After the Opium War, due to imperialist aggression and feudal forces, China's modernization road was very bumpy. Judging from the currency issuance and circulation to measure the degree of national independence and unity, before 1949, China was still in a chaotic state of division and backwardness and extremely unbalanced political and economic development.

Since the late Qing Dynasty, with the invasion of imperialism and the disintegration of feudal politics, China's monetary system began to fall into chaos. Before 1935, the currency reform of the Kuomintang government, many local banks (mainly provincial banks), foreign banks and private banks also issued banknotes circulating in the market (excluding the currency issued by the revolutionary base areas and the puppet Manchu and Mongolian regimes). As far as the silver dollar is concerned, there are Angelababy (named after the eagle pattern above, also known as "Moyang"), Yang Long (named after the dragon pattern above, cast by the Qing government), Datou Yinyang (also known as "Yuan Datou", with Yuan Shikai's head on it, cast by Beiyang government), Chuanyang (named after the sailing pattern above, cast by Nanjing Kuomintang government) and Britain. If you count all kinds of low-quality silver coins minted by local governments, there are dozens of them.

1935 The currency reform of the Kuomintang government tried to end the chaotic situation, realize the currency unification, and make China's currency embark on the modern system. However, Japan's full-scale war of aggression against China, which broke out soon, not only failed to unify the currency of the Kuomintang, but also the issuance of legal tender (paper money) made it possible for the Kuomintang government to implement the inflation policy. From June 1936 to May 1949, the currency issued by the Kuomintang government increased by more than144.5 billion times. Severe inflation will inevitably lead to soaring prices. For example, in June of 1937, the national legal tender circulation was141million yuan. At this time, if a person has 654,380.2 billion yuan of legal tender (equivalent to silver dollars at the exchange rate), this money is almost equal to the total amount of money issued by the Kuomintang government; However, by 1942, it became 600 million yuan (paper money issued by the puppet regime of Wang forced people to exchange it at the price of 1: 2), and by 1945, it became 3 million yuan (after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang government held paper money in the occupied areas at a ratio of 200: 0, and by/kloc) When the Kuomintang government carried out the second currency reform (replacing legal tender with gold certificates at the price of 1: 3 million yuan), it only became1yuan gold certificates, and 5 liters of rice could be bought at the current price; From August of 1948 to May of 1949, the price increased by 644 1326 times. The purchasing power of 1 yuan gold certificates is only 0.00000 155 yuan compared with 9 months ago. At this time, even a grain of rice could not be bought, and the price of a grain of rice became 65435. [2]

Such violent inflation will inevitably lead to the abandonment of this kind of paper money. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, although the Kuomintang government carried out currency reform, banned the circulation of gold, silver and foreign currencies, and forced people to change into banknotes issued by the Kuomintang government, it could not prevent the widespread circulation of gold, silver and foreign currencies. In cities, gold, silver and foreign currencies have actually replaced gold and silver coupons as equivalents in the market; In rural areas, due to the shortage of hard currency such as silver dollars and copper coins, barter accounts for an increasing proportion in market circulation, and grain and cloth have become market exchange equivalents in many places.

Severe inflation has also opened the door for foreign currencies to occupy our market. In addition to US dollar bills and Hong Kong dollars, there are various foreign currencies circulating in the market, such as British pound, French franc, Singaporean currency, Vietnamese currency, Portuguese currency, Indian Rupee currency and Myanmar currency. In addition to the Soviet Union and Northeast Asian countries, the currencies of almost neighboring countries and countries with more overseas Chinese have been put into use in China market circulation. It is estimated that on the eve of national liberation in 1949, there were about 300 million US dollars and 580 million Hong Kong dollars circulating in China. Half of the circulation of Hong Kong dollars has flowed into South China.

Two, the birth of the RMB and the gradual unification of the currency in the customs liberated areas.

1, RMB background.

1In July, 947, the People's Liberation Army turned to a strategic counterattack, which was a historic turning point in China's revolution, and national victory was not far off. With the China Revolution turning into a strategic offensive, Shanxi-Suiyuan, Shanxi-Chaji, Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan and Shandong Liberated Areas gradually became one. In order to meet the needs of the development of the revolutionary situation, under the leadership of the Central Committee, the work of establishing a "central bank to issue a unified currency" has been put on the agenda. 1947 10 10 On 8 October, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out in his reply to the report of the North China Finance and Economics Office: "At present, the time for establishing a unified bank is a bit premature, so it is necessary to make preparations. As for the name of the bank, the People's Bank of China can do it. " 1947165438+10, North China Finance Office confirmed that Nan was responsible for organizing the preparatory office of the People's Bank of China. After a year of research, negotiation and preparation, the People's Bank of China was announced to be established in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province (formed by the merger of former North China Bank, Beihai Bank and Northwest Farmers Bank) on February 0, 1948, and the banknotes of the People's Bank of China were issued from now on. At that time, it was decided that the task of issuing RMB was to unify the currency of the liberated areas and at the same time serve as the functional currency of new China. The issuance policy of RMB is "moderately stable". In other words, according to the situation of production and commodity circulation in various regions and the tightness of market currency, RMB should be put into the market in a planned and step-by-step manner.

