Apart from the backward productivity of gold, one of the main reasons for China's poverty is that it has been plundered by western powers for a long time since the Opium War, and a large amount of gold and silver flowed out of China as opium reparations and war reparations, resulting in a serious shortage of precious metals and hard currency in China. Since then, successive years of civil war and Japanese invasion of China have caused a large outflow of gold and silver from China, some of which were used to buy ordnance materials, and the other part was carried by dignitaries when they fled.
During the War of Liberation, the golden certificate incident concocted by the Kuomintang government was a typical gold outflow event. At that time, because of the huge fiscal deficit in successive years, the Kuomintang government issued a large number of legal tender, which led to soaring prices and poor people. In order to save the actually collapsed economic situation, 1948, 19 August, the Kuomintang government implemented the so-called monetary system reform and price limit policy. Its "Measures for the Issuance of Gold Coins" stipulates that each gold coin contains 0.22217g, and the number of gold coins issued is limited to 2 billion. According to the exchange rate of 1, the gold certificate is converted into legal tender of 3 million yuan. At the same time, it is stipulated that gold 1 equals 200 yuan, silver 1 equals 3 yuan, and US dollar 1 equals 4 yuan. The Kuomintang government enforced this law by coercion and deception, and ordered the people in the Kuomintang-controlled areas to exchange all their gold and silver into gold certificates before1September 30, 948. Those who failed to pay after the deadline were forcibly confiscated. In less than two months, gold, silver and foreign currency with a total value of 200 million dollars were extracted from the people. 1948, 10 At the beginning of this year, the buying tide in Shanghai spread to major cities in Kuomintang-controlled areas, and prices soared further. 165438+ 10/0 The Kuomintang government was forced to announce the cancellation of the price-fixing policy. On June 2, 65438, the decree of "Amending the Method of Issuing Gold Coins" was promulgated, which stipulated that the gold content of 1 gold coin was reduced to 0.044434 gram, which was equivalent to publicly announcing that the price of gold coins was reduced by 4/5, and the quota for issuing gold coins was cancelled. After that, gold coins began to be issued indefinitely. By May 1949, * * * had issued more than 6.7 trillion yuan, and gold coins became waste paper like legal tender. These gold and silver exchanged with gold certificates and the gold and silver reserves accumulated by the Central Bank of the Kuomintang government for many years were escorted to Taiwan Province Province by warships in 1949.
There are still some disputes about the total amount of gold transported to Taiwan Province by the Kuomintang at that time, but in short, it was a considerable wealth at that time, which caused the gold poverty situation faced by the new China at the beginning of its establishment. At this time, the China government can only increase its reserves from the newly produced gold, with almost no historical accumulation. For a long time after the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has been strictly controlling the issuance of gold. Gold mining enterprises must sell the gold they produce to the People's Bank of China, and then the People's Bank of China will distribute the gold to gold users. At that time, the newly produced gold was mainly used for emergency international payments and national reserves.
Therefore, after the founding of New China, the domestic gold market has been in a closed state, and the market flow of gold needs applications and quotas. 1950 In April, the People's Bank of China formulated and issued the "Measures for the Administration of Gold and Silver" (draft), freezing private gold and silver transactions and clearly stipulating that domestic gold and silver transactions should be managed by the People's Bank of China.
1On June 5, 983, the State Council issued the Regulations on the Administration of Gold and Silver in People's Republic of China (PRC), which stipulated that the state should implement the policy of unified management, unified acquisition and unified distribution of gold and silver; All gold and silver receipts and payments of organs, armed forces, organizations, schools, state-owned enterprises, institutions and urban and rural collective economic organizations in People's Republic of China (PRC) are included in the national gold and silver receipts and payments plan; All gold and silver held by domestic institutions, except raw materials, equipment, utensils and souvenirs retained with the permission of the People's Bank of China, must be sold to the People's Bank of China and may not be disposed of or possessed by themselves; Within the territory of People's Republic of China (PRC), no unit or individual is allowed to use gold and silver at a fixed price, and it is forbidden to buy or sell gold and silver privately or to borrow or mortgage gold and silver.
