The Qing government followed the monetary system left over from the previous generation, that is, silver and copper coins (also known as coins) circulating in the market at the same time had the same legitimacy. These two currencies have different uses. Under normal circumstances, silver is mostly used for large-scale transactions such as state taxes, official salaries, soldiers' salaries, businessmen's salaries, and copper is used for sporadic private transactions. Due to the small amount of silver reserves in China, the government can't cast a unified silver coin, so silver can only be circulated as a weighing currency. Its color and weight vary from place to place, and the government basically has no unified standard for management, which is completely controlled by businessmen. The change and flow of silver are directly affected by the international and domestic markets, and the government lacks the ability to regulate the silver currency. As for copper coins, the government has strong control. It can continuously explore copper mines, buy copper materials from foreign countries, monopolize the right to coin, and adjust the number and scope of use of coins at any time to make them play a practical role. Silver coins and copper coins are not only two currencies, but also two metal commodities. The commodity prices of silver and copper determine the value of money. Because the prices of two kinds of metal commodities fluctuate with the change of market demand, the values of the two currencies cannot be stable. The monetary value of silver and copper coins and the price of silver and copper coins themselves rise and fall at the same time, which forms the market price of silver and copper coins and also produces the market price comparison of the two currencies. In order to monopolize the monetary power and control the currency value, the Qing government inherited the method of fixing the currency value of the previous government and stipulated the currency value of Shunzhi for four years. "Every ten articles, one point is silver, and it will always be an order." In other words, the price of copper coins and silver is 1000: 1. Generally speaking, the government's efforts to maintain the official parity are reflected in the regulation of the amount of money circulating in the market, which is also the process of the government's monetary policy. Its monetary policy is realized through the production, circulation and management of money.
In terms of production, the government keeps increasing or decreasing the number of coins according to the fluctuation of the price of silver and money in the market, thus controlling the total amount of currency in circulation. For the two mint bureaus in Beijing, the government stipulates that the annual minting amount should be controlled by increasing or decreasing the number of mints and furnaces. According to statistics, during the period from Shunzhi to Jiaqing, the Beijing Bureau increased or decreased the number of coins about 14 times. Later, due to the shortage of copper in stock, fewer coins were cast every month. At the same time, the government also buys private money and official small money to lose weight, and returns to the furnace to make money according to the standard. Shunzhi for three years, "old money is strictly forbidden, and those who send it to the Ministry are eight points per catty." In eighteen years, in the capital and other places, "buy private money, old money and waste money, so that people can't mix them." Ten years of Kangxi, buying old money and wasting money. "According to the copper price of 65 cents per catty, it will be destroyed." In the twenty-eighth year, it was ordered that "the private money of the people should be handed over to the Ministry of Accounts in the capital in June, and silver should be bought and exchanged at the copper price." In the twenty-two years of Qianlong, the Regulations on Collection and Exchange of Waste Banknotes were also stipulated respectively.