Chinese currency
The use of money in China has been documented since the Neolithic . Since then, a large number of different currencies have been used. The current currency in China has been called the renminbi since 1949 ( Chinese人民幣 / 人民币 pinyin rénmínbì - "people's money"), the unit is the yuan (元).
Early days
The history of money began in China in the 2nd or 3rd millennium BC. With the use of the shells of cowrie shells , the so-called cowrie money . The radical Bèi (貝), derived from her pictographically , is still part of numerous money-related characters such as goods (貨 Huò), buy (買 mǎi), sell (賣 mài), or traders (販 fàn). In view of the then still considerable importance of barter and natural currencies such as slaves, silk, horses, jade and bronze implements, the circulation of kauri currency is likely to have been limited. It was used to a greater extent for the remuneration of princes as well as for tribute payments. The cowries were punched and Peng raised-called strings. Later imitations of the cowrie shell were made from bone, wood, metal and other materials.
antiquity
Bronze currency was used during the Shang Dynasty ; the oldest finds come from the remains of the old Shang capital, Yin. Another increase in the bronze currency was seen during the Zhou Dynasty . In the Warring States Period bronze medals came in the form of knives (Dao), spades (Bu), spits or duck beaks (Yibi) in use. According to one theory, the cause was the strengthening of the southern princes and the associated decline in tribute payments in the form of cowry money. The knife and spade coins may have developed from a natural currency based on these two types of device. They were gradually developed, reduced in size and sometimes provided with characters or the name of the mint or the mint official.
In the course of the unification of the empire in 221 BC BC Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi also introduced a common copper currency with a view to standardizing weights and measures . Following on from models from Qin and other ancient states, the coins were round and had a square hole in the middle - a shape that would last into the 20th century. It alludes to Chinese cosmology , which imagined the earth to be a square and the sky that spanned it to be round. A more trivial approach to explanation sees the origin in the shape of the spinning wheel. The coins were worth half a copper liang ("Banliang"), although there is no agreement about the metric equivalent of this unit of weight. These coins, too, became smaller and thinner over time and thus increasingly diverged from their original face value. In view of the low value of the individual coins, large numbers of them were strung on strings.
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In the Han dynasty , coins were no longer given the weight of the precious metal, but only the face value ( Baotong - valid coin, Zhongtong - heavy coin or Yuantong - first coin) and the epoch name of the respective emperor. In addition, natural currencies such as silk and grain continued to play a major role. The kauri currency remained in use for smaller payments, while silver bars (sycee) were already used for large payments. Whenever China later disintegrated into smaller domains, this also led to diversifications of the currency.
Song Dynasty
When the time of the Five Dynasties came to an end with the rise of the Song 960, the currency of about ten states had to be standardized; in the north copper was more common, in the south iron and lead tended to be more popular . In the course of the economic boom after the turn of the millennium, the volume of coins in circulation also increased. A total of 200 billion copper coins are said to have been minted under the northern Song emperors, 6 billion in 1073 alone, the peak of money production. Great importance was attached to the calligraphic design of the coin inscriptions under the song. Some even come from Emperor Huizong and the poet Su Dongpo . Through international trade, Chinese means of payment came into circulation abroad, especially in the countries of Southeast Asia.
The tremendous economic growth of the early Song period required an expansion of the money supply. However, since the material value of the traditionally used copper and sometimes iron coins naturally remained the same, ever larger amounts of coins were required for constant transactions. At the beginning of the 11th century, 20,000 cash coins had to be handed over in Sichuan for a single bale of silk. The transport, custody and guarding of such large quantities of coins posed considerable problems for trading participants. Provincial Governor Zhang Yong reacts to this with a revolutionary innovation: Together with 16 wealthy merchants, he put paper money into circulation as a substitute means of payment , the first in the world , following on from "bonds" that had already appeared in the Tang period . The bills, which were initially quite simple, had a face value of a thousand cash. In 1024 the central government took up the idea and began to put official state banknotes into circulation with a monopoly. They were by imperial gold and silver covered and has established itself in the 12th century as the main means of payment. It has become known under the names Jiaozi , Qianyin , Kuaizi or Guanzi .
Yuan Dynasty
The Mongolian Yuan dynasty kept paper money, but abolished the precious metal backing, thereby introducing the world's first fiat currency . The possession of gold and silver was forbidden, both metals had to be completely handed over to the government (see gold ban ). Excessive banknote pressure repeatedly led to considerable inflation, which in 1287 and 1309 could only be countered with a currency reform.
Ming Dynasty
The inflationary tendencies continued into the Ming period , which is why the reprinting of banknotes was suspended in 1450 and only resumed a year before the fall of the dynasty, in 1643. Because of the traditional instability of the state currency, more important transactions were mostly processed through their own private payment systems. The instability was mainly due to the lack of convertibility, i. H. The value of paper money was always subject to coercive measures, the regulation and manipulation of the state and not economic principles - a fact that the Confucian civil servants, who were generally educated, were difficult to understand.
