The southern states tended to use lead or iron coins with Sichuan with its own heavy iron coins which continued to circulate for a short period into the Song dynasty. Among pre-Song coins, the northern states tended to prefer copper coins. See also: Ancient Chinese coinage § The Northern Song dynasty, and Southern Song dynasty coinageĭuring the early Song dynasty ( Chinese: 宋, 960–1279), China again reunited the currency system displacing coinages from ten or so independent states. By the 12th century, various forms of paper money had become the dominant forms of currency in China and were known by a variety of names such as jiaozi, huizi, kuaizi, or guanzi. These proved so useful the state took over production of this form of paper money with the first state-backed printing in 1024. Tang merchants rapidly adopted forms of paper currency starting with promissory notes in Sichuan called "flying money" ( feiqian). Salaries were paid in "stones" ( 石, dàn) of grain during the Qin and Han dynasties. Government taxes were levied on both coins and products such as rolls of silk. Due to the low value of an individual coin, the Chinese have traditionally strung a nominal thousand copper coins onto a piece of string. The coins were round with a square hole in the middle which was the common design for most Chinese copper coins until the 20th century. All other forms of local currency were abolished. Main articles: Ancient Chinese coinage and Cash (Chinese coin)Īs part of the Unification of China, Qin Shi Huang ( Chinese: 秦始皇 pinyin: Qín Shǐ Huáng, 260 BC – 210 BC) introduced a uniform copper coin with the inscription " Ban Liang" based on the coins previously used by Qin. The Chu ( 楚) used money in the forms of " ant nose" coins ( yibi). The Zhao ( 趙) and the Yan ( 燕) used knife money before switching over to spade money roughly halfway through the Warring States period. The Qi ( 齊) used money in the shape of a knife ( dao). The Zhou, the Wei ( 魏), the Han ( 汉) and the Qin ( 秦) all used coins shaped like a spade ( bu). During the Warring States period, from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, Chinese money was in the form of bronze objects that were of three main types. Bronze became the universal currency during the succeeding Zhou dynasty. īronzed shells were found in the ruins of Yin, the old capital of the Shang dynasty (1500–1046 BC). At that time, the coin itself was a mock of more earlier used cowry shells, so it was called the Bronze shell. The Chinese may have invented the first metal coins, coins found in Anyang date to before 900 BC. In the Republic of China (ROC), the New Taiwan dollar is the official legal tender in Taiwan since 2000. The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau use the Hong Kong dollar and the Macanese pataca, respectively. It is the legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. Copper coins were used as the chief denomination of currency in China until the introduction of the yuan.Ĭurrently, the renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Paper money was invented in China in the 7th century, but the base unit of currency remained the copper coin. Cowry shells are believed to have been the earliest form of currency used in Central China, and were used during the Neolithic period.Īround 210 BC, the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang (260–210 BC) abolished all other forms of local currency and introduced a uniform copper coin. Currency of some type has been used in China since the Neolithic age which can be traced back to between 30 years ago. The history of Chinese currency spans more than 3000 years.
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