Paper money is a common currency form in the world today, and the earliest paper money in the world was Jiaozi in Chengdu, Sichuan during the Northern Song Dynasty in China.

China is the country that used money earlier in the world. According to literature records and a large number of unearthed cultural relics, the origin of Chinese currency has a history of at least 4, years. The development of currency culture in China has a long history, from primitive Beibi coins to cloth coins, knife coins, money, ant nose coins and square hole coins popular after Qin Shihuang unified China. By the Northern Song Dynasty, paper money-"Jiaozi" appeared in China.

the emergence of paper money is a great progress in the history of money. Some people think that the origin of China paper money can be traced back to the "White Deer Skin Coin" in Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty and the "Flying Money" in Xianzong of Tang Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the treasury was empty because of years of fighting against Xiongnu. In order to solve the financial difficulties, while casting "three baht money" and "white gold coin" (a gold coin made of silver and tin), the "white deer skin coin" was issued. The so-called "white deerskin coin" uses the white deerskin of the palace as the coin material, each piece is one square foot, and the surrounding area is painted. Each piece of deerskin coin has a fixed value of 4, yuan. Because its value is far away from the value of leather coins, "White Deer Leather Coin" is only used as a gift between princes and princes, and has not been used in the circulation field, so it is not a real paper currency, and can only be said to be a pioneer of paper currency. "Flying money" appeared in the middle of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, it was inconvenient for businessmen to take a lot of copper coins when they went out for business. They first issued a voucher to the government, which recorded the number of places and coins, and then took the voucher to withdraw money from different places to buy goods. This voucher is called "flying money". "Flying money" is essentially just a kind of exchange business. It does not intervene in circulation and does not exercise the function of money, so it is not a real paper money. The "Jiaozi" in Chengdu, Sichuan in the Northern Song Dynasty was the beginning of real paper money.

It is no accident that paper money appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is an inevitable product of social, political and economic development. With the rapid development of commodity economy in Song Dynasty, more money was needed in commodity circulation. At that time, there was a shortage of copper coins, which could not meet the demand in circulation. At that time, iron money was widely used in Sichuan, which was very inconvenient to use because of its low value and heavy weight. At that time, a copper coin was worth ten iron coins, and the weight of each thousand iron coins was 25 kg, and the money was 13 kg. Buying a piece of cloth costs 2, yuan, weighs about 5 Jin, and needs to be carried by car. Therefore, there is an objective need for light currency, which is also the main reason why paper money first appeared in Sichuan. Furthermore, although the Northern Song Dynasty was a highly centralized feudal autocratic country, the national currency was not unified, and there were several currency areas, which were fragmented and not common. At that time, there were 13 roads (administrative units in the Song Dynasty) dedicated to copper coins, 4 roads dedicated to iron coins, and Shaanxi and Hedong used both copper and iron coins. Currency outflows are strictly prohibited in all currency areas, and the use of paper money can prevent the outflow of copper and iron money. In addition, the government of Song Dynasty was often attacked by Liao, Xia and Jin, and the military expenditure and compensation expenditure were very large, so it was necessary to issue paper money to make up for the fiscal deficit. Various reasons have contributed to the emergence of paper money-"Jiaozi".

the initial jiaozi was freely issued by businessmen. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there appeared a "cross-shop" in Chengdu, Sichuan, which was dedicated to the cash storage business for businessmen carrying huge sums of money. The depositor delivers the cash to the shop owner, and the shop owner temporarily fills in the amount of cash deposited by the depositor on a roll made of paper, and then returns it to the depositor. When the depositor withdraws the cash, he pays the interest of 3 pence to the shop owner, that is, pays 3% of the storage fee. This kind of paper coupon that temporarily fills in the deposit amount is called "jiaozi". At this time, the "jiaozi" is just a deposit and withdrawal certificate, not a currency.

