Chapter 39 Section 3 Xianfeng Big Money Official Banknotes and Inflation

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853 A.D.), official bills of the Ministry of Households were issued, referred to as official bills and silver bills.Taking silver taels as the unit, there are many kinds such as one tael, three taels, five taels, 10 taels, and 50 taels.In the same year, the charter for banknotes was issued, and the banknotes of the Qing Dynasty were printed and distributed, referred to as banknotes and banknotes.The denominations were divided into six types from 200 Wen to 2000 Wen at the beginning, and then additional denominations of 5,000 Wen, 10,000 Wen, and 100,000 Wen were issued.These official banknotes and treasures are not cashed, have no banknotes, unlimited deadlines, and no banknotes.The announcement said: "Silver bills are real silver, and banknotes are made money." The government did not follow the order to limit the use of banknotes by 50% for public and private use.Official tickets are issued six months after issuance, and money tickets are discounted ten days after issuance.Merchants and foreign businessmen took the opportunity to lower the price to collect money, and then paid 50% of the tax to the treasury or offset the tariff.Except for the capital, it is only used by Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Fujian provinces, and Tianjin is contracted for distribution by merchants.In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1860 A.D.), no one wanted the official bills, and every thousand banknotes were worth 20 to 30 Wen.At the beginning of Tongzhi's fiscal revenue and expenditure, money was not required, and it was no longer issued.The official bills and treasures are over.

In the third year of Xianfeng (1853 A.D.), a large amount of Xianfeng money was cast for emergency.At the beginning, "Xianfeng Chongbao" was cast as ten coins and weighed six coins.After August, cast fifty coins, weigh one or two or eight coins, and when one hundred coins, weigh one or two or four coins, all of which are yellow copper; cast five hundred coins, weigh one or two or six coins, weigh one thousand coins, and weigh Two taels are all purple copper, and the text is called "Xianfeng Yuanbao".There is also a small amount of five coins, and two coins and two cents.It was also cast as ten iron coins and lead coins.Lose more weight later, such as reducing ten cents to two cents and six cents.The face value, weight and weight of money change with the fluctuation of the currency value, resulting in wrong size, reversed weight and daily difference in quality.The names of money are also complicated and difficult to distinguish, and the names of treasures and money are different.From its face value, there are roughly 15 grades: Dang five, Dang eight, Dang ten, Dang twenty, Dang thirty, Dang forty, Dang fifty, Dang hundred, Dang two hundred, Dang three hundred, Dang four hundred Until when thousands.It is more complex and cumbersome than Wang Mangbao's system.In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854 A.D.), the casting of more than one hundred coins was stopped.Iron money and lead money were refused to be used due to compulsory implementation.In the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859 A.D.), all other coins were discontinued except ten coins.The indiscriminate issuance of official bills and banknotes this time caused hyperinflation and caused endless troubles. It shows that the feudal currency system can no longer adapt to the needs of the situation, and it is necessary to change the course and transform the feudal currency system into a new mechanism.