From the 15th century onwards, silver poured into the country from Japan and other overseas countries and soon gained considerable importance as a means of payment. In Guangdong the tax could be paid in silver early on; for 1423 the general usage for the Yangzi delta is documented. From 1465 the provinces paid their tributes to the central government in silver, from 1485 farmers and artisans bought their public works.
The development intensified when the Spaniards and Portuguese , who were now entering into trade relations with China for the first time, imported large quantities of the metal from South America. However, it was not struck into coins, but rather was in circulation in the form of bars of a liang (36 grams), although the actual weight and purity of the metal could differ from region to region. The Europeans used the Malay term tael instead of liang .
Qing Dynasty
In the Qing Dynasty , the use of paper money was extremely critical and the use of this form of money was viewed as a sign of bad administration.
Instead, the traditional copper and the newer silver currency coexisted. The former was based on the copper cash , the latter on the tael , which was divided into 10 Mace , 100 Kandarin or 1000 Li . After silver was only circulated in bars for a long time, the first coin made of this metal was issued in 1792. The Qian Long Bao Zang was of course still cast, not minted. In 1884, modern western minting technology was used for the first time for the Ji Lin Chang Ping - since the coin with the image of two dragons was not intended for general circulation, but rather as a collector's item, the few surviving copies are very valuable today.
In 1889 the yuan , which is still in use today, was introduced, which was divided into 10 Jiao (角), 100 Fen (分) and 1000 Wen (文). The exchange rate was initially pegged to the Mexican dollar and thus corresponded to 0.72 tael of the old currency. Coins were minted with a face value of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 Wen, 5 Fen, 1, 2 and 5 Jiao and one Yuan. Under Emperor Guangxu , the Sichuan rupee briefly came into circulation, with which the excessive influx of Indian rupees in the southwestern border area should be counteracted. It is the first Chinese coin to feature a portrait.
In 1898, the Chinese commercial bank established by the Qing government the previous year began issuing banknotes - the first since paper money was abolished in 1644.
Foreign banks
Numerous foreign banks , etc. a. The HSBC , the Japanese Yokohama Specie Bank , the French Banque de l'Indochine , issued from around 1880 until the late 1930s, through local branches, silver-backed notes for local needs, a right that arose from the concessions under the unequal contracts was. These notes were mostly denominated in dollars or tael . Sometimes simply called local currency because of the different value of the latter .
Republic of China
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the warlords who had now come to power introduced their own military currencies in the provinces they ruled.
In 1914, the National Monetary Council of the Republic of China introduced the silver dollar , which continued to exist into the 1930s despite several changes. These included copper coins of 5, 10, 20 and 50 fen, from 1940 also aluminum coins of 1 and 5 fen. The rise in the price of silver in the early 1920s led to a significant outflow of the precious metal from China, causing the silver standard to collapse. In 1935, as part of a currency reform, the central government restricted the right to issue notes to four state-controlled institutions, namely the Bank of China , the Central Bank of China , the Bank of Communications and later the Farmers Bank of China . The circulation of silver coins was abolished, private ownership of silver was prohibited, and the silver stocks of commercial banks were de facto expropriated without compensation. Instead, the Fǎbì (法 幣) was introduced, the value of which fell faster and faster from 1937 after the silver cover had been used for war purposes as part of the communist persecution.
The Customs Gold Units (CGU; Chinese 關 金 圓guānjīnyuán; 1 CGU = 0.40 US- $), which are linked to the US dollar and are therefore non-inflationary, were introduced by the Central Bank of China as the currency of account to allow the payment of duties and taxes facilitate. After the dollar peg was abandoned in 1935 and the CGU was allowed to be used for other transactions, the means of payment shared the fate of the general Chinese currency and plunged into inflation.
After the victory of the Americans over Japan , the Central Bank of China issued the northeast yuan ( Dōngběi jiǔ shěng liútōngquàn,東北 九 省 流通券), a separate currency for the formerly Japanese-administered northeastern provinces. It was supposed to replace the currency of the banks controlled by the enemy and was worth ten times as much as the Fabi.
The beginning of the China incident had led to a significant devaluation of the Fabi due to the increase in Chinese military spending. After the victory over Japan, the Guomindang government, who had returned to Nanking from Chungking , implemented a currency reform in August 1948 to counter hyperinflation. The newly created gold yuan was equivalent to 3 million Fabi or US $ 0.25. The gold cover (1 yuan = 0.22217 g gold) was of course only theoretical and so the “gold” yuan soon fell victim to inflation.
