Origin of Paper Money

Introduction

The first country to use paper money was China, around the ninth century AD. The first paper money used in Europe was issued by the Bank of Sweden in 1661, although at that time it was issued only as a stopgap measure and not as real money. In 1694, the Bank of England was created and began issuing silver sheets. The silver sheets were initially handwritten before being changed to printed copies. The printed silver sheets became real banknotes once they were accepted by the public.

Currently there are more than two hundred types of banknotes in the world***, circulating in 193 independent countries and other regions of the world. As the main currency of each country's currency banknotes, beautiful, multi-faceted reflection of the country's history and culture of the cross-section of the communication of the world's people's economic exchanges. Currently the world's more important paper money including the dollar, the euro, the yuan, the yen and the pound sterling.

Definition of paper money

A symbol of money issued by a state for compulsory use. Paper money itself does not have value, although as a kind of money, but it can not directly exercise the function of the scale of value. Paper money is a form of money commonly used in countries around the world today, and the world's earliest appearance of paper money, is China's Northern Song Dynasty in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, "Jiazi". China is the earliest country in the world to use paper money.

Circulation formula

The circulation formula of banknotes = total price of commodities/number of times currency circulates

The birth of Jiaosi

I. Background

According to the documentary records and a large number of excavated artifacts, the origin of China's currency has at least a 4,000-year history, from the primitive shell coins to the cloth coinage, the knife coinage, the wan money, the anthropoid money as well as the money that was popular after the unification of China by Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor of Qin. From the primitive shell coins to cloth coins, knife coins, circle coins, ant-nose coins, and square-hole coins popularized after the unification of China by Emperor Qin Shihuang, the development of China's monetary culture can be said to be of far-reaching origins. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, paper money - "jiaozi" - appeared in China.

The appearance of paper money is a great progress in the history of money. Some people in the numismatic field believe that the origin of Chinese paper money can be traced back to the "white buckskin coins" of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the "flying money" of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, because of the long years of war with the Xiongnu, the state treasury was empty, in order to solve the financial difficulties, in the minting of "three baht coins" and "white gold coins" (silver and tin minted gold coins), at the same time, issued the "White Deer Skin Coin". The so-called "white buckskin coins" were issued at the same time. The so-called "white deerskin coins" were made of white deerskin from the palace garden, and each coin was a square foot, with colorful paintings on the periphery, and the value of each coin was fixed at 400,000 coins. Because its value is far from the value of the coin itself, so "white deer skin coins" only as a tribute between the princes and lords of the use, and not used in circulation, so it is not the real meaning of paper money, can only be said to be the forerunner of paper money. "Flying money" appeared in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, when merchants went out to do business with a lot of copper with a lot of inconvenience, they will be the first to the official opening of a voucher, which records the number of places and coins, and then hold the voucher to go to the other side of the withdrawal of goods. This voucher is "flying money". "Flying money" is essentially just a kind of exchange business, it does not intervene in the circulation, do not exercise the function of money, so it is not the real sense of paper money. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, "Jiaosi" is the beginning of the real paper money.

900 years, "Jiaosi" birthplace is always a mystery.

According to experts, "Jiaosi" first appeared in the form of private circulation, so it is also known as "private Jiaosi". Famous economic history experts, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics Currency and Securities Museum curator Liu Fangjian said that the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Chengdu, a very developed commercial area, currency tensions, but the circulation of iron money is poor, so the local 16 rich families began to privately print a kind of alternative to the coins, with the kozo bark vouchers, which was later known as the "cross". The local government initially wanted to outlaw this "new currency", but it was so effective in economic circulation that it decided to use official printing instead. However, the birthplace of these two kinds of "Jiazi" has never been discovered.

Historical evidence suggests that the first "Jiaozi" was printed in the Wanfo Temple in Chengdu.

Researchers in the past believed that the "Pepper Street" at the east gate of Chengdu should be the place where the official "Jiaodi" was printed at that time. Because "Chengdu City Square Ancient Monuments Examination" on the Chengdu East Gate "Pepper Street" has this explanation, "One said that the name of the street is 'Jiaosi', to the Song Dynasty tasted set up Jiaosi business in this."

