Text/Chen Si
The second set of renminbi existed in the history of New China for more than 7 years, and it established the basic regulations for the issuance of various sets of renminbi by the mainland after that, laying the foundation of the mainland's monetary system. Chen Yun played a key role in the creation and issuance of the second set of renminbi.
First, Chen Yun found that there was a problem with the first set of renminbi
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, when Chen Yun was directing the silver dollar war against unscrupulous capitalists in Shanghai, he found in his work practice that the first set of renminbi we issued in 1948 already had inflation problems. The main reason was that when the People's Liberation Army began to march into the Kuomintang areas, in order to purchase sufficient war materials in time to support the liberation war, and also in order to squeeze out the Kuomintang currency as soon as possible, it was necessary to issue the first set of renminbi in large quantities. After the founding of New China, in order to package the 9 million military, political, public, and religious personnel during the Kuomintang period, and in order to relieve 11 million disaster victims and the unemployed, they also had to print and issue the first set of renminbi in large quantities, which inevitably formed inflation. Although in this context, Chen Yun won the three major battles of "grain war", "cotton war" and "silver dollar battle" fought against illegal capitalists in Shanghai. After winning the final battle of the "Silver Dollar Battle", Chen Yun clearly realized that the key factor in our victory over the "Silver Dollar Battle" in Shanghai was that we also used administrative means to transfer a large number of silver dollars and stabilize the market. However, in the future, we must rely on economic means to carry out construction and do economic work, and among economic means, money is the most important. If the first set of renminbi is not strong, China's economy will still be very difficult in the future, the capitalists will challenge the Communist Party in other areas of the economy, and the people will lose confidence. Based on the above considerations, Chen Yun considered that he must create a new renminbi. The new renminbi must be stable in order to re-establish the people's trust in the Communist Party's currency. At the same time, this set of renminbi should also have a historical connection with the first set of renminbi, and the creation and issuing institutions will not change, and the name will not change, which can be called the second set of renminbi. Thus a complete monetary and financial system was established, and the monetary and financial system of the new China will continue on this basis in the future.
2. Guide the design of the second set of RENMINBI
Chen Yun began to create a second set of renminbi in the early 1950s. He first grasped the design. After the Chinese Min bank put forward a plan report on the issuance of new coins, Chen Yun specifically commented on the design of the new currency: This matter should be fully prepared, and it must pay attention to the unity of paper, the appropriate pattern, and the imitation of secret symbols... The size of the ticket and the size of the ticket amount must be carefully studied before it can be decided.
In order to treat this matter cautiously, Chen Yun asked the secretary to transfer the first set of RMB bills of various denominations that had been circulating in the market for a period of time and carefully observe them. The main problems he found were: the paper quality and printing quality of the first set of renminbi were poor, it was easy to damage, the circulation time was slightly longer or after blisters, it could not be used; although the amount of banknotes was high, but the unit value was low, 1 yuan basically could not buy anything, and the highest denomination of 50,000 yuan coupons was also greatly depreciated, which was not convenient for use in bulk goods transactions; there were 12 kinds of currency denominations, namely: 1 yuan coupons, 5 yuan coupons, 10 yuan coupons, 20 yuan coupons, 50 yuan coupons, and 100 yuan coupons 200 yuan coupons, 500 yuan coupons, 1000 yuan coupons, 5000 yuan coupons, 10000 yuan coupons, 50000 yuan coupons; there are more currency versions, 10 yuan coupons have 3 versions, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, 100 yuan coupons have 6 versions, 200 yuan, 500 yuan coupons have 5 versions, 5000 yuan, 10000 yuan, 5000 yuan coupons have 2 versions, the first set of RMB coupons add up, a total of 62 editions. After Chen Yun saw these shortcomings of the first set of renminbi, he determined a principle that the newly created renminbi should overcome the shortcomings of the first set of renminbi and form new characteristics.
◆ On February 21, 1955, the State Council officially issued the "Order on issuing the Second Set of Renminbi and Recovering the First Set of Renminbi", which shows the "Explanation of the New Renminbi Bill" published in the People's Daily on February 21, 1955.
