"Across the River During Qingming Festival" (partial)
In today's ancient costume films and TV dramas, people feel as if the ancients spent money when they went out to spend money, so is silver really the currency that the ancients carried with them?
Historically, silver has indeed become a valuable wealth or currency very early, but it is far less widespread than copper coins and circulates in large numbers among the people. Silver officially became a legal tradable currency in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor, also issued an decree to prohibit private transactions in gold and silver. In other words, it is possible for Linghu Chong to buy wine and drink with silver; but it is unlikely that the "heroes" in martial arts novels such as Qiao Feng, Guo Jing, Yang Guo, Zhang Wuji and so on will take out the silver.
China's Qin and Han Dynasties implemented a single currency system, that is, making money, such as knife coins and five baht coins. The Tang Dynasty has always used copper as the currency of circulation, and began to use both money and silk, and silk fabrics (silk) such as "silk" and "silk" were used in bulk transactions. There are many examples mentioned in Bai Juyi's poems, such as "half a piece of red silk and one zhang of silk, tied to the bull's head and filled with charcoal", "five mausoleums are young and tangled in their heads, and a song of red silk does not count" and so on.
The currencies of the Song and Song Dynasties were also mainly made of money. In the middle and late period, paper money was added, namely Jiaozi, Huizi and Guanzi, but the settlement unit was still "Guang" (which is always equal to 1000 yuan to make money). In the Tang and Song Dynasties, silver did not become a currency in circulation. In 1077, when Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty answered Song Shenzong's reason for insufficient currency in the market, he still used copper coins as the currency unit. However, when paying war reparations, most of the Northern Song Dynasty used silver taels. In the Yuan Dynasty, a small amount of copper coins were minted, but currency circulation mainly relied on paper money.
The gold and silver of the above dynasties are not circulated in the market, but are used as national reserves and cast into various gold and silver utensils to reward ministers or collect.
China's extensive use of silver as currency was in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the early period of the Republic of China. It was not until 1935 that the national government issued legal currency and abolished the silver standard. Silver ingots and silver dollars are the most important forms of silver in the history of our country, and currency is the most important use of silver.
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