With another currency reform in 1949, the Guomindang returned to the silver standard. A new silver yuan had to pay 100 million gold yuan. It was covered by silver dollars struck by the Chinese central coin. The silver yuan did not have a long lifespan either: a few months after its introduction on the mainland, the people's government came to power and replaced it with the yuan renminbi issued by the People's Bank of China . But also in the province of Taiwan , the retreat area of the Guomindang, the silver yuan was effectively replaced by the "old" Taiwan dollar 1946–1949 at an exchange rate of 1: 3. De jure , it only went under as a means of payment in 2000.
After the Japanese Taiwan since 1895 fell to China in 1945, the semi-state central bank Taiwan Ginko , set up by the Japanese in 1899, was nationalized and instead of the yen it issued the short-lived "old" Taiwan dollar (1946-1949). The ratio to the already canceled predecessor was initially 1: 1. The introduction of the Fabi, which is common on the mainland, was deliberately avoided in order to keep Taiwan away from the associated inflationary tendencies. Since this did not succeed due to the mismanagement of the ruling general Chen Yi , the Taiwan dollar was replaced by the New Taiwan dollar in 1949 as part of a currency reform in the ratio of 1: 40,000. This has been issued by the Central Bank of China since 1961 as the successor to the Bank of Taiwan.
Japanese occupation money
During the Japanese administration of large parts of China during World War II , a large number of currencies were introduced in the affected areas, some of which coexisted with the Fabi. The following are to be mentioned:
- The Manchukuo Yuan ; Manchuria ; from 1932, originally a silver bond, pegged to the Japanese yen in 1935 , replaced by the northeast yuan in 1945.
- The Mengchiang Yuan ; Mongolia , from 1937 pari pegged to the Japanese yen
- The Federal Reserve Bank of China ( FRB) yuan ; Beijing , issued from 1938 by the collaborating Provisional Government of China , first pari tied to the Fabi, upgraded in comparison to this in 1939, replaced in 1945 by the Guomindang Fabi at a ratio of 1 Yuan = 0.20 Fabi.
- The Central Reserve Bank of China ( CRB) yuan ; Nanjing , issued from 1941 by the collaborating Nanjing Reform Government (later: Nanjing National Government ), first pari linked to the Fabi, later linked to the Japanese military yen, replaced in 1945 by the Guomindang Fabi at a ratio of 1 yuan = 0.005 Fabi.
- Japanese military yen ; intended exclusively for payments to Japanese soldiers and not freely convertible to the Japanese yen ; legal tender in China since 1937, later replaced by the notes of the re-authorized banks controlled by Japan, valid in Hong Kong until 1945, after the return of the British replaced there by the Hong Kong dollar .
People's Republic of China
After the victory on the mainland in 1948/49, the Chinese Communist Party introduced the yuan renminbi issued by the People's Bank of China , which was exchanged at a ratio of 1: 100,000 yuan.
Initially, only renminbi banknotes worth 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 50,000 yuan existed. After a further decline in the value of the yuan in the ratio of 1: 10,000 in March 1955, the currency came in denominations of 1 fen, 2 fen, 5 fen, 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 3 yuan, 5 yuan and 10 yuan. 10 fen equals 1 jiao and 10 jiao equals 1 yuan. Finally, the 3rd series, which has been in use since October 1, 1999, only recognizes banknotes with a denomination of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 yuan; the 1 yuan note was not issued until 2004. The older notes and coins, however, remain valid.
From 1979 to 1994, foreign visitors had their financial transactions by means of Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) issued especially for them by the Bank of China - "Wai-bi" ("foreign money") in contrast to "Renmin-bi", the "people's money," - to handle. Foreign “experts” employed in China were paid partly in Renmin-bi and partly in convertible Wai-bi . Since imported goods as well as Chinese products intended for export and therefore of higher quality were theoretically reserved for foreigners and therefore only available against FEC / Wai bi , a considerable black market for Wai bi developed, especially in southern China .
See also
literature
- Kempgen, Heinz-Wilhelm; Early Chinese Coin History - On the Chronology of Spade Coins (7th to 3rd Century BC) Stuttgart 1993, ISBN
- Kempgen, Heinz-Wilhelm; On the monetary history of Qin state: cloth money, coins, and gold. From the beginning to 207 BC; 2007
- Meyerhofer, Adi: 袁 大头. Yuan-Shihkai Dollar: Counterfeits and Adulteration . 2013, p. 10 ( archive.org ).
- Patalas, Wilhelm; Chinese coins. From their origins to 1912. An identification book; Braunschweig 1965 (Klinkhardt & Biermann)
- Schlösser, Richard; China's coins. Explained on the collection in the mission museum of the Franciscan monastery in Dorsten in Westphalia; Werl (Westphalia) 1935 (Franziskus printing company)
- Staack, Herbert; China perforated coins; Berlin, 1988 (self-published)
- Thierry, François; Monnaies d´extrême Orient, I Chine. Administration des Monnaies et Médailles. Les Collections Monétaires; Paris, 1986.
