Chinese iron money

Author: Liu Sen
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1996-06-01
Features: Iron money is a unique gem in the cultural history of Chinese currency. From the Han Dynasty to the early Republic of China, the casting of iron money occurred intermittently for about five to six hundred years. In different periods and regions, the circulation of iron money, compared to bronze and other currencies, better reflects the economic development and the relationship between commodity and currency at that time, as well as the significant impact of feudal regimes that used iron money on the monetary system, social politics, and economy. Generally speaking, iron money was a product of the period when the contradiction between the feudal society's monetary system, dominated by bronze coins, and the commodity economy intensified. However, the reasons for the emergence of iron money in different periods also had its own specificity. For example, the direct cause of iron money in the Han Dynasty was private casting for profit, while in the Song Dynasty, it was the inability of bronze coins to meet the demand for currency in the commodity market. In the Qing Dynasty, it was due to the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion, the obstruction of Yunnan copper exports to the north, the government's financial crisis, and the difficulty in raising military funds. In the history of world currency culture, China was not the earliest country to use iron as currency, but no other country in history has used iron money for such a long time, nor has any other country cast such a variety and complexity of iron money in terms of types and value levels. It can be said that Chinese iron money not only holds great significance in the history of Eastern currency culture but also occupies a very important position in the history of world currency culture. If we exclude Chinese iron money, it is likely that human civilization would almost not have the cultural heritage of iron money. Therefore, the study of Chinese iron money not only enriches the cultural heritage of Chinese currency but also contributes to the development and advancement of the discipline of human currency culture. The history of the emergence and evolution of Chinese iron money, although connected by its own internal links and rules, has been influenced by the development and evolution of bronze coin history from the beginning, and its monetary system changes were based on the changes in the bronze coin system. In a certain sense, bronze coins and iron money are merely a replacement of the material used for currency. Except for differences in material, value, and purchasing power, their overall form, inscriptions, and casting are essentially the same. After the emergence of bronze half-yuan coins, iron half-yuan coins appeared, and the five-coin and Kaiyuan coin systems first appeared on bronze coins before being adopted for iron coins. Iron money that followed bronze coins thus had the function of supplementing or balancing the contradiction between bronze coins and commodities. The special role of iron money could only be clearly demonstrated when the feudal monetary system significantly affected commodity trade activities. The private casting of iron money preceded the official casting, and after the official casting of iron money, the prohibition of private casting and the use of private money seemed to be a struggle between the government and private entities over the right to cast currency. However, it concealed the signs of changes in the state of currency circulation, indicating the need to adjust or improve the monetary system. Merchants and traders, who daily dealt with commodity and currency, were more sensitive to changes in the commodity-currency relationship than feudal rulers. Their sensitivity to fluctuations in purchasing power and the temptation of profit often led some "unlawful" individuals to take risks, breaking the existing monetary system and altering the weight, metal composition, or value of coins. Early iron money was a product of "innovation" under the harsh conditions of coinage and deteriorated circulation. Later, during the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties, due to the disruption of the bronze coin system, the government simply replaced bronze coins with iron money, propelling iron money onto the ladder of legal tender. After the Tang Dynasty, feudal society reached its peak, and the development of commodity and currency trade led to severe "copper shortages" and "coin shortages." Combined with the long-term political situation of feudal separatism and the outflow of bronze coins, iron money flourished, opening the door to the golden age of Chinese iron money casting. The development of commodity economy should have created a currency superior to bronze coins, but China extensively used iron money during the period of unprecedented prosperity in feudal commodity economy. This indicates the extreme imbalance in the level of social productivity, the strong influence of feudal politics and military on the formulation of monetary policies, and the dominance of natural economy in the national economy, with small commodity exchange remaining the main form of commodity trade. Despite this, the heavy and low-value iron money still hindered the development of commodity trade. Thus, in the context of increasingly developed credit and contractual relationships, the world's earliest paper money was prematurely born. Mr. Hu Rulai pointed out in his book "Studies on the Feudal Society of China" that the alternation of ancient Chinese coins was caused by "the economic characteristics of the cyclical development of Chinese feudal society" and that "we can only explore the roots of the emergence and spread of paper money based on the characteristics of Chinese feudal society." Clearly, the roots of paper money's emergence were rooted in specific historical conditions and were also related to the Song Dynasty's policy of allowing or enforcing the use of iron money in certain regions. The instability of small commodity production in feudal society led to the instability of commerce, which in turn contributed to the chaos of the monetary system and the unpredictable frequency of circulation fluctuations, resulting in the intermittent circulation of iron money.