But the local currency collectors questioned this statement, because according to the "Chengdu Financial Records" in the text of the explanation: "the Northern Song Dynasty Yizhou's 'cross store' is the earliest in the history of Sichuan's monetary financial institutions, and Yizhou's cross service is the earliest by the state-approved establishment of the banknote issuing organization." Obviously, there is no basis for saying that the banknote issuing organization is the place of printing. In other words, there is no direct evidence to show that "Jiaozi Street" is the birthplace of "Jiaotzu". Since the birth of the "cross" has been more than 900 years, and there is no specific physical evidence, only from the literature to find. As early as 3 years ago, the currency museum of Zhan Xing began to start from the historical books, find "cross" birthplace. He got from the library, "the whole Shu Arts and Writings", found the Yuan Dynasty Fei Zhuo "kozo coins spectrum" in a paragraph: "Yuanfeng yuan years (AD 1078) increased 1; palm of 10 people, 69 people posted books, printing 81 people, carving 6 people, casting 2 people, miscellaneous 12 people, granary to the difference. The paper used, the initial set up their own field, to cross the sub-officer also led, and then consider it a disadvantage, to other officials Dong. Longxing yuan (AD 1163), so that one of the special officer to visit, moved to live in the west of the city of jingzhong temple." This means that the official issue of the "cross" printed in the west of the city's Jingzhong Temple, but after more than 900 years, now Chengdu has long been no Jingzhong Temple, how to find it? Later, after the help of the scholar Ding Zuchun in Nanchong City, Sichuan, Zhan Xing's verification and a step deeper, it turned out that the net crowd temple was first built in the Eastern Han Dynasty Huan Di Yanxi years, six dynasties when the name of the Anpu Temple, the name of the Temple of the net when the Tang Dynasty, the name of the Temple of the net, Song Dynasty, the name of the Temple of the net, the end of the early Ming renamed the Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas, the end of the Ming Dynasty, after the destruction of the war after the entry of Zhang Xianzhong, the Qing Dynasty, the reconstruction of the early years of the Kangxi period, is still called the Temple of the Ten Thousand Buddhas, the address of the west gate of Chengdu, the side of the Golden Flower Bridge.

Two, the reason

The appearance of banknotes in the Northern Song Dynasty is not accidental, it is the inevitable product of the development of social and political economy. The Song Dynasty commodity economy developed faster, the circulation of commodities need more money, and the shortage of copper at that time, to meet the circulation of the amount needed. At that time the sichuan area pass iron money, iron money value low amount of heavy, extremely inconvenient to use. At that time, a copper money against iron money ten, the weight of each thousand iron money, big money 25 pounds, 13 pounds in money. Buy a cloth need iron money 20,000, weighing about 500 pounds, to use the car. Chengdu is an important economic center, and, Shu Han road to the outside world and exceptionally rugged and difficult to travel, so the objective need for lightweight currency, which is the main reason why paper money first appeared in Sichuan. Furthermore, although the Northern Song Dynasty was a highly centralized feudal dictatorship, the national currency was not unified, and there existed several currency zones, each governed by its own, not common to each other. At that time, there were 13 roads (administrative units of the Song Dynasty) dedicated copper money, 4 roads dedicated iron money, Shaanxi, Hedong, copper and iron money used at the same time. Each currency area is strictly prohibited currency outflow, the use of paper money is to prevent the outflow of copper and iron money. In addition, the Song government was often attacked by Liao, Xia, Jin, military and compensation expenditure is very large, but also need to issue banknotes to make up for the financial deficit. All of these reasons contributed to the creation of the paper currency, the "Jiazi".

Three, the development process

Initially, the Jiaosi was issued freely by merchants. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there appeared in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, the "Jiazi store", which specialized in cash depository business for merchants carrying large sums of money. Depositors deliver cash to the store, the store depositors to deposit the amount of cash temporarily filled in with kozo paper made on the roll, and then returned to the depositor, when the depositor withdraws the cash, every Guan paid the store 30 wen money interest, that is, to pay 3% of the custodial fee. This kind of kozo paper coupon, which was temporarily filled in with the amount of money deposited, was called "jiaozi". At this time, the "hand over", just a deposit and withdrawal of money, not money.

With the development of the commodity economy, the use of "jiaozi" became more and more widespread, and many merchants jointly set up jiaozi stores specializing in issuing and exchanging "jiaozi," and set up jiaozi sub-shops in various places. Because of the crosses store households abide by the credit, take as you go, the print "crosses" pattern, hidden mark, black and red between the wrong, handwritten words, others are difficult to forge, so the "crosses" has won a high degree of credibility. Large transactions between merchants, in order to avoid the trouble of handling coins, directly with the ready to become cash money "cross" to pay for instances is also increasing. It is in the process of repeated circulation, "Jiaosi" gradually has the character of credit money. Later, the shopkeepers realized that using only part of their deposits would not jeopardize the creditworthiness of the currency. So they began to print "Jiaotzu" with a uniform denomination and format, as a new means of circulation to the market. This "Jiaosi" was already the symbol of minted coins, and really became paper money. But at this time, the "Jiaosi" has not been recognized by the government, or the private issue of the "private".