Chen Yun determined the design principles of the second set of renminbi. The core idea of this principle is to be convenient for people to use, while at the same time being beautiful and generous. These have to be reflected on the ticket. The specific design principles are targeted at the shortcomings of the first set of RMB design. The determined design principles are formed into documents and reported to the central government. The central authorities approved the design principles determined by Chen Yun.
After that, Chen Yun began to grasp the design work. The first is to solve the problem of the type of ticket. At that time, there were two types of currency bills in the world, one was a large span: 1, 5, 10, 100. The other is a small span: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 100. Chen Yun consulted with everyone together, and finally decided to adopt a small span according to the consumption level and circulation convenience of the Chinese masses at that time. In this way, it was determined that the second set of RMB bills was 11 kinds: 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 1 dime, 2 corners, 5 corners, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, 3 yuan, 5 yuan and 10 yuan coupons, due to the later adjustment and change of color of the patterns and patterns of the 1 yuan and 5 yuan coupons, and the later printing of unsigned paper cents, 5 new editions were set, so that the second set of RMB banknotes was increased from 11 to 16 at the beginning of publication. This set of RMB denomination structure is more reasonable, the first implementation of paper auxiliary coins, the denomination structure system of points, angles and yuan has become the basis of the subsequent sets of RMB structure systems. On the question of whether to have 100 yuan coupons, Chen Yun considered the circulation of Chinese goods at that time and the daily use habits of ordinary people, and decided that the second set of renminbi would not have a hundred yuan bill.
◆ The second set of RMB denominations and editions.
The second thing to solve is the problem of using paper. In view of the problem that the first set of RENMINBI is not good and is easily damaged, Chen Yun requires that the second set of RMB paper must be good. China did not have a good paper for coinage at that time, and Chen Yun decided to import paper from the Soviet Union. After negotiations with the Soviet side, the Soviet side decided to provide printing paper for the second set of renminbi in New China. After that, the Soviet Union soon provided special banknotes for new China. Soon, with the help of the Soviet Union, the mainland also developed a printing paper of the same quality as the paper provided by the Soviet Union. The second set of renminbi is printed on these two kinds of paper, and the printed banknotes are of excellent paper quality, structured and wear-resistant.
The last thing to be solved is the design of the second set of renminbi patterns. At first, the relevant personnel proposed two plans, one was to use Mao Zedong's image on the ticket, and the other was to use Chinese landscapes, cars, airplanes, and patterns to show national unity. After the two plans were reported, Mao Zedong made it clear that he would not use his image. Thus, it was decided to use the second scheme for the design. The design principles determined by Chen Yun are: good looking, easy to recognize, good to calculate, and easy to use. These must be reflected in the pattern of the ticket design. The design of the RMB pattern is not simple, requiring designers not only to have a high level of artistic creation, but also to be able to organically unify the pattern and other logo elements on the RMB, and the designed ticket face should be both beautiful and coordinated, but also able to prevent counterfeiting. Design experts poured a lot of effort into this, and later, the steelmakers on the 5 yuan coupon generally felt impressive, which came from a design expert who went to many steel mills to observe the situation of workers making steel, so the designed characters were very realistic. The design of this banknote has also won international awards and has become a design masterpiece in the world's currency. In the second set of renminbi design patterns, Chen Yun was particularly "political", which was reflected in the connection between the patterns designed under his guidance and some major historical events. Take only the 5-cent green banknote as an example. On the obverse of this note, there is a ship sailing, which is the "Hailiao Ship". This was a steamship from the Kuomintang uprising. This pattern embodies the idea of the Communist Party of China in winning over and dismantling the enemy army, implementing a united front policy, and extensively uniting people from all walks of life. Some people hesitated during the design, but Chen Yun decided to use this pattern.
◆ In September 1951, Chen Yun made a report on finance, agricultural production and market issues at the twelfth meeting of the Central People's Government Committee.
