The Chinese character "cai" (fortune) incorporates the word "bei" (sea shell,) which indicates that the earliest form of currency was sea shells.

In most early Chinese literary works, writers and scholars felt it was indecent to say "qian" (money) directly and so they used the term "kong fang xiong" (the guy with the square hole), meaning the ancient round bronze coin with a square hole in the centre.

In ancient times, money was considered to be a vulgar thing to be written or talked about.

During the Neolithic Age, when Chinese people began to barter, sea shells, which were easy to count and carry (usually on a string or thread), gradually became the most popular form of currency.

They were in common use for millennia until Emperor Qin Shi Huang united all the small kingdoms on China's mainland into one nation in 221 BC.

Some years before that, thanks to sophisticated bronze casting skills and the development of textile production, the bronze spade that was used in the textile industry became a kind of currency.

Its handle was removed when it was used as currency and it was called "kong shou bu."

This kind of currency was small and thin and it had only one face value. The standard weight was about 40 grams.

On the spade was carved the name of the city where it was made and name of the administrative unit in charge of currency, according to Zhou Xiang, an expert in ancient currency at the Shanghai Museum.

Unified currency

During the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) before Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) when various kings had their own regimes, each kingdom had the "spade" as its currency but with different shapes and sizes.

Some had square heads and some had round or sharp heads.

In the end of the Warring States Period, a new currency came into being, which was called "dao bi" (bronze money in the shape of a knife.)

The shapes and weights of the "knives" varied from kingdom to kingdom. For example, the minority peoples in the north used sharp-headed "knives" while the inland people had square ones.

At the same time as the spade and knife currencies, round coins with round or square holes in the middle also came into being.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang ended the chaotic currency system and created the "ban liang qian" (about 7.5 grams, round and with square hole.)

From then until the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) about 1,800 years later, this kind of currency stayed in circulation.

"Ancient Chinese currencies were usually made of bronze, iron or lead," Zhou said. "Nearby Korea and Japan were also influenced by Chinese currencies and had similar ones themselves."

Besides the bronze money system, silver and gold also had an important role as currency.

Small pieces of silver or gold were very popular. Weight and purity were the main factors concerning the value of the silver and gold pieces.

Money mint

Zhou said it was a very complicated system. The central government had a specific department "qian ju" (currency bureau) while provincial authorities had the right to produce bronze money on their own.

Where the money was made had to be carved on it.

Different areas didn't have the same standards for assessing the currency's value. Thus, there were lots of "exchange rates" between bronze money from various parts of the country or between bronze money and silver and gold pieces.

Ancient Chinese people also had "cheques," which were called "yin piao" -- a piece of paper with a certain amount of money written and provincial governors' stamped by seals.

Many foreign currencies came into China at the end of the Qing Dynasty because of frequent trading with other countries.

Li Hongzhang, a senior Qing official and reformer, advocated Chinese learn from foreigners and use machines to produce money -- "yin yuan."

The upside had the face value and reign title in both Chinese characters and those of the Manchu Nationality which had set up the Qing Dynasty.

The downside had the carving of a dragon and English writing.

Currency exchange has since become much easier in China and store owners no longer have to uses scales to weigh money.

(Shanghai Star August 7, 2003)