Traditional secret currency

Traditional money is usually yellow and white paper, which is often painted with patterns and pasted with gold foil or silver foil. Gold foil is called "golden paper", which is burned to the gods or used for blessing. What is stuck with silver foil is called "silver paper", which is burned to ancestors or ghosts. There is a poem that says, "whoever makes paper money, one can't play with ghosts." A trace of wear hangs around the grave, and pear blossoms are sad and cold. "

Central and North China also cut paper money into copper coins and silver ingots. The paper money used in Qing dynasty was as big as a cup mouth. The words "Chuntai Treasure" are printed on the yellow paper money, and the words "Wandering in Asia" are printed on the white paper money.

In the north and south of Taiwan Province Province, the styles of paper money are similar, but the colors and names are different. For example, the popular "cutting gold" in the north of Taiwan Province Province is not popular in the south of Taiwan Province Province, and it is replaced by "square gold".

There is also a kind of paper money with servants, beautiful women, horses and chariots, daily necessities and so on. This kind of money is not a common form of money, but represents the real thing itself, such as the popular paper money "Change clothes" and "Ma Jia" in Taiwan Province Province.

"Change clothes" or "dress" is a piece of paper money with clothes, pants and other daily necessities painted on it to burn people. "Ma Jia" is a paper money with armor, horses and followers painted on it.

Because of the prevalence of Buddhism, some people will print Buddhist scriptures and incantations on paper and burn them to ancestors and the deceased, hoping that they can get a blessing in this way, such as "money for the past" printed with past incantations. More serious people will use this kind of paper money to fold into lotus flowers and paper boats to symbolize the transcendental journey to Elysium. Some people also turned it into an ingot, symbolizing a silver ingot and using it as a currency flower.

Ancient tomb sacrifices were cut into long strands with colored paper. Hanging on the tomb is called hanging money, which inherits the ancient custom. In modern times, there are also tomb papers that don't burn paper money, such as gravel and clods that are pressed on the grave when sweeping the grave, which means repairing the grave. Generally speaking, there are two styles of tomb paper, one is colored, called "five-color paper", which is Quanzhou style. The other is pure yellow, which is used by Zhangzhou people.