Since the Internet has become more and more developed, virtual currency and mobile payment have become the mainstream of our lives. Now we go to most places, basically do not need to carry cash, directly with the mobile phone to scan the two-dimensional code can be paid and income, very safe and convenient.
But while enjoying modern and convenient life, we still don't forget the physical currency we used. From banknotes to silver bills, from coins to silver dollars, copper coins and even shell coins, they are all part of our Chinese culture.
As long as it is money, there is a possibility of counterfeiting. Because since ancient times, people have made great efforts in anti-counterfeiting. Silver tickets should be written, stamped, misprinted, watermarked, and depicted, and Zhu Yuanzhang's Hongwu Tongbao copper coin also has a place of origin inscription on the back, so as to directly implement the problem of counterfeit money to the locality, and then ensure that counterfeit money and bad money will not be generated from the system. Today, anti-counterfeiting and anti-inferior technology is naturally more advanced.
But one of the earliest currencies - shell coins, in the final analysis, is just a kind of shell, they have different shapes and shapes, it seems that there are not too many anti-counterfeiting and anti-inferior technology and technology, why did the ancients not run to the beach to pick up more shells to make a fortune?
First of all, let's take a look at the background of the era in which Shell Coin was generated. On the mainland four or five thousand years ago, the level of productivity at that time was not high, the commodity economy was not developed, and the products of the whole society were not rich, so our ancestors at that time often adopted the way of bartering and did not use money at all.
However, with the increase of productivity, the increase of the variety of commodities, and the development of the economy, the barter method is no longer popular. For example, Zhang San's family produces cucumbers, Li Si's family produces pumpkins, Wang Wu's family produces winter melons, Zhang San wants Li Si's pumpkins, and Li Si wants winter melons in Wang Wu's family.
At this time, if there is a "middleman" that can be used as a universal value measurement item, then Zhang San can take this "it" and go to Li Si's home to buy pumpkins, and Li Si can also use this "middleman" to buy winter melons in Wang Wu's home, so that it is the best of both worlds. And this "middleman" is the general equivalent, which can be roughly understood as what we often call "money" (in fact, there is a difference between the two, ancient Greece and other places once used rice to make a general equivalent).
And a thing can become a general equivalent, the most important point is that the group recognition is high, can be widely circulated. That is to say, all people must admit that this general equivalent has a universal and standard value, so that it can become a general equivalent and enter the transaction.
Shells were not originally used as currency, but as an ornament, becoming a symbol of beauty and even glory in primitive tribes. As a result, shells, especially the beautiful sea shells from the East and South China Seas, have become a favorite of everyone. Everyone is willing to exchange their own things for shells, so shells become "middlemen" between the transactions of goods.
With the further development of civilization, the concept of state and political power appeared on the mainland, and the original shell began to be processed into a specific form, which has since become a kind of currency, and this is why shell coins mainly appeared during the Xia Shang Wednesday Dynasty, and the shells found before the Xia Dynasty were mainly used as ornaments.
In this way, we can see why people at that time did not pick up shells. First of all, there are very many requirements for the shell itself, and ordinary shells such as river mussels and so on cannot enter people's eyes. Only some sea shells produced in the East and South China Seas will become recognized as "middlemen".
But in ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, most people lived in parts of the Yangtze River Basin in the Central Plains, they had tried their best to survive, where did they have the ability to cross the dense jungle in the south to the southern shore, specifically to collect shells?
The second is the policy problem, although the emergence of bei coins was earlier than the Shang Dynasty, but it began to circulate in large quantities during the Shang Zhou Period. The Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty have begun to order the control of the production of shell coins, and the boundaries of the sea shells will be controlled by the local princes, and it is difficult for ordinary people to bypass them to get high-quality shells that can be used as shells.
In addition, processing is also a difficult problem for the people. In fact, shell coins are not an ordinary shell, but to be specially polished, carved and drilled, usually made into the shape of the word "friend", in the counting and conversion of shell coins, also use "friends" as a unit. At that time, the advanced means of production were in the hands of slave owners and princes, and it was difficult for ordinary people to have good enough tools to carry out such complex processing, so they simply could not create enough shell coins to enter circulation.
And the above points, that is, why the ancients did not pick up shells, there is this time to cross the southern dense forest to the sea and then slowly polish the shells, it is better to use this time to hunt more, and all kinds of land will be more rewarding. Therefore, don't look at the shell coin so simple, in fact, there is a big doorway behind it!