1. 人民币 Chinese Currency: Then and Now By: Derek Brady

2. Cowry Shells -Believed to be the oldest currency in Central China -Used 3000 to 4500 years ago. -Carved bone, wood,stone, lead and copper also used in a barter-type economy of the day. -Bronze shells were found in the ancient capital of Yin, capital of the Shang Dynasty (1500 BC-1046 BC)

3. The Warring States and advances in currency -During the Warring States period (5 th century BC- 221 BC) 3 main shapes of bronze currency were used -The Zhou, Wei, Han and Qin areas used spade-shaped coins -The Qi used knife shaped coins -The Zhao and the Yan used knife shaped coins until half roughly half way through at which time they switched to the spade coins. -Finally the Chu used “ant-nose” coins.

4. Unified Chinese Currency -Between 260BC and 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇 Qín Shǐ Huáng unified China and got rid of all previous forms of currency. -He instituted a new coin based currency. Round coins with a square hole in the middle. -Due to the low value of the individual coin, Chinese people were known to string 1,000 coins together.

5. Pre Song Dynasty Currency -In the era before the Song Dynasty, at least 10 states in China had developed their own currencies. -Northern states made their coins out of copper. The south preferred lead or iron. Sichuan preferred their own heavy iron for their coins. -By 1000 AD China had unified it’s currency system.

6. Money of the Song Dynasty -The Song Dynasty saw the introduction of the first paper- based money called “flying money” 飞钱. -Some other names for the paper money were Jiaozi, Qianyin, Kuaizi and Guanzi.

7. Introduction of the Yuan 元 -In 1889, the Yuan was introduced. At the time it was pegged evenly with the Mexican peso. -Each yuan is divided into 10 jiao ( 角 ), 100 fen ( 分 ) and 1000 wen ( 文 ).

8. Transition to Renminbi 人民币 -In 1949, 12 denominations of Renminbi were introduced. They were 1,5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000 and 50000. -In 1999, China re-issued the RMB with portraits of Chairman Mao Zedong.

9. Renminbi Inflation -For most of it’s history, the RMB was pegged at 2.46 yuan/ US Dollar. -In the 1970’s the yuan appreciated in value. The high came in 1980 at a value of 1.50 yuan/ US Dollar. -During the Economic Expansion period, the yuan lost value to promote Chinese exports and commerce. -By 1994, the yuan had fallen to 8.62 yuan/ US Dollar.

10. The Future of the Yuan?