In February 1951, after the completion of the design of the second set of renminbi patterns, Chen Yun asked the Chinese Bank to directly submit the design drawings and printing plans of the renminbi to Zhou Enlai, asking Zhou Enlai to review. Zhou Enlai put forward many specific revisions to the design draft, and Chen Yun instructed the designers to make some changes according to Zhou Enlai's opinions before finalizing the draft.
The second set of renminbi was finalized: the pattern of the divided votes and the corner tickets was to reflect the new style of the people's active participation in the construction of the new China; the 1 yuan, 2 yuan, and 3 yuan coupons, with the theme of reflecting the course of the struggle of the Communist Party of China, adopted the pictures of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Baota Mountain in Yan'an, and Longyuankou in Jinggang Mountain, respectively; the 5 yuan coupon and the 10 yuan coupon were designed to reflect the great unity of the people of all ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China and the alliance of workers and peasants, and the portraits of people wearing various ethnic costumes and the images of workers and peasants were designed. Considering the great unity of the people of all ethnic groups in China and the convenience of the people of all ethnic groups in China, Chen Yun determined that in the second set of renminbi, in addition to using Chinese characters, it is also necessary to write "Chinese Bank" and various denominations in the three ethnic minority scripts of Mongolian, Tibetan and Uyghur. The above three scripts were printed in accordance with the three minority scripts in common use at that time. For the Chinese characters on the coin, Chen Yun's opinion: Don't ask any central leaders to write, please ask ordinary comrades with good calligraphy to write, and finally select an ordinary clerk of the Chinese Min bank to write these 6 characters. The font is "Wei Bei", and finally achieves the purpose of unifying the written line names, denominations and year numbers, and the writing rules are consistent. The style of the banknote pattern breaks the first set of fixed four-border forms of the renminbi, and adopts the new specifications of the symmetry of the left and right patterns; the 11 patterns at the beginning and the 5 patterns added later, the lace and pattern lines are clear and precise, the picture is beautiful and lively, and the overall has a strong national style. In terms of color, red, blue, green, ink, tea, brown, purple 7 colors are used, and the cold and warm are harmonious and harmonious, so the second set of RMB is more beautiful than the first set of RMB in terms of pattern, lace, pattern lines, design theme, etc.
Third, put forward the second set of RMB printing schemes
At chen yun's suggestion, the central government determined that the second set of renminbi newly issued would be of high quality regardless of the main currency and auxiliary currency, which put forward high requirements for the printing of new coins. At that time, Chen Yun put forward three plans in the "Plan for Printing and Minting New Coins" submitted to the Central Committee on July 10, 1950: one was to print all by the country, the second was to entrust all the Soviet Union to print on behalf of the Soviet Union, and the third was to ask the Soviet Union to print on behalf of the Soviet Union, the Chinese side only provided silk grain and printing technology requirements on paper, and the others were completely implemented in accordance with the silk flat standard of the Soviet ruble. Chen Yun synthesized these three schemes and finally put forward an opinion: in view of the high anti-counterfeiting requirements, he tended to adopt the third scheme, but not all of them were printed by the Soviet Union. In April 1952, Chen Yun sent Nan Hanchen, then president of the Chinese Bank, to Moscow to negotiate with the Soviet side on behalf of the Indian yuan. Finally, it was decided that the Soviet side would print the second set of renminbi on behalf of the Soviet side. However, Chen Yun was very careful in asking the Soviet side to print the second set of renminbi on behalf of the Soviet side, and on October 27, 1952, he put forward a proposal to change the type of banknotes printed by the Soviet Union: in order to reduce the impact and loss of fake bills... It is proposed not to issue large bills of more than 5 yuan when the new currency is issued, but it is too small to issue only 1 yuan coupon, so it is proposed to issue an additional 3 yuan coupon to adjust the capital.