We can clearly see that during the thirty or forty years from 1949, a golden fault appeared in the whole China society, which affected two generations. During this period, the people of China were almost isolated from gold. They simply knew that gold was very valuable, but they could not get in touch with it, let alone know and understand it, and they knew little about its important role and financial attributes. This gold fault actually led to the general ignorance and indifference of gold in the whole society. It can be said that most investors in China need to make up lessons on the concept and related knowledge of gold investment, and China also needs a process to reawaken people's real understanding of gold. This process is both a challenge and an opportunity for all participants in the market.
Memorabilia of China Gold Market Development
1950 In April, the People's Bank of China formulated and issued the "Measures for the Administration of Gold and Silver" (draft), freezing private gold and silver transactions and clearly stipulating that domestic gold and silver transactions should be managed by the People's Bank of China.
1On June 5, 983, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of Gold and Silver in People's Republic of China (PRC), which stipulated that the state should implement the policy of unified management, unified acquisition and unified distribution of gold and silver.
1999 12 10, China publicly sold 1.5 tons of Millennium gold bars for the first time.
199965438+On February 28th, the unified purchase and marketing of silver was cancelled, and the wholesale market of Shanghai Huatong Nonferrous Metals Spot Center became the only silver spot trading market in China. The liberalization of silver is regarded as a preview of the opening of the gold market.
In August, 2000, Shanghai Laofengxiang Profile Gift Company was approved by Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China, and began to operate the exchange business of old gold ornaments, becoming the first commercial enterprise in China to pilot the free exchange business of gold.
From June 5438 to 10, 2000, the research group of the State Council Development Research Center published a research report on the opening of the gold market. In the same year, the government of China listed the construction of gold trading market in the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (200 1 2005).
200 1 1, Shanghai publicly issued the auspicious gold medal of peace in the new century, and China Gold Coin Corporation promised to buy it back at an appropriate time under the conditions permitted by the policy. Buyers can buy and sell independently or choose to cash in at designated merchants or commercial bank outlets.
In April, 20001,Dai Xianglong, governor of the People's Bank of China, announced the cancellation of the planned management system of unified purchase and distribution of gold and the establishment of a gold exchange in Shanghai.
On 2001June 1 1 day, the central bank officially launched the weekly quotation system of gold prices to adjust domestic gold prices according to changes in international market prices.
200 1 1 1 28, simulation operation of Shanghai Gold Exchange.
On June 5438+1October 65438+July, 2002, during the trial operation of Shanghai Gold Exchange, Admiralty Gold Co., Ltd. and Beijing Caishikou Department Store traded 3 kilograms of No.2 gold at a price of 83.5 yuan per gram.
On June 30th, 2002, 10, the Shanghai Gold Exchange officially opened, and the China gold market was fully opened.
In April 2003, the People's Bank of China cancelled the examination and approval system for gold production, processing and circulation, and changed it to the industrial and commercial registration registration system, marking the full opening of the gold commodity market.
On June165438+1October 18, 2003, China Bank Huang Jinbao was piloted in Shanghai, which opened the prelude for commercial banks to participate in the gold market.
In June, 2004, Shanghai Gold Exchange launched a small gold bar business for ordinary investors.
On July 8, 2005, China Industrial and Commercial Bank and Shanghai Gold Exchange jointly launched personal physical gold investment business.
On June 5438+February, 2006, Bank of China launched Gold Option Business Period Jinbao and Two Jinbao for individual investors.
On February 25th, 2006, Shanghai Gold Exchange officially launched the AU 100g physical gold investment product for individual investors.
In September 2007, with the consent of the State Council, the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the listing of gold futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange in the Reply on Agreeing to the Listing of Gold Futures Contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (Futures Zi [2007] 158). China's gold production and consumption rank among the top in the world.
