1. The evolution from natural currency to artificial currency

Bei is the earliest currency in my country, and the Shang Dynasty used shells as currency. In Chinese characters, most of the words related to value start from "贝". With the development of commodity exchange, the demand for currency is increasing, and seashells can no longer meet people's needs. People in the Shang Dynasty began to use copper to imitate seashells.

The emergence of copper coins is a major evolution from natural currency to artificial currency in the history of ancient currency in my country. With the extensive use of artificial coins, natural currency such as seashells has slowly withdrawn from China's currency stage.

2. The evolution from chaotic shapes to unified shapes.

From the appearance of copper coins in the Shang Dynasty to the Warring States period, our country's currency has many shapes. During the Warring States Period, not only each country minted its own currency, but also each region within a vassal country minted its own currency. The shovel coins of Zhao State, the knife coins of Qi State, the round square hole coins of Qin State, and the ant-nosed coins of Chu State are more famous.

After Qin unified China, Qin Shihuang promulgated China's earliest currency law in 210 BC, "Using Qin coins to unify the world's coins", which stipulated that half of Qin's round square holes should be used throughout the country. money.

The unification of currency ended the chaos of ancient Chinese currency with different shapes and weights. It was a major evolution in the history of ancient Chinese currency from a chaotic shape to a standardized shape. The round square hole shape established by Qin Banliang Coin was continued until the early Republic of China.

3. The evolution from local coinage to central coinage.

In the early Han Dynasty, the prefectures were allowed to mint money freely. According to the "Book of Han·Shihuo Zhi", Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty "removed theft and minted money and ordered the people to cast money freely." Therefore, "theft of minting was like a cloud." ". This not only caused currency chaos, but also allowed wealthy merchants to control the power of minting, making them richer than the emperor. In 113 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took back the minting rights of the counties and counties, and the central government unified the minting of five baht coins. The five baht coins became the only legal currency at that time.

Since then, the unified management of coin casting and issuance by the central government has been determined. This is a major evolution from local coinage to central coinage in the history of ancient Chinese currency. Since then, the mintage of all dynasties has been directly managed by the central government. The return of minting power to the central government played an important role in stabilizing the political situation and economic development of each dynasty.

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

Coins minted since the Qin and Han Dynasties usually clearly indicate the weight of the money in the money inscriptions, such as "half a tael", "five baht", etc. (twenty-four baht is one tael). In the fourth year of Wude (621), Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan was determined to reform the currency system, abolish ancient coins of different weights, and use the meaning of "opening up a new era" to uniformly cast "Kaiyuan Tongbao" coins.

"Kaiyuan Tongbao" is contrary to the old system of Qin and Han Dynasties. The money does not have the weight written on it. It is the evolution of ancient Chinese currency from written weight to Tongbao and Yuanbao. "Kaiyuan Tongbao" money is the earliest Tongbao money in my country. Since then, my country's copper coins no longer use money to mark the weight, but are commensurate with Tongbao and Yuanbao. This has been used until the "Republic of China Tongbao" after the Revolution of 1911.

5. The evolution of metal currency into paper currency "Jiaozi".

In the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of exchange, the amount of currency circulation increased. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, 800,000 coins were minted annually, and gradually increased thereafter. Due to the shortage of copper materials for coining coins, the government made large quantities of iron coins in some areas to make up for the shortage. According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", the iron coins cast in Sichuan at that time always weighed twenty-five pounds and eight taels. To buy a piece of silk fabric in Sichuan, you have to pay 130 kilograms of iron money. Iron money was so cumbersome and inconvenient that the paper currency "Jiaozi" printed in the Northern Song Dynasty came into being in Sichuan.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, with the permission of the government, it was jointly operated by 16 wealthy households in Chengdu. The emergence of "Jiaozi" is an important evolution from metal currency to paper currency in the history of ancient Chinese currency. "Jiaozi" is not only the earliest banknote in my country, but also the earliest banknote in the world.