When printing the second set of renminbi, Chen Yun took into account the issue of anti-counterfeiting. At that time, the second set of RMB 10 coupons was determined to be the highest denomination, so the 10 yuan coupons were the focus of anti-counterfeiting. Under the guidance of Chen Yun, the 10 yuan coupon was printed using a gravure plate. This edition is made by traditional hand-engraving methods in mainland China, with a deep grain and a thick ink layer. Printing used the advanced wiring technology at that time, using the national emblem pattern fixed watermark paper, therefore, the 10 yuan coupon has a better anti-counterfeiting function. Considering the high value of the second set of RMB coins and the large number of people using small denomination currencies, Chen Yun particularly emphasized that other coupons should also strengthen the anti-counterfeiting function. Finally, it was determined that the 1-corner, 2-corner, 5-corner, and 1-yuan coupons were printed on hollow five-pointed star full-edition watermark paper; the 2-yuan, 3-yuan, and 5-yuan coupons were printed on solid five-pointed star pattern mixed full-edition watermark paper. Under the technical conditions of that year, the anti-counterfeiting function of the second set of RMB was also relatively good in the world.
Fourth, deal with five major issues
Chen Yun solved five deep major problems in creating the second set of renminbi.
The first is the question of whether the second set of renminbi is pegged to gold. At that time, the world's dollar and ruble currencies were linked to gold, but the currencies of more countries were not linked to gold. Do we want to pegg it to gold? After repeated consideration, Chen Yun believes that our country does not have much gold reserves at present, the first set of renminbi is not linked to gold, and it is necessary to determine the gold content of the currency when linked to gold, and the total amount of national materials is very high, and China did not have so many total materials at that time, so he clearly advocated that the second set of renminbi was not linked to gold. In 1953, he again stated in a report to the Central Committee that the gold content of the second set of renminbi "does not need to be published at the same time as the issuance of new coins." The Central Committee fully accepted Chen Yun's proposal. On December 20, 1954, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China officially decided to issue the second set of renminbi, which clearly stipulated that the gold content of the renminbi should not be stipulated for the time being.
◆ In September 1953, Chen Yun made a report on financial and economic work.
The second is the issue of determining the ratio between the old and new renminbi. One of the main purposes of issuing the second set of renminbi is to eliminate the problem of excessive denomination of renminbi caused by long-term inflation, so it is very important to reasonably determine the ratio of new and old coins, which is related to the success or failure of the issuance of the second set of renminbi. In November 1953, Chen Yun proposed that the price comparison of new and old coins was 1 to 10,000. The Central Committee agreed with Chen Yun's opinion. The Directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Issuance of New Currency issued on December 20, 1954 clearly stipulates that the comparison price of the new currency with the current renminbi is determined to be 1 singapore dollar equal to the current 10,000 yuan.
The third is the question of whether the principle of exchanging old and new coins should be modeled after the currency reform of the Soviet Union in 1947. The currency reform of the USSR of 1947 introduced the exchange rate at different rates according to different objects, cash and amount of deposits. This is a differentiated approach, whereby people who own a lot of cash and deposits exchange new coins that are not worth the same value as their original wealth, in effect forcibly depriving those who own more money of some of their wealth in order to combat private capital. Later, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern European countries also adopted this approach. However, in the process of implementation, many problems have also arisen, causing dissatisfaction among some people who own a lot of money. Chen Yun considers china's actual situation and economic fairness and reasonableness, and does not advocate imitating the Soviet model. He believed that the cash holders in new China were workers, farmers, city dwellers, petty traders, and state cadres. This is the main part of the Chinese people, and we cannot harm the interests of the people under any circumstances. If the Method of Devaluation and Exchange in the Soviet Union is adopted, it will cause the wealth of the broad masses of the people to suffer losses and cause widespread dissatisfaction. The plan proposed by Chen Yun is: the implementation of equivalent exchange and non-differential exchange. In doing so, we can safeguard the interests of the broad masses of the people on the one hand, and we can achieve the main goal of eliminating inflation. Chen Yun's opinion was endorsed by the CPC Central Committee. The Directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Issuance of New Coins adopted Chen Yun's opinion.
◆ In March 1955, farmers in the southern suburbs of Tianjin were exchanging new coins.
