Beautiful shells were once the most familiar physical objects as currency, and when metal money or paper money became a means of exchange, everyone may think that physical money has withdrawn from the stage of history. In fact, it has been holding on to the long river of history.
During the Two Han Dynasties more than 2,000 years ago, the residents of Loulan City (now north of Ruoqiang County, in the northwest corner of Lop Nur) lived simply, working less than three hours a day. Some daily necessities do not need to be bought at any cost, but are directly bartered. The goods used for exchange are generally the most practical or relatively high value and easy to carry grain and silk. The people can buy cloth and shoes with grain, vegetables, cattle, grains, seeds, etc. with silk, and high-quality silk fabrics can buy expensive things such as clothes.
The market is rare and expensive, clothing and daily necessities are the most expensive, followed by silk cloth, and grain will be relatively cheap. "Five-baht" money and physical currency such as grain and silk can be used interchangeably, mainly according to what the purchaser has or what it needs. The purchase and sale of goods changes with the quality and market. A bucket of wheat can sum up sixty dollars. Ordinary people get their own things in this free, casual market.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, physical currency was still widely used in the market. "Blanket" enters the market for trading. In the Gaochang area, there was a merchant named Wang Nian, who was involved in a wide range of businesses, buying and selling slaves and livestock. Even if the dynasties change, from the original Gaochang County to former Liang to Former Qin, it will not affect his business in the slightest. Whatever business he made, what agreement he made, he had to write it down himself, or sign a contract.
On April 15, the third year of Jianyuan (367 AD), Wang Nian completed a business and was in a very good mood. Early in the morning, he took a fancy to a camel from Zhu Yue's family, wanted to buy it, and finally exchanged the "Zi Camel" around him with Zhu Yue's "Jia Camel". He did not forget to sign a contract, and if anyone repented, he would use the local "blanket" as a fine and pay 10 tickets. Time passed slowly, and in July of the thirteenth year of Jianyuan (377 AD), Wang Nian sold a young maid to Zhao Bolong (at that time, buying and selling slaves was a legal business), and the other party's bid was 7 red carpets with dense and uniform longitude and weft, which basically met the value of the market. As is customary, Wang Nian invited a witness present and signed a contract. It was agreed that if it was later found that the maid was already a person with a master, or if one of the two parties repented, they would be doubly punished, and the fine would be paid with 14 woven blankets.
Former Liang Shengping eleven years Wang Nian sold camel coupons. Excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan
From the Three Kingdoms to the Western Jin Dynasty, the physical currency of goods in the Tarim Basin was still dominated by silk, grain, and of course, the aforementioned "blanket" (woven with wool or cow hair). Officially, some good silk or silk fabrics are also bought in the market using blankets (in units of horses). Physical money is widely used.
During the Tang Dynasty, "the trade of silk cloth and miscellaneous goods such as Ayara is universal, such as the need to see money in the market, which is not reasonable." From now on, combined with money and goods, the offender is guilty of the law." On September 29, the 20th year of the new century (732 AD), the government officially announced to the public in the form of official documents that silk and cotton cloth in gaochang could be directly treated as coins, and since then physical currency has been protected by law.
First of all, the value of the local "fine silk" (also known as "laminated cloth", that is, the local cotton cloth) is stipulated: "the fine silk is one foot, the upper value is to pick up five texts, the slightly inferior one is to pick up the five texts, and the most inferior is to pick up the three texts." According to the conversion of one horse, that is, 11.6 meters long and 0.29 meters wide, the price of fine cloth is 1,800 yuan, the price of 1,760 yuan is 1,760 yuan for 1 horse of medium cloth, and the price of 1,720 yuan is 1,720 yuan for 1 horse of fine cloth. At that time, the official of Zhengjiupin was 57 stones of rice, the money was 1,300 yuan, and the cash sent could not buy a low-grade cloth. Secondly, "the price of white noodles is a bucket, the good one is three picks of the text, the general is the three picks of the text, and the inferior is the three picks of the land text." Thus, a stone of medium flour (10 buckets, about 40 kilograms today) is worth three hundred and seventy yuan. Almost five stones of fine flour (194 kg) can be bought for one fine fine silk for the same price.
Of course, the price is adjusted with the changes in the market. Historically, the price of cotton cloth has been very high, even higher than that of silk and linen in general. Everyone borrowed money from each other and hoped to repay it with cotton flowers (cotton), but the monthly interest rate was ridiculously high, reaching about 25%. On April 17, the second year of Jinglong (708 AD), Song Xigan, who lived in Anle City, Jiaohe County, was anxious to wait for the money to be used, and had no choice but to borrow copper money from Cheng Yigan in the same city. The two agreed that by August 30, sixty-four of them would be repaid with 20 pounds of flowers. At that time, the high-class silk spent a pound of market price of seven yuan, which means that in just four months, the interest rate will be seventy-six yuan, and the interest rate will be 100%. In fact, the officials also used sackcloth as a tax to pay, and even small transportation costs could be calculated with cloth.
In the second year of Jinglong, Anle City, Jiaohe County, Xizhou, Song Xi felt that Qian Qi was raised. Excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan
During the Song Dynasty, the "Huarui Cloth" (coarse cotton cloth) was used to stamp it as physical currency. If you use the old one, wash it once every 7 years, re-stamp it, and use it again. Physical money has been accompanied by the daily trading life of ordinary people for a long time, and it exists at the same time as money.
Foot cloth in Lanxi County, Tangwu Prefecture. Excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan
In the process of the development of the monetary economy, the change of concept is always accompanied by the change and development of the monetary economy, and people choose coins or physical objects as money, which is a direct embodiment of the accompanying development of these two.
Source: Xinjiang is a good place