But not all of them are law-abiding, trustworthy. There are some profit-oriented, greedy store, malicious fraud, in the abusive issue of the hand over the door after the closure of the business; or misappropriation of deposits, operating other business failures and bankruptcy, so that the issue of the "hand over the hand over the" can not be honored. In this way, when the depositors to get money and can not, it is often provoked trouble, litigation. Therefore, during the Jingde period (1004-1007), Zhang Yong, the governor of Yizhou, reorganized the stores of Jiazi, eliminated the outlaws, and specialized in the operation of sixteen rich merchants. The issuance of "Jiaosi" was then recognized by the government.

In the first year of Emperor Renzong's reign (1023), the government set up the Yizhou Jiazi Service, with one or two officials from the Beijing court acting as supervisors to preside over the issuance of Jiazi, and "set up a paper copying institute to eliminate the evils of counterfeiting," and strictly enforce the printing process. This is the earliest officially issued by the government of China's paper money - "official currency". It is six or seven hundred years earlier than the United States (1692), France (1716) and other Western countries to issue paper money, and is therefore the world's earliest issued paper money.

"The official cross" issued in the early stage, its shape is modeled on the folk "private cross", stamped with the state seal, only temporary fill in the amount of text is different, generally consistency to ten guan, and provides for the circulation of the scope. When Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, it was changed to five guan and ten guan. By the time of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, it was changed into two kinds of consistency and 500 texts. There was also a limit to the amount of issue, the provisions of the boundaries of the issue, each boundary of three years (full two years), to the new for the old. The first issue of 1,256,340 kanji, 360,000 kanji of reserve money (to Sichuan's iron money for the banknote), the reserve is equivalent to 28% of the issue. The circulation of "Jiaosi" was also basically limited to Sichuan, and later became popular in Shaanxi and Hedong, but was soon abolished.

In the first year of Emperor Huizong's Daguan reign (1107), the Song government changed the name of "jiaozi" to "qianxin" and "jiaozi service" to "qianxin service". The government of the Song Dynasty changed the name of "Jiaotzu" to "Qianyin" and "Jiaotzu Service" to "Qianyin Service". In addition to Sichuan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Huguang and other places still use "Jiazi", the other roads are changed to "money quote". After the Sichuan also in the three years of the Daguan (1109 years) to change the money for the money quote. The biggest difference between the "money quote" and the "cross" is that it is "string" as a unit. The paper, printing, drawings and seals of "Qianyin" were all very good. But the "money quote" does not set the banknote, not allowed to exchange, and issued at will, so the value of the paper coupon fell, to the Southern Song Dynasty Jia Ding period, each string is worth only one hundred dollars in cash.

Four, the impact

"The emergence of the cross" to facilitate commercial exchanges, to make up for the lack of cash, is a major performance in the history of China's currency. In addition, as the earliest banknote issued in China and even in the world, "Jiaozi" also occupies an important position in the history of printing and printmaking, and is of great significance to the study of China's ancient banknote printing technology.

Hui Zi

I. The origin of Hui Zi and the pronunciation of the word "Hui"

The name of "Hui Zi" came into being in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it is a kind of voucher for taking money. It is a kind of voucher for taking money. It is recorded as "Huizi", "Qian Huizi", "Lead and Tin Huizi", and "Sending Attached Money Huizi". In the eighth year of Xining of Emperor Shenzong (1075), Lv Huiqing said in the discussion of Shaanxi Jiazi: "We can follow the Xichuan Law to make the people pay money for the Jiazi, that is, Jiazi. If you have money, you will get the money. If you have no money, who is willing to give money to get the money?" ① It is thus clear that the money would be the proof of the payment and the taking of the money. The meaning of "money" is the same as that of "hui zi". The lead and tin kaiko (③) was a receipt for money received after selling lead and tin to the government.

Sending money and goods may be related to send attached store. In the Tang Dynasty, there was already a store in Chang'an. Huo Xiaoyu biography" said Huo Xiaoyu often ordered the servant girl will be sold to the west of the city to send attached store Hou Jingxian home. In the early Southern Song Dynasty, Wu Zeng said, "In the city where the world is now, there are sent attached stores "4 , indicating that the sent attached stores had become quite common in the Northern Song Dynasty. The money and goods deposited by the mail attaching store issued vouchers called "money and goods attaching money and goods will be called". In the third year of Emperor Huizong's reign (1113), it was prohibited by imperial decree because "the people of all colors often sent money and goods out of the capital and exercised them outside the city, which was harmful to the law of banknotes (salt banknote law)".5 The ability to send money and goods out of the capital was also prohibited by imperial decree. If the money and goods attached to the bill of exchange could be exercised outside the city, it had the nature of a bill of exchange. At the end of the Shaoxing period, Hong Shih, the governor of Huizhou, said in "The Ministry of Revenue Begging for the Exemption of Money", "Small counties are in the valleys, and there is no family of accumulation of money, and the footprints of rich merchants and large corporations cannot be seen, and the flow of goods in the name of the name of a very small number of people, and the people are all out of the club to exchange for the money."

