At the turn of the century and the beginning of the Millennium, the origin and development of money are accompanied by the evolution of human social history. It has become an important tool to study social history and explore human civilization while recording human social and economic activities. The Chinese nation has a long history and is hardworking and brave. While creating and gestating human civilization, it also gestates the dazzling and far-reaching oriental monetary culture. It has become an important part of studying the evolution of the world currency. According to relevant historical data and archaeological research, the origin and development of China's currency are basically synchronized with the origin and development of the world's currency, which generally occurred after the first social division of labor, developed in the slave society of Shang Dynasty, formed in the late Zhou Dynasty and unified in the Qin Dynasty. As far as its currency development history is concerned, it has gone through four different stages: physical currency period, metal currency period, paper currency period and modern electronic currency period. Among them, China's metal currency silver and paper money were cast.

The period of physical currency is the primary stage of currency development, which came into being in the later stage after the first social division of labor and the separation of agriculture and animal husbandry in primitive society. According to the Book of Changes, "the work of Shennong ... is a market in Japan, which makes the world serve the people, collects the wealth of the world and returns it after the transaction." This passage describes the early commodity exchange process of physical currency in China, and the exchange form is barter. It's called ". The form of "barter exchange" can't adapt gradually. Therefore, people choose a product that everyone is willing to accept as an equivalent. This product has obtained the function of money, which is called "physical money". Its object is livestock first, followed by cuckoo, and finally currency.

During the period of metal currency, China used barter trade, which was called "barter". With the development of exchange, the form of "barter exchange" can't adapt gradually. So people choose a product that everyone is willing to accept as an equivalent. This product has acquired the function of money and is called "physical money". Its object is livestock first, followed by cuckoo, and finally coins.

China used metal currency after the second social division of labor, that is, the separation of handicrafts. Metal currency has been dominant in China's currency use for a long time, and it has been used for thousands of years, showing complex and diverse forms of the monetary system and occupying an important position in China's monetary system. Metal coins mainly go through three different stages:

First, the imitation stage. In this period, money was made of metal. Compared with the physical currency period, although there are several fixed coin shapes, there is no standard weight, only the difference in size. From Shang Dynasty to the end of Warring States, there were imitation shells, imitation farm tools and imitation tool "cut" coins in China, mainly including Western Zhou cloth coins, Qi and Yan knife coins, Chu ant nose coins and imitation spinning wheels.

Second, remember the currency stage. It is a period when the development of metal currency gradually moves towards standardization. In 22 1 year BC, after the unification of the six countries, Qin Shihuang unified the complicated reproduction currency into gold and semi-square hole coins. At this stage, silver began to be minted, and it was greatly popularized, making China the first country in the world to adopt silver coins. Among them, the five-baht coin has been issued for the longest time and is the most successful in the history of China.

Third, remember the monetary stage of the annual treasure money. The use of Bao Tong in Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty marked the beginning of the monetary stage of keeping the annual treasure money, that is, casting a year's number on the money. According to relevant archaeological discoveries, it didn't start from the Tang Dynasty, and the first time money was not coined in the Tang Dynasty, but most coins after the Tang Dynasty were coined for the next year. Therefore, China used to refer to the coins after Tang Kaiyuan and Bao Tong as the monetary stage of keeping money in mind. It is also a summary of the monetary practice of past dynasties. The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of the feudal dynasty in China. With the increase of foreign exchanges, the currency in this period had an important influence on the currency changes in China and even the development of the world currency. The economic prosperity in the Tang Dynasty is manifested in the following aspects: First, economic prosperity promoted the development of monetary and credit institutions. At that time, Chang' an had a credit institution specializing in exchange of foreign exchange, and there were "flying money" similar to bills of exchange; Second, in addition to the popular copper coins, there were also gold and silver coins in the Tang Dynasty, which developed the physical form of money. The most influential coin in this period was "Kaiyuan Bao Tong" in the Tang Dynasty.

Paper-making is one of the four great inventions in China, and China is also one of the first countries to use paper money. Its use can be traced back to the white deerskin coin in Han Dynasty and the "flying money" in Tang Dynasty. During the Northern Song Dynasty (about AD 1000), "Jiaozi" was officially issued and gradually improved, becoming the main currency in economic exchanges in the Ming Dynasty. It continued to be used in Qing dynasty, but it was once abolished. The appearance and use of paper money was in 1920. This is an unprecedented change in the process of currency development. 800 years ago, Kyle polo, a world-famous traveler who visited China in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, could not understand that cheap paper could be exchanged for expensive silk at the same price. Although paper money has changed the way of commodity exchange, feudal society and modern rulers only regard paper money as their own issue.

Over-issuance of tools to gather wealth and accumulate wealth has led to an increase in inflation. 1935 The fiat money issued by the Kuomintang government when it implemented the "fiat money reform" was used as a tool to exploit and squeeze the people, expand armaments and persist in the civil war, which led to rising prices and depressed people's livelihood. Until the people's monetary system 1948+02.

If the use of paper money in the last century is a new era in the history of currency development initiated by China, then the electronic currency created by Americans as a symbol of modern society in the early 20th century is another epoch-making and significant change in the history of currency development. Its appearance not only changed the traditional payment method of human beings, but also realized the leap of money from tangible stage to intangible stage, and also changed the standard of measuring wealth for thousands of years. It involves all aspects of human life. In recent ten years, electronic money has developed rapidly in China with its advantages of convenience, safety and high efficiency, and has been widely used in many fields such as people's production and life. With the continuous development of science and technology and the formation of electronic money internet, it is inevitable that electronic money will replace traditional money. We believe that in the 2 1 century, the era of electronic money represented by credit cards has arrived, and it is no longer a card in hand and travels all over the world.

Looking back on the past and looking forward to the new century, China is one of the earliest civilized countries in the world to manufacture and use money. In the long history of money, it has written down the glory of Chinese civilization countless times and recorded the most powerful page of the feudal dynasty in Han and Tang Dynasties. However, due to China's closed door in the late feudal society and the backwardness of modern industry, we have fallen far behind western countries in science, technology and economic development. This requires that every coin lover should not stick to the shape, size, weight, color, composition, writing, casting age and manufacturing technology of the coin itself, but should improve it into the social and economic structure to study the emergence, development and changes of the currency; We should put the study of money in its specific history, study its socio-economic conditions and its political, military and cultural aspects, make the past serve the present, understand the laws of economic activities, master modern science and technology, and serve the socialist financial cause and financial system reform. Only in this way can we better carry forward China's long-standing monetary culture.