1. Evolution from natural currency to artificial currency

Shell was the earliest currency in China, and it was used as the currency in Shang Dynasty. In China's Chinese characters, all the words related to value are mostly from "Bei". With the development of commodity exchange, the demand for money is increasing, and seashells can no longer meet people's needs. People in Shang Dynasty began to imitate seashells with copper.

The appearance of copper coins is a major evolution from natural currency to artificial currency in the history of ancient Chinese currency. With the extensive use of artificial coins, seashells, a natural currency, gradually withdrew from the currency stage in China.

2. Evolution from messy shape to unified shape.

from the appearance of copper coins in Shang dynasty to the warring States period, there were many shapes of money in China. During the Warring States period, not only countries made their own money, but also all regions in a vassal country made their own money. It is famous for the shovel coins of Zhao, the knife coins of Qi, the round square hole coins of Qin and the ant nose coins of Chu.

after Qin unified China, Qin Shihuang promulgated the earliest monetary law in China in 21 BC, "using Qin coins as the world's currency", which stipulated that half a penny of Qin's round square hole would be used throughout the country.

the unification of money has ended the chaotic state of different shapes and different weights of ancient Chinese money, which is a major evolution from chaotic shape to standardized shape in the history of ancient Chinese money. The shape of this round square hole determined by Qin Banliang Qian continued until the early Republic of China.

3. The evolution from local coins to central coins.

at the beginning of the Han dynasty, the county was allowed to make money freely. According to Records of Eating Goods in the History of Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen "made the people free to make money", so "stealing money started like a cloud". This not only caused currency confusion, but also made dajia, a wealthy businessman, manipulate the right to coin money, making him richer than the Emperor. In 113 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recovered the right to coin coins in the county, and the central government unified the casting of five baht, which became the only legal currency at that time.

From then on, it was determined that the central government would manage the coin casting and distribution in a unified way, which was a major evolution from local coins to central coins in the ancient currency history of China. Since then, the coins of past dynasties have been directly managed by the central government. The return of the right to coin to the central government played an important role in stabilizing the political situation and economic development of the dynasties.

4. The evolution from document weight to Tongbao and Yuanbao.

coins minted since the Qin and Han dynasties are usually clearly marked with the weight of the money in Qian Wen, such as "half a tael" and "five baht" (twenty-four baht is one tael). In the fourth year of Tang Gaozu Wude (621), Li Yuan was determined to reform the currency system, abolish ancient coins of different weights, take the meaning of "opening a new era" and uniformly cast "Kaiyuan Tongbao" money.

"Kaiyuan Tongbao" is an anti-Qin-Han system, and Qian Wen doesn't pay attention to weight, which is the evolution of ancient Chinese currency from document weight to Tongbao and Yuanbao. "Kaiyuan Tongbao" money is the earliest Tongbao money in China. Since then, China's copper coins no longer use Qian Wen as the standard weight, but are commensurate with Tongbao and Yuanbao, which have been used until the "Tongbao of the Republic of China" after the Revolution of 1911.

5. The evolution from metal money to paper money.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of exchange, the currency circulation increased. In the Northern Song Dynasty Taizong, the annual coin was 8,, and then it gradually increased. Due to the shortage of copper materials for casting money, the government has cast a large number of iron coins in some areas to make up for the shortage of copper coins. According to "History of Song Dynasty", the cast iron money in Sichuan at that time always weighed 25 Jin and 82 Liang. To buy a Piro (silk) in Sichuan, you have to pay 13 Jin of iron money. Iron money is so cumbersome and inconvenient that the paper money "Jiaozi" printed in the Northern Song Dynasty came into being in Sichuan.

with the permission of the government, Song Zhenzong was jointly operated by sixteen wealthy households in Chengdu. The appearance of "Jiaozi" is an important evolution from metal currency to paper money in the history of ancient Chinese currency. Jiaozi is not only the earliest paper money in China, but also the earliest paper money in the world.