The Chinese government has been trying to make the country a better place to live, and it has been trying to make the country a better place to live.

Lin'an (Hangzhou) in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty that is issued by the private sector, "send payment to the money will be", "send payment" when the send attached, "to the money" even if the money, meaning the exchange. Shaoxing five years (1135), Gaozong had issued an imperial edict prohibiting the sending of money to the money will be banned from the city, by the residents of the opposition, the next day that the ban was canceled (7). Shaoxing thirty years in February Qian Duanli know Lin'an Province, the original hosted by the rich money will be collected for the government, "allowed in the city outside and copper parallel" ⑧. In July Qian Duanli for the Ministry of production of the minister, will also be taken over by the Ministry of the household, in February of the following year, the establishment of the line in the will be managed by the Department. The line in the will be a business later renamed "line in the will be a library", so the potential to say you "Xianchun Lin'an Zhi" and Wu Zimu "Dream sorghum record" in the will be a library and no will be a business. Li Xinchuan "since Jianyan dynasty and field miscellany" and "Jianyan since the Department of the year to record" said Shaoxing thirty-one years "set up in the line will be in the service, after the subordinate tea field".

① "renewed Ziji Tongjian long compilation" Volume 272 Xining nine years in the first month of A Shen.

② "Three Dynasties Northern Alliance will be" Volume 57 cited Tao Xuan Gan "Hedong Fengruji".

3 The renewal of the Ziji Tongjian long editorial volume 446 Yuan You five August b Wei.

④ Wu Zeng: Neng Chang Zhai Man Lu (能改斋漫錄) (cited in Yongle Da Dian (永乐大典), Volume 145,776).

5 The Song Hui Yao Series Draft - Criminal Laws, II 60.

6 Panzhou wenji (Collected Works of Panzhou).

7 Jianyan since the Department of the year to be recorded in Volume 93, Shaoxing five years in September, yiyou. In the book "to the money" of the word "to" written "to", which is "to" a way of writing, not a mistake. Some scholars mistakenly think that the word "full", that it is a mistake.

8 "Jianyan since the Department of the year to record" Volume 187 Shaoxing thirty years December B Si.

After subordinate to the tea farm should be the club Ziku. Dream sorghum record" Volume IX "Supervision when the bureau" said: "will be a library, in the questionable goods service set, under the tea field ...... to the service door (questionable goods service door official) part-time, to all (all tea field) Division of the officer to lead." Will Ziku once withdrawn, Rizong Shao Ding three years (1230) restored, Shao Ding five years because of the destruction of the fire and rebuilt ①.

Hui Zi was issued by the Hsing in Hui Zi Ku, so it was called "Hsing in Hui Zi": because it circulated mainly in the southeast, so it was also called "Southeast Hui Zi". Although it was issued by the central government, it was not a national currency.

What is the pronunciation of the "hui" in "hui zi", it is necessary to mention. "It can be pronounced hu) or kuai. Nowadays, when talking about the meeting of the son, both sounds are read by some people, which seems to be inconsistent. It is not difficult to deduce the correct pronunciation of the word "kuai" from the origin of the word "kuai". The meaning of "hui" is to take money vouchers, "meeting" meaning, but not "accounting" meaning, it can be seen that should be read hui and not read kuai. later produced at the end of the Ming Dynasty bill of exchange, a long period of time are written "will ticket ", which was gradually replaced by "bill of exchange". From the evolution of the word "will vote" can also be seen in the will of the "will" should be read hui sound.

II. The Boundary of Huizi and the Impossibility of Fully Understanding the Boundary

Huizi did not have a boundary at the beginning, but decided to have a boundary later, and after the boundary was divided, the two boundaries were implemented in parallel. There is no uniformity in the history books as to when the division and the parallelism of the two boundaries were declared. There are three accounts of when the division was declared***.