The fourth is to determine the steps for issuing a second set of renminbi. Chen Yun made careful consideration of this, and he proposed that the issuance of the second set of renminbi should be carried out in three steps: the first step is to do a good job in propaganda work, the second step is to prepare sufficient new coins, and the third step is to determine the exchange organization. Each step of the three steps requires party committees at all levels to strengthen leadership and prevent any problems. If there is a problem, it should be reported immediately and handled by the central government. After the central authorities approved Chen Yun's issuance steps, all parts of the country immediately followed these three steps and carried out the work of issuing the second set of renminbi in a planned and organized manner. From February 21, 1955, propaganda agencies from the central to the local level began to publicize the issuance of new coins and explain the policy and its significance in accordance with the instructions of the central government. The focus of propaganda work is to make it clear that all classes are exchanged indiscriminately. After this meaning was explained, people from all walks of life in China were relieved. For a small number of people who still have concerns, are worried about "being afraid of revealing their wealth" and "afraid of the people's government touching the bottom line of their own property," party organizations and government organs at all levels have also targeted their door-to-door work to dispel their concerns. After extensive publicity, the masses of the people truly understood the great significance of issuing the second set of renminbi, and the whole country adopted an attitude of active support. While doing propaganda work, under the specific leadership of Chen Yun, the preparatory work for the second step began. From March to June 1955, the mainland's second set of new currency reserves was 5.8395 billion yuan, ensuring the need for exchange. For the third step, Chen Yun paid special attention to it. At his suggestion, the Central People's Government decided to set up exchange offices for old and new currencies extensively throughout the country; in order to expand the scope of exchange and shorten the exchange time, it also required the larger state-owned enterprises in the cities, as well as the supply and marketing cooperatives and cooperatives in the rural areas, to set up exchange offices to undertake the task of exchange; and in consideration of providing exchange convenience for businessmen and travelers, many mobile exchange groups were also set up throughout the country. In the first half of 1955, a total of 73,000 exchange offices (including exchange teams) were set up across the country, ensuring that the exchange of new and old coins could be completed in a short period of time. According to the above three steps proposed by Chen Yun, the issuance of the second set of renminbi was quite smooth, and 80% of the old currency was recovered in the first 10 days of the issuance of the new currency, and by June 10, 1955, the first set of renminbi was recovered nationwide 341233 billion yuan, accounting for more than 98% of the old one in circulation in the market, marking the basic completion of the exchange of new and old coins.
◆ In 1955, children on the outskirts of Tianjin were curious about the new renminbi exchanged.
The fifth is to propose the issuance of metal cents in a timely manner to form a complete main and auxiliary coin system. Chen Yun had previously had the idea of issuing RMB metal cents, but considering that the masses were still unclear about the use of new currency cents, it was necessary to transform the new currency and then make a decision after the actual situation. More than two years after the circulation of the second set of renminbi, the actual situation proves that this set of renminbi is very strong, high credibility, stable currency value, the public in the transaction, use a few cents or 1 dime a few cents, you can buy practical daily consumer goods. As a result, the amount of cents used has been greatly improved, and the paper cents that have been issued are relatively fragile and inconvenient. Chen Yun discovered and studied this situation in time, put forward the idea of issuing additional metal cents, and formulated a system plan. The central authorities agreed with Chen Yun's opinion and plan. On November 19, 1957, the State Council also issued the "Order on the Issuance of Metal Cents", deciding to issue three kinds of coins from December 1, 1957, namely 1 cent, 2 cents and 5 cents, which were circulated simultaneously Chinese with paper 1 cents, 2 cents and 5 cents. This is the earliest RMB coin issued in New China, and its significance lies in the establishment of a complete main and auxiliary currency system of RMB with metal cents.
The smooth issuance of the second set of renminbi fundamentally solved the problem of inflation of the first set of renminbi, formed the first relatively perfect monetary system in new China, provided a solid monetary and financial guarantee for China's economic construction, and played an important role in socialist construction. It has not only laid a solid foundation for the establishment of a truly national monetary and financial system, but also won credibility internationally. At that time, the Soviet Union and some countries in Eastern Europe often used a second set of renminbi for conversion when trading with the mainland.
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