With the development of commodity economy, the use of "Jiaozi" is becoming more and more extensive. Many businessmen jointly set up Jiaozi shops specializing in issuing and exchanging "Jiaozi" and set up Jiaozi sub-shops in various places. Because Jiaozi's shop owners are trustworthy, they can take it at any time, and the printed "Jiaozi" pattern is exquisite, hidden as a mark, black and red, and handwritten words are difficult for others to forge, so "Jiaozi" has won a high reputation. For large transactions between merchants, in order to avoid the trouble of handling coins, there are more and more cases of paying for goods directly with "jiaozi" that can be turned into cash at any time. It is in the process of repeated circulation that "Jiaozi" gradually has the character of credit currency. Later, Jiaozi's shop owners found that using only part of their deposits would not endanger Jiaozi's reputation. So they began to print "Jiaozi" with uniform denomination and format, and distributed it to the market as a new circulation means. This "jiaozi" is already a symbol of coinage, and it has really become paper money. However, at this time, the "Jiaozi" has not been recognized by the government, and it is still a "personal relationship" issued by the people.

However, not all Jiaozi shops are law-abiding and keep their credit. Some mercenary and insatiable shopkeepers, malicious fraud, shut up after spamming, stop business; Or misappropriate deposits, fail to operate other businesses and go bankrupt, so that the "jiaozi" issued cannot be cashed. In this way, when depositors can't withdraw money, they often stir up trouble and trigger lawsuits. Therefore, during the Jingdezhen period (14-17), Zhang Yong, Yizhou Zhizhou, reorganized the Jiaozi shop and eliminated the lawless people, which were exclusively operated by 16 wealthy businessmen. At this point, the issue of "Jiaozi" was approved by the government.

In the first year of Tiansheng in Song Renzong (123), the government set up Yizhou Jiaozi, with one or two officials from Beijing and North Korea as supervisors to preside over Jiaozi distribution, and "set up a paper copying institute to correct the disadvantages of counterfeiting" and strictly control its printing process. This is the earliest paper money officially issued by the government in China-"Guanjiaozi". It is six or seven hundred years earlier than the paper money issued by the United States (1692), France (1716) and other western countries, so it is also the earliest paper money issued in the world.

at the initial stage of the issue of "Guanjiaozi", its shape was modeled after the folk "personal relationship" and stamped with the state seal of the state, but the amount temporarily filled in was different, generally consistent to ten, and the circulation scope was stipulated. Song Renzong, shall be changed to five penetration and ten penetration. When I arrived in Song Shenzong, I changed it to consistent and five hundred languages. There are also restrictions on the amount of issuance, and it is stipulated that the distribution should be divided into three years (exactly two years) for each sector, and the new ones should be exchanged for the old ones. The first Jiaojiao issued 1,256,34 bonds, with a reserve capital of 36, bonds (with Sichuan Tieqian as the banknote), and the reserve is equivalent to 28% of the circulation. The circulation scope of "Jiaozi" was basically limited to Sichuan. Later, although it was popular in Shaanxi and Hedong, it was soon abolished.

In the first year of Daguan, Song Huizong (117), the Song government changed "Jiao Zi" to "Qian Yin" and "Jiao Zi Wu" to "Qian Yin Wu". Except for Sichuan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Huguang and other places, "Jiaozi" is still used, and all other roads are changed to "Qian Yin". In the third year of Daguan (119), Sichuan changed Jiaozi to Qian Yin. The biggest difference between "Qian Yin" and "Jiao Zi" is that it takes "Qian" as the unit. "Qian Yin" has excellent paper, printing, pictures and seals. However, "Qian Yin" didn't give notes, and it was not allowed to be exchanged, so the value of paper coupons plummeted. By the time of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty, each bundle was only worth 1 pence in cash.

The appearance of "Jiaozi" facilitates business contacts and makes up for the shortage of cash, which is a great achievement in the history of China's currency. In addition, Jiaozi, as the earliest banknote issued in China and even in the world, also occupies an important position in the history of printing and printmaking, which is of great significance to the study of printing technology of ancient banknotes in China.