Will be issued after the division of boundaries, the old will be recovered, the collection and exchange period from the Qian Dao four years from December 1 to the Qian Dao five years on March 10th ①. Collected for each guan charge surcharge money 20 Wen, several hundred of the collection of 10 Wen. It was to be a boundary for three years. As the "Song Shi - food and goods Zhi under three" said that the cross is three years a boundary, in fact, it is two years, some scholars suspect that will be in fact also two years a boundary. In fact, the two cannot be compared. The author of the History of the Song Dynasty said that the three-year boundary of the Jiaosi was a mistake of three years, and did not use three years to represent two years. The author of the Song History said that the three-year boundary of the Jiazi was a mistake of three years, not using three years to represent the actual two years. Song Shi - food and goods Zhi under the third recorded Guangzong Shaoxi first year (1190) announced that the seventh and eighth boundaries will be the exhibition of boundaries, the minister said: "will be the boundaries of three years as a limit, now the exhibition to again, it is nine years, how to show the letter?" Three years for a boundary, two exhibitions *** for nine years; if it is a solid two years for a boundary, it will only add up to six years.

Will be a *** only 18 boundaries, to figure out the various sectors of the issue and acceptance time does not seem difficult. In fact, it is not. This is because:

First, insufficient information. Existing information about the club, about the club sub-boundary content is very incomplete. To come up with a complete timetable for the division based on this information, one can only rely on speculation. Reasonable speculation must be based on a considerable amount of information, and the existing information on the demarcation of the Aegean is insufficient to serve as a basis for speculation.

Secondly, it is difficult to determine the time of commencement of the first boundary. As mentioned above, will be divided into boundaries began in the fourth year of the Qian Dao, then the lth will not be issued from the fourth year of the Qian Dao? There are two different historical books on this. The Song book - food and goods under the three "said," five years of the Qian Dao right Xu line in the question of goods business are tea field "to exchange the first boundary, and every boundary since then, such as the exchange". This is the Qian Dao four years before the issue of the old will be counted as the first sector, because if the first sector after four years after the issue of the will be the first sector, then the five years of the Qian Dao has not yet arrived at the period of collection and exchange. However, Wang Yinglin's "Jade Sea", Volume 186, says: "The first sector was created in the fourth year of the Qian Dao period, and only 10 million ears were created. By the seventh year of the second boundary, that is to say, the Bureau received the first boundary." Clearly to the Qian Dao four years issued as the first sector, which is with the "Song History - Food and Warehouse Zhi under three" said Chunxi "three years, the edict of the third sector, the fourth sector of the exhibition of three years," there is a contradiction: according to the "Jade Sea" of the statement, seven years of the Qian Dao issued by the second sector, three years after the first year of the first year of the first year of the Chunxi issued by the third sector; according to the "History of the Song," the statement, three years of the third year of the first year of the first year of the first year of the second sector of the third sector of the third, fourth sector have been According to the Song History, the 3rd and 4th sectors had already expired and the circulation was postponed.

Thirdly, it is difficult to determine when the parallelism of the two worlds began. In the first five years of the Qian Dao, it was decided that the two realms should be parallelized, but the records of when it started to be implemented vary from book to book. Jade Sea" said to Chunxi six years "began to stack with the sixth and seventh two sectors", this time from the announcement of the two sectors of the time has been a full 10 years. And the song history said chunxi three years announced that the third and fourth boundaries of the exhibition limit of three years, then the two boundaries stacked at the latest in the nine years of qiandao or chunxi first year on the start. Moreover, it is difficult to have a precise explanation for the parallelism of the two boundaries itself, which can be issued at the beginning of the two boundaries; it can also be issued for one year, two years or three years after the issuance of a boundary and then issued another boundary, and the original boundary was not withdrawn, thus forming the situation of the two boundaries in parallel.

Fourth, the three-year rule was not strictly enforced. Although there is a three-year boundary, but it is not strictly enforced. Such as the 14th sector will be in Ningzong Jiading two years (1209) or four years began to issue, to Li Zong Shao Ding six years (1233) is still in circulation, before and after more than 20 years.

The above situation shows that the uncertainty of the situation of the sub-division is too much, the descendants can not completely figure out its original appearance. The various sectors of the club's start and end of the year has been a number of people have tried to list a complete timetable, but it can be said with certainty that none of the timetable is completely correct. This is not necessarily because of the lack of effort, but because it is objectively impossible.

From Rizong Chunyou seven years (1247), will be no longer divided into boundaries, the 17th and 18th boundaries "always exercise". To the King Ding five years (1264) October issued gold and silver see money on, consistently permitted the 18th sector will be three guan, limited to the 18th sector will be converted to the 17th sector within a month will be converted. The 18th sector still continued to circulate until the death of Song.

① "Documentation - coins two".

② See my article: " & lt; Song history & gt; the origin of Jiazi analysis error "," China Coin "," No. 1, 2002.

