ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Jiaozi (Currency) - The Earliest Paper Money

Updated on May 27, 2011

History of Money

In the beginning, when coins and paper money have not been created, people used barter to get things they wanted. Barter is the exchange of a good or sevice for another good or service. For example, a bag of beans for a bag of rice. However, how if people couldnt agree what something was worth in exchange or they didnt want what the other people had. To solve this problem, humans developed what is called commodity money.

In the past, tea, salt, cattle, seeds and tobacco were commodities and therefore were once used as money. A commodity is a basic item used by almost everyone. But carrying bags of salt and other commodities was not easy, commodities were also difficult to store or were perishable.

Around 5000 BC, metal objects were introduced as money. By 700 BC, the Lydians became the first to make coins in the Western world. Metal was used because it was easy to work with, readily available and could be recycled.

First paper money
First paper money

First Paper Money in the World

Paper currency was first developed in China during the Tang dynasty in 7th century, and was later introduced in the Mongol Empire, America and Europe. Before the use of paper money, the Chinese used circular coins with a rectangular hole in the middle. Sometimes several coins were strung together on a rope. For those who were rich enough, their strings of coins would be very heavy to carry around and therefore the coins were often left with a trustworthy person. The merchant was given a slip recording the amount of money he had with that person and he could regain his money if he showed the paper to that person. Eventually, “jiaozi” or paper money originated from these promissory notes.

Jiaozi is a kind of printed-paper certificate and it was used to replace the iron money. Because of its high circulation of the currency, the Office of Jiaozi (the earliest administrative and savings bank) was established by the local government of Chengdu. From here, the word Jiaozi began to be used as a general term for money. The authority of Sung dynasty issued official Jiaozi in 1023 while banning private issuing.

Paper money proved popular in the later dynasties like the Yuan, Ming and Qing but it had never replaced the metal coins in circulation. These round coins with square holes in the middle continued to be used for more than 2,000 years, until the late Qing dynasty.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)