Ancient gold in China was mainly produced in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and its adjacent areas, and there were also some gold mining areas in the Yangtze River basin. During this period, the main method of producing gold was picking and extracting natural gold, and the main processing method of gold was hammering. By the Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were already melting and casting techniques, such as those unearthed in Liu Jiahe. With the development of science and technology, gravity gold mining and rock gold mining have been developed in ancient and modern China. There are also some new prospecting methods: understanding the genetic relationship of minerals and looking for other veins from one vein; Looking for minerals according to luster, etc. According to Records of the Historian Tianguanshu, there is light above Jinbao, so we must pay attention to it. By the Han Dynasty, gold smelting technology had made great progress. The gold content of horseshoe gold and Linzhi gold unearthed in Xi 'an Shanglinyuan is as high as 97%, while the purity of horseshoe gold unearthed in Huairou, Beijing is 99.3%.
China is rich in gold resources. The total reserves exceed 4000 tons, ranking seventh in the world. Gold deposits are widely distributed in China. Except Shanghai and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have gold mines. As far as provinces are concerned, Shandong has the largest number of independent gold mines and Jiangxi has the largest number of associated gold mines. Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces are also rich in gold resources.
The most famous gold mine in China is Jiaodong Gold Mine, over 90% of which is concentrated in Zhaoyuan-Laizhou area, and Linglong Gold Mine is the most important mining area. The mining area has a long mining history. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, modern mining technology has been introduced and gradually developed, and the gold output once ranked fifth in the world. Also belonging to this type are Jinchangyu Gold Mine in Qianxi County, Hebei Province and Xiaoqinling Gold Mine in western Henan Province. The second largest gold deposit type in China is sedimentary rock type, which is called Carlin type or micro-disseminated type. Although this kind of ore has low grade and fine and dispersed gold particles, it is large in scale and can obtain high output under advanced mining and dressing technology. Carlin-type gold deposits in China are mainly distributed in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
Today, China has not only become a major gold producer in the world-the gold output reached 240.08 tons in 2006; At the same time, it is also a big consumer country, consuming 269.3 tons in 2006, accounting for 9.23% of the world's total gold consumption. According to the forecast of the international trading company affiliated to China Gold Corporation, China may surpass the United States to become the second largest gold producer in the world in 2007, and China will be the third largest gold producer in the world by then.
China's domestic gold demand has always been dominated by jewelry consumption demand. Most of the gold sold in China market every year is gold ornaments, while industries such as industry, medical care and scientific research account for a small proportion of consumer demand. The demand for financial investment in gold has just started, but it is growing rapidly. Due to various historical and financial system reasons, Chinese mainland has less than 4 grams of gold per capita; The annual per capita consumption of gold is only 0.2g, and the consumption is concentrated on gold ornaments, which is far from the level of Hongkong, Taiwan Province and western countries (the United Arab Emirates consumes the most gold per capita, reaching 30g), and also far from the level of Indian per capita 1 g or so. It is predicted that the consumption of gold in China will increase to 500 tons in the next few years, which will have a great impact on the price of the international gold market. China's domestic gold inventory is about 5,000 tons, including the central bank's gold reserves and privately owned gold products. As of September 2007, the gold reserve held by the People's Bank of China is still 654.38+0929 million ounces, or 600 tons, which has not changed for a long time. In September 2007, the balance of foreign exchange reserves announced by the People's Bank of China was US$ 654.38+043.36.438+065.438+0 billion. According to the international market price of 800 USD/oz, the value of 600 tons of gold is about 6543.8 USD +054 billion. Gold reserves account for about 1.07% of foreign exchange reserves.
With the rapid development of world economy and science and technology, the status, strength and role of countries in the world are also changing. The reason why the market demand and price changes of gold can attract worldwide attention is that the status of gold and its influence on related parties are still important. According to the data provided by the World Gold Council, gold is still the main body of the national strategic reserve.
Having said that, some investors may ask: Why do many European Central Banks sell so much gold that they have to sign gold sales agreements to restrict their selling activities since 1999? In fact, what we see is only a superficial phenomenon. The central banks of washington accord signatories have nearly 20,000 tons of gold reserves, and selling hundreds of tons every year will only have a short-term impact on the market. At the same time, the world's annual mineral gold exceeds at least 2,500 tons, and a considerable part of it enters the coffers of various countries as investment or reserve. Therefore, the dumping of hundreds of tons of gold by major European central banks in one year does not mean that the strategic reserve status of gold is reduced, but only reflects the elasticity of gold in the process of diversified adjustment of reserves in some countries.