Third, the success of Song Xiaozong's management of the hui zi

After the hui zi was issued, it met the Song-Jin War. The government used the hui zi to pay for military expenses, and there were no effective measures to ensure the stability of the value of the hui zi, so devaluation was inevitable. In 1162, Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty assumed the throne, and the following year was the first year of the Longxing reign (1163). In the second year of Longxing, Song and Jin reached a peace agreement, and Emperor Xiaozong proceeded to reorganize the Society. Qian Dao two years (1166 years) in July, with the Treasury and the South Treasury silver 1 million taels of acceptance will be, the following year and within the Treasury silver 2 million taels of acceptance will be burned ①. The source of the two acceptance information is not the same, the latter may include the former. From the thirty-first year of the Shaoxing to three years of the Qian Dao, * * * printed more than 28 million kanji, to the first month of the third year of the Qian Dao outside the circulation of more than 8 million kanji. Because of the provisions of the road program transport all to cash money, so the state and county are not allowed to lose the private households will be, foreign merchants buy low price will be, transported to Lin'an to money or to the questionable goods services to the goods, resulting in six questionable goods services of the supply of tensions. Chunxi two years (1175 years) Xin Qiji had in a speech about the devaluation of will be said: "In the past, should be the civil loss of the order to see more money and will be less, the official branch of the dispersal of the see less money and will be more, so that the civil will be consistent with six hundred and twelve full, the army and the people, the road contention." ② Song Dynasty provincial strangulation system, to 770 for a consistent, "consistent for six hundred and twelve full" shows that will be depreciated by more than 10%. Qian Dao three years after the first month, continue to use the degree of ultimatums, teaching post each of the 500 for questionable goods pricing will be converted. To June of this year, only 4.9 million guan out of the club. Qian Dao six years in leap May and the provisions of the "all the way to the General Supervision Division of the state military acceptance, the release of the money Guan must be cash, half of the club," the implementation of the "money will be half" ③ of the system.

Qian Dao five years after the announcement of the two parallel worlds, the issue of will be gradually increased, to the first year of Chunxi (1174) the civil circulation of will be up to more than 22 million kan ④. After the return of the cage, in April of the second year of the Chunxi period, the amount of foreign currency dropped to 2 million kan, and the currency became a rare commodity, and there was a situation in which "merchants and travelers competed for the use of the currency in trade". Merchants use the benefits of the club is: "one for the exemption of commercial tax (gold and silver have tax), two for saving the foot multiplier (freight), three is not folded read (depreciation)." ⑤

The issuance of 2 million kan was only a momentary phenomenon, and after the third year of Chunxi, the issuance of hui zi continued to increase, and by the end of the year of Chunxi it had already reached more than 40 million kan.6 It exceeded more than double the amount of the issuance of the stipulated two boundaries. Although the issuance amount increased greatly, the value of the currency continued to remain stable. In the seventh year of the reign of Chunxi, the value of the guizi remained stable, with the guizi being equal to the guiqian (7). Chunxi twelve years Lin'an will be consistently exchangeable for money 750 Wen ⑧, less than the province of Mor 20 Wen, exactly equal to the cost of money. Even if the money outside, depreciation is not much. Chunxi thirteen years is still "soldiers and civilians do not want to see the money, but to will be children" 9. The circulation of the kozo during the Chunxi period was hailed by courtiers as "kozo is heavier than gold"

_______________________________________

① In the second year of the Qiandao period, see the Song History, Volume 181, "Food and Goods Zhi Xia 3 - kozo"; in the third year, see Dai Haniwa's "Mouse Money"; in the third year of the Qiandao period, see Dai Haniwa's "Mouse Money". In the third year of the Qian Dao period, the Chinese writer Dai埴《鼠璞-楮券源流》, Hong Mai 《Rong Zhai San Bian》Volume 14《官会折阅》, and Li Xin Chuan 《建炎以来朝野杂记）A Collection》Volume 16《东南会子》. Since Jianyan dynasty and field miscellany" said the internal collection, South Treasury silver 1 million taels each.

② "the famous ministers of the past dynasties" Volume 272.

3 "Qingyuan Article law class" Volume 30 "money will be in half".

4 "Song History" Volume 384 "Ye Heng biography". According to Ye Heng as right prime minister and privy councilor time projection should be in this year. Zhang Ruyu "Shantang Kousuo" after the collection of Volume VII "Broussonetia" said Chunxi jiawu (first year) will be issued up to 41.2 million Guan, and "Ye Heng biography" is inconsistent, not very credible, so do not take.

