Chapter 18 RMB

The long-awaited renminbi for trucks and trucks arrived late on May 27.Even so, it happened to coincide with the eve of the official liberation of Shanghai, and the precision of the time was surprising. "There was heavy rain on the road, and the road itself was uneven by bombs, so the truck was driving slowly. I repeatedly told the driver to pay attention to safety, because there was no way to stop, and there was no backup vehicle. If something went wrong, the consequences would be unimaginable. You know, Everyone is waiting for us.” Zhang Zhenguo, the former purchaser of the Finance and Accounting Section of the Beihai Bank’s Issuance Bureau, who was involved in transporting the RMB at that time, recalled, “I was in charge of eight trucks of RMB at that time. Be sure to arrive at the Golden Gate Hotel in Shanghai, where the Finance and Trade Group of the Military Control Commission of the East China Bureau operates, on the morning of the 27th."

"Where the army advances, the banknotes must follow." Zhang Zhenguo said that this was a death order issued by the Central Committee and the Military Commission after the Battle of Pingjin.A few months ago, one of the most important lessons and experiences for city takeovers from the liberation of Peking was that the importance of monetary unification in megacities was somewhat overlooked.During the liberation of Peking, currency confusion caused no small trouble. "On the currency issue, we just started to focus too much on exchanging and crowding out 'Jiang coins', and we forgot that our own liberated area currency can also cause chaos when it flows around." The secretary of the Northwest Farmer's Bank Publishing Bureau at the time Yang Zhongwen recalled, "Although Hebei coins (including Luxi coins), Bian coins (Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei), Beihai coins, and Xinong coins were also ordered to be gradually recovered, they were not strictly implemented as required by the document. They have been brought into big cities, which has set up obstacles to the development of economic activities." "In addition, we underestimated the impact of silver dollars at the beginning. When Pingjin was liberated, the collection and exclusion of silver dollars were not very effective. Leave it to Shanghai."

"The information we got before is that the Shanghai Banknote Printing Factory has been moved to Taiwan by the Kuomintang. In order to ensure that the banknote printing factory can start work quickly after arriving in Shanghai, we were also required to carry a large amount of banknote printing raw materials with the car while transporting RMB. Paper and ink. It was not until I arrived in Shanghai that I realized that this information was problematic. The underground party had already controlled several major strategic factories in Shanghai, and the banknote printing factory was fully capable of operating. Nevertheless, the decision was not wrong. If there were no such batches in advance The prepared renminbi, even if the banknote printing machines in Shanghai are running 24 hours, is far from meeting the currency demand in the market." Zhang Zhenguo recalled, "At 6 o'clock in the morning on May 27, the team arrived at the Golden Gate Hotel ahead of schedule. I found President Chen Mu, and he asked me to take the team to Bank of China Building No. 23 on the Bund to find President Lu Chungen to go through the transfer procedures. After completing this set of procedures, Song Jiangshan, the person in charge of the Shanghai Treasury, and I deposited the RMB in Dianchi Lake. in the treasury of the road."

On the other hand, in order to avoid the recurrence of the currency chaos that occurred in Pingjin, the central government stipulated that before the battle of crossing the river, all liberated area currencies must be exchanged in the north of the Yangtze River, except for the "Huazhong currency" which can be used as a transitional RMB currency in the transition period. In Shanghai, other currencies are not allowed to cross the river. Chen Yun, who was then director of the Central Finance Committee, initially calculated the number of gold-dollar bonds in circulation in Shanghai. It would take about 400 million yuan to recover all these old currencies.In the initial stage of the first edition of RMB, the central government has not yet estimated the inflation rate of RMB, and the denomination of RMB is not large.The first batch of renminbi issued in the three major liberated areas of North China, Shandong and Northwest has three types of 10 yuan, 20 yuan and 50 yuan, and then three kinds of 1 yuan, 5 yuan and 100 yuan circulation in the whole country were issued. Other RMB.

Facts have proved that even Chen Yun greatly underestimated the difficulty of the situation.After entering Shanghai, the takeovers discovered that, in addition to exchanging gold coupons, the amount of currency they actually needed was more than ten times their budget.The specific problems encountered by Shanghai, including economic recovery, the salaries of public and educational personnel, the accommodation of former personnel, and the relief of disaster victims, coupled with the ever-increasing demand for military expenditures, have dramatically magnified the amount of currency that needs to be put on the market. At the end of May 1949, Chen Yi and Zeng Shan sent an emergency telegram "requesting 3 billion yuan" to the central government and the Central Ministry of Finance and Economics.

Another thing is also unexpected.The promotion of RMB in Shanghai was not as smooth as the Central Finance Committee imagined. The new currency encountered a strong opponent: the silver dollar.After the renminbi flowed into the market, there was an embarrassing credit crisis.According to the "Shanghai Ta Kung Pao" report at the time, the first thing Shanghai citizens did with the wages they had just received was to go to the black markets of Huaihai Road, Caojiadu, and Shiliupu to exchange silver dollars. After going out, almost all returned to the People's Bank at night. "The new regime attaches great importance to the Renminbi's Shanghai World War." Zhang Zhenguo said, "but the effect was disappointing at the beginning. Our first batch of renminbi was not much, and it didn't circulate at all. It just floated on the market."

When the renminbi encountered obstacles, the first to feel the difficulty was the large number of troops entering Shanghai. "The most direct impact is that the soldiers have no salt to eat. This is terrible. If there is no salt to eat, the physical strength cannot keep up. The basic life of our regiment of more than a dozen companies is not guaranteed." Ding Gongliang recalled, "After crossing the river, We turned in the currency of the liberated areas and exchanged it for RMB as required, but after entering the city, we found that the banknotes could not be used. Department stores on Nanjing Road began to use silver dollars to mark prices, and other large and small stores followed suit and refused to use RMB. Later, we reported to the general manager The former commissioner made a report, and the higher-ups issued a silver dollar to each company for emergency."