2. The gradual unification of the currency in the liberated areas in the pass.

After the establishment of the People's Bank of China and the issuance of RMB, the currency in the Liberated Area of Guannei was unified immediately. 1948 12 1 Announcement of the People's Government of North China on the Establishment of the People's Bank of China and the Issuance of Renminbi states: "From this year 1 February1day, the paper money of the People's Bank of China (hereinafter referred to as new money) will be issued as the standard for unified circulation in North China, East China and Northwest China. All public and private payments and all transactions are made in the new currency against the standard currency. After the new coins are issued, the Ji coins (including Luxi coins), border coins (Jinchaji), Beihai coins and Xinong coins (hereinafter referred to as old coins) will be gradually recovered. " [3]

In order not to make the people's interests suffer losses in the process of currency unification, the people's government adopted the policy of "fixing the exchange rate, mixing circulation, gradually recovering and being responsible to the end", and gradually recovered the currency issued in the liberated areas in a planned and step-by-step manner. There are two main ways to unify:

(1) Fixed price, mixed circulation. 1948 When RMB was issued in February, the People's Government of North China, according to the price level in the Liberated Area, set a reasonable price ratio between RMB and Hebei hard currency, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border currency, Beihai currency and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia commercial circulation notes, stopped issuing the currencies in the above areas, and asked local banks to gradually recover the above currencies according to the stipulated price ratio. Around the liberation of Tianjin, the People's Government of North China once again announced the fixed exchange rate of RMB against the currencies in the liberated areas (some reiterated, some new regulations). For example, Zhongzhou currency is1:3; The currency of Jinan, Beihai and Central China is1:100; For Great Wall bank notes, it is1200; Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border currency and Jehol bank voucher are1:1000; Xinong Coin and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Commercial Circulation Voucher are1:2000; Jire Liaobian currency 1: 5000. These parity rates are basically consistent with the natural parity rates formed in the market circulation at that time.

By adopting the transitional mode of fixed price and mixed circulation, the cut-off economic relations between regions can be quickly restored and developed, which not only facilitates the exchange and circulation of the masses, but also does not cause market shocks. However, this method is flexible. During the Battle of Peiping and Tianjin, the People's Liberation Army of China, in order to meet the needs of standing by, once stipulated that the Northeast Bank Notes and the currency of southern Hebei should be temporarily allowed to circulate in Peiping and Tianjin as the auxiliary currency of RMB, while the currencies of other liberated areas were not allowed to circulate in the city. After the victory of the Battle of Ping Jin, the People's Government of North China announced on April 1949 and 15 that it would stop the circulation of Northeast bank notes and Jinan coins in Ping Jin and Tianjin and redeem them within a time limit. At the same time, the People's Government of North China and the People's Government of Northeast China set up a joint office in Shanhaiguan to exchange the currencies of North China and Northeast China to facilitate exchanges between the two places.

(2) Recover all the currency in the Liberated Area at the stipulated exchange rate. In order to dispel some people's doubts that the currency issued by the People's Bank of China will stop being exchanged after the expiration of the exchange period, Nan Zai, general manager of the People's Bank of, delivered a speech at 10/0/0, promising: "The people's government is not only responsible for the new currency issued by the People's Bank of China, but also for all local currencies issued by the banks in the Liberated Areas in the past. In the future, when we collect local currency, we must exchange it at the current price until the last one. " [4] Subsequently, the People's Bank of China made many arrangements for the currency exchange in the Liberated Areas, stipulating that the holders of the currency in the Liberated Areas can still exchange at the People's Bank at the original exchange rate after the expiration of the exchange period. Later, the people's government was not only responsible for recovering the currency issued in the liberated areas during War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the Liberation War, but also for recovering the currency, promissory notes and government bonds issued by the base banks during the Agrarian Revolution at a reasonable price.

By the eve of the founding of New China, the people's government had successively recovered the currency issued by the Liberated Areas in Shanhaiguan by means of banking, financial collection and trade return, and the currencies in most parts of North China, Northwest China, East China and South Central China were unified into RMB, which laid a solid foundation for the currency unification of New China.