5 "Royal Song Zhongxing two dynasties of the Sacred Government" Volume 54 Chunxi two years in April nononzi.

6 "Jade Sea" Volume 186 said that the sixth and seventh two circles of Chunxi six years will be issued 4800 She Wan Guan ***. Chunxi six years is the beginning of the year of issuance, 4800 She ten thousand kan should be the 6th and 7th sector of the final issue of the number. And chun xi six years can be doubtful, because according to the "song history" volume 35 "filial piety zong ji three", chun xi ten years before please make the 7th sector will be. And "since Jianyan dynasty and field miscellany" B set of Volume 1.6 "Southeast acceptance will be" is said to be the 6th and 7th sector **** issued 41.23 million guan.

⑦ "Emperor Song Zhongxing two dynasties of the Sacred Government" Volume 58 Chunxi seven years in September, dibutyl sebacate.

⑧ Hong Mai: "Rongzhai three strokes" Volume 1.4 "official meeting folded reading".

9 Huang Song Zhongxing two dynasties of the Sacred Government " Volume 63 Chunxi thirteen years in July.

Or the "heavier than money" (①). The fact that paper money was heavier than gold or cash money was a compliment, but it reflected the fact that the hui zi did have considerable stability at that time and was popular among the people.

Song Xiaozong was the emperor who paid the most attention to the stability of banknotes and left a lot of remarks on banknote management in Chinese history. The basic experience of his success in managing paper money is, first, the implementation of the system of half of the money club, so that the club in the hands of the people can maintain half of the legal capacity of the government; the second is to control the number of issues of the club, and in the case of depreciation of the club will be the implementation of the policy of paper money back to the cage. Chunxi ten years, when he saw the amount of newly printed will, said: "the new printing will be more than the old and increased. Whenever a line of hui zi is used, less is heavier and more is lighter." ② This was his experience, which plainly reflected the law of circulation of paper money. Due to financial needs, he had to increase the issuance of hui zi, but the depreciation of hui zi has always been wary. He repeatedly warned his courtiers to be cautious about the circulation of hui zi, and the number of hui zi issued should never be too much. In the twelfth year of Chunxi, he also said that he "could not sleep for almost ten years" because of his fear of the devaluation of the hui zi. As a national paper currency in feudal society, the hui zi was not issued mainly to favor the circulation of commodities, but for financial needs. Therefore, in this year, Emperor Xiaozong also said: "The number of hui zi should not be too many. In other times, if we save to raise soldiers, we must collect all the hui zi." ④Raising soldiers became the most important reason for the issuance of the clubs in Emperor Xiaozong's mind.

The table of the amount of issue of hui zi during the reign of Qian Dao and Chun Xi

Time | sector | issue amount (ten thousand guan)| place

July of the second year of the Qian Dao (1166) | - | more than 2,800 | "Literature Tong Kao - Coinage II", "Sacred Politics of the Two Dynasties of the Emperor Song Zhong Xing", Volume 4.6, and "Full Text of the History of the Song", Volume 24.2

The second year of the Qian Dao (1166) November | - | the second year of the Qian Dao ( 1166) November |-| 980 | Literature and General Knowledge - Coinage II

The first month of the third year of the Qiandao era (1167) |-| 800 | Literature and General Knowledge - Coinage II, The Sacred Policies of the Two Dynasties in the Middle Ages of the Sung Dynasty, Volume 4.6, and The Complete History of the Sung Dynasty, Volume 2.4

The third year of the Qiandao era (1167) June |-| 490|The Literature Tongkao-Coinage II

The first year of Chunxi (1174)| ? | 2200+|The History of the Song Dynasty - Biography of Ye Heng

The second year of Chunxi (1175), April | ? | 200|The Sacred Politics of the Two Dynasties of the Imperial Song Zhongxing, Volume 5.4, The Complete History of the Song Dynasty, Volume 2.6 on

Chunxi? Years | 6th and 7th Borders | 4123 | Miscellaneous Records of the Dynasties and Places since Jianyan - Southeast Collections of the Society

Chunxi? Year |6th and 7th boundaries | 4800| Jade Sea, Volume 186

History of the Development of Chinese Currency

China was one of the first countries in the world to use currency, and the history of its use spans as long as 5,000 years. In the process of formation and development of ancient Chinese currency, it has gone through six major evolutions:

I. Evolution from natural currency to artificial currency

In Chinese characters, all the words related to value, most of them are derived from the word "shell". This shows that the shellfish is the earliest currency in China.

With the rapid development of commodity exchange, the demand for money is getting bigger and bigger, sea shells can no longer meet people's needs, people began to use copper to imitate sea shells. The emergence of copper shells is a major evolution in the history of China's ancient currency from natural currency to artificial currency.