It should be pointed out that some countries implement the policy of storing gold for the people, and the official gold reserves are not high. For example, India's official gold reserves are only 357.7 tons, accounting for only 3.4% of the total reserves. However, according to relevant data, India's private gold reserves are at least 654.38+00000 tons, and private silver reserves are at least 654.38+065.438+00000 tons. India is the world's largest gold consumer market. In addition, during the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, people in Thailand, South Korea and other countries offered their own gold to help their countries tide over the financial crisis, and the advantages of keeping gold for the people were vividly reflected at this time.
China's gold market is in its infancy.
Looking at the current situation of China's gold market, not only the country lacks a long-term gold reserve plan, but also the general public's awareness of gold investment is relatively weak. However, at present, the domestic people's awareness of investing in gold is awakening, and the gradual opening of China's gold market will have a far-reaching impact on the global gold market pattern. The reform of China gold market began at 1993, when the State Council Letter No.63 established the direction of gold marketization. In April, 20001,Dai Xianglong, then governor of the People's Bank of China, announced the cancellation of the planned management system of unified purchase and distribution of gold and the establishment of a gold exchange in Shanghai. On June 5438+ 10, 2002, the Shanghai Gold Exchange opened, marking the beginning of the marketization of China's gold industry. According to preliminary statistics, the annual output of unit gold in Shanghai Gold Exchange accounts for about 75% of the whole country. The use of gold accounts for 80% of the country; Smelting capacity accounts for 90% of the country, which reflects the promotion of gold marketization trend.
Zhou Xiaochuan, the current governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the annual meeting of the London Gold and Silver Market Association (LBMA) in September 2004 that China's gold market should gradually realize three changes: from commodity trading to financial trading, from spot trading to futures trading, and from domestic market to international market. This passage summarizes the current situation and characteristics of China's gold market-mainly physical spot and closed market; At the same time, it also guides its future development trend-the international gold market with gold financial derivatives as the main trading mode.
Today's gold market can be divided into commodity market and financial market. The trading volume of commodity physical gold is less than 3% of the total trading volume, and more than 90% of the market share is gold financial derivatives. In other words, the financial derivatives trading of gold is the mainstream of the market, and the gold market in China is still in the stage of mainly trading physical objects. Take Shanghai Gold Exchange as an example. As the only gold exchange in China, in 2005, its annual gold trading volume exceeded 900 tons, and the trading amount exceeded 654.38+000 billion yuan for the first time. However, compared with London Gold Market, the largest gold market in the world, the trading volume of Shanghai Gold Exchange is less than 1%. In addition, the gold market in China is a relatively closed market, and foreign investment in gold exchanges is subject to strict examination and approval system. At present, there are * * clients of Sino-foreign joint ventures 1 family, and wholly foreign-owned and Sino-foreign joint venture clients 12 family. In 2005, the gold trading volume of this kind of * * * with customers was 9,427 kg, accounting for only 1.04% of the total trading volume of the exchange. The lack of participation of international financial institutions leads to the domestic gold market price not fully in line with the international market, and sometimes even obvious deviation.
In September 2007, with the consent of the State Council, the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the listing of gold futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. On the basis of gold futures, a series of derivative products including options, forwards, gold ETFs and even more innovative products will be gradually introduced, further increasing the depth and breadth of China's gold market. It is of great significance to carry out gold futures trading in China: first, it is conducive to the majority of enterprises and investors to use gold futures to find prices and hedge, improve the level of risk management and enhance international competitiveness; Second, it is conducive to further improving the gold market system and price formation mechanism, and forming a situation in which the spot market, forward trading market and futures market promote each other and develop together; Third, it is conducive to cracking down on disguised gold futures trading and safeguarding the legitimate interests of investors.
We believe that after more than ten or twenty years of development, China gold market will gradually become the dominant international gold market. First of all, gold futures, options, gold passbooks, paper gold, gold EFT, gold forward and other products are constantly introduced and gradually improved. Secondly, the extensive participation of market participants. As an investment and financial market, the gold market not only attracts a large number of domestic institutions and individuals to join, but also opens the door for international big banks and big gold merchants to participate together, thus gradually connecting with other international gold markets.