it can be exchanged, there is a certain' fixed number' in circulation, which represents a certain actual value; Although a lot of money itself has a certain value, its face value is empty because it is not worth it. The compromise also refutes the wrong view in history: the state can create or arbitrarily determine the value of money, and thinks that "commentators have also said: the state has customized everything, and who dares to violate it?" "This is true, but function determines the value of money, not the value of things." It is pointed out that although the government has stipulated the nominal value of casting money, it cannot determine its actual value. It is also pointed out that "the waste of big money is selfish and the price is soaring", and Wang Maoyin has this analysis in 1854' s "Re-discussion on Casting Big Money Discount" in the first month. "If the traitor casts two big coins with four or two coppers, that is, loses one or two official silver, the country will lose money." "If a traitor sells it every day to invest a lot of money, then the people will." Regrettably, Wang Maoyin's pertinent and correct proposition has still not been taken seriously and adopted. In March of the same year, Xianfeng quasi-increased a large number of "when hundreds, when 500, when thousands" currency, causing great confusion in circulation, and the above-mentioned "treasure notes" made inflation worse. Rethinking on the folding method of paper money

In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), in March, in view of the sharp depreciation and confusion caused by silver tickets, rare banknotes and a large number of minted coins, Wang Maoyin played the "Notes Law Folding" by Emperor Xianfeng. The main purpose of bill discount method is to help solve financial difficulties and avoid serious inflation; Then, the "reconsideration of the bill discount law" is mainly to stop the serious inflation that has already occurred. It is considered to be Wang Maoyin's second monetary reform plan.

The main contents of the reconsideration of the Banknote Discounting Law include four suggestions: first, allowing banknotes to be exchanged for cash; Second, allow silver tickets to be exchanged for cash; Third, shops are allowed to exchange paper money for silver; Fourth, it is allowed to deposit and withdraw money in pawn shops. The first two items are about the relationship between paper money holders and the country, and the last two items are about expanding the use of paper money in the exchange between merchants and between merchants and customers. The first two items are the key parts of the whole plan. It can also be seen that Wang Maoyin also wants to use the power of banks and businessmen to carry out monetary reform, because he deeply realized that feudal bureaucracy was corrupt and could not win the trust of the people, while banks had high credibility among the people, which led to the idea of carrying out monetary reform measures with the help of banks' credibility and contacts, and the idea of "businessmen must be transported during the period" when issuing paper money. Wang Maoyin attached importance to the role of businessmen, which not only reflected the power that businessmen had in the society at that time, but also showed his close ties with businessmen and commercial activities and his profound understanding of currency issues. However, Xianfeng was greatly dissatisfied after reading "Rethinking the Discount of Banknotes". He thinks that what Wang Maoyin said is more valuable to the people, not as good as an official, and does not attach importance to state affairs. In addition, the Minister of Military Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also accused Wang Maoyin of being a patent businessman who was "inconvenient for the country and did not know the overall situation", which led to Xianfeng's decree to "strictly apply for remonstration" and transferred Wang Maoyin from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the right assistant of the Ministry of War. Since then, the financial and monetary affairs have basically ended.

What is commendable is that Wang Maoyin's monetary thought was put forward when western monetary theory and system were not introduced into China. Therefore, his monetary thought is considered to be independently formed on the basis of inheriting China's traditional monetary thought and according to his personal analysis and experience of China at that time. Moreover, many viewpoints are correct and to the point, and their ideas are feasible in reality. In particular, his spirit of daring to stick to his point of view, speaking out when something happens, and caring about the national economy and people's livelihood is even more commendable.