With the massive use of artificial coins, the natural currency of the sea shells slowly withdrew from the Chinese monetary stage.

Second, from the messy shape to the evolution of the standardized shape

From the emergence of copper shells in the Shang Dynasty to the period of the Warring States period, China's currency gradually formed four major systems characterized by the lords claiming dominance, that is, shovel coins, knife coins, the ring of money, and the Chu coins (爰金, ant-nose money).

After the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Qin Shihuang promulgated China's earliest monetary law in 210 B.C.E., the "Qin Coin and the Coin of the World", which stipulated that the Qin half-tael coin with a rounded square hole should be used throughout the country.

The passage of Qin half-two coins with round square holes in the whole country put an end to the messy state of different shapes and weights of ancient currencies in China, and it was a major evolution from the messy shapes to the standardized shapes in the history of ancient currencies in China. Qin half-two money to determine the down of this round square holes in the form, has been continued until the early Republic of China.

Three, the evolution of local minting to the central minting

According to the "Han Book - Food and Waste Zhi" records, after the establishment of the Han by Liu Bang, allowed the people to privately cast coins. The gentry and wealthy merchants and local forces to take advantage of the opportunity to cast the evil money and profit. During the reign of Emperor Wendi, "Deng Tong, a great doctor, made more money than the king by minting money."

In the fourth year of the Yuan Ding era (11.5 years ago), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took back the right to mint coins in the counties and centrally minted five-baht coins. From then on, the unified management of coin casting and issuance by the central government was established, which was a major evolution from local to centralized coin casting in the history of ancient Chinese currency.

Since then, the minting of coins was directly managed by the central government. The return of the right to mint coins to the central government played an important role in stabilizing the political situation and economic development of each dynasty.

Four, from the weight of the instrument to the Tongbao, Yuanbao evolution

Qin and Han dynasty since the casting of the coins, usually in the text of the money are clearly marked the weight of the money, such as "half a tael", "five baht", "four baht" and so on (twenty-four baht), "four baht", "four baht", "four baht", "four baht" and so on.

Tang Gaozu Wude four years (621 years), Li Yuan determined to reform the coinage system, the abolition of light and heavy weight of the ancient money of the past dynasties, to "open up a new era," the meaning of the unified casting of the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" money. Kaiyuan Tongbao in contrast to the old system of qin and han, the money does not book weight, is China's ancient currency from the weight of the instrument to the evolution of the Tongbao, Yuanbao.

Kaiyuan Tongbao money is China's earliest Tongbao money. Since then, China's copper money is no longer marked with the weight of the money, are called Tongbao, Yuanbao, it has been used until after the 1911 Revolution "Republic of China Tongbao".

Fifth, the evolution of metal currency to paper money

Northern Song Dynasty, due to the shortage of copper casting, the government to make up for the lack of copper, in some areas of a large number of casting iron money. According to the "History of the Song Dynasty" records, at that time, Sichuan cast iron money consistently weighing up to twenty-five pounds and eight taels. In sichuan to buy a pi Luo (silk fabric), to pay one hundred and thirty pounds of iron money. Iron money is so heavy and inconvenient, paper money in the Sichuan region came into being. The emergence of Jiaozi is an important evolution in the history of China's ancient currency from metal money to paper money.

Jiaozi is not only the earliest paper money in China, but also the earliest paper money in the world.

Sixth, the evolution of paper money from handmade coins to the mechanism

Late Qing Dynasty, with the gradual introduction of advanced science and technology from abroad, the Guangxu period has begun to buy minting machines abroad for the manufacture of silver dollars, copper dollars. Later, Guangdong began to use the machine to manufacture the copper dollar without holes when ten. Because of the makers of lucrative, the provinces have followed suit.

The emergence of the mechanism of currency in the late Qing Dynasty is a major evolution in the history of China's ancient currency from handmade coins to the mechanism of currency.

From then on, not only the process of casting money has undergone a major change, but also to make the circulation of more than two thousand years of round square hole money end of life

Note finishing repair and categorization

Preliminary processing of banknotes is the first work of the collection of coins, because once the banknotes enter the market, after the circulation of banknotes, are more or less contaminated, the surface will be dirty and attached to a lot of bacteria, if it is not the initial processing of banknotes. If we don't do the preliminary processing, the bacteria in the humid place will be moldy and produce mildew, which will contaminate our collection of banknotes, affecting the collection effect, and will also reduce the collection's appearance and value, reducing its preservation life. It can be seen that a set of effective categorization and organization methods for banknote collectors is crucial. Generally for a variety of grades of paper