Knowledge Post! Why are Tibetan, Uighur, Mongolian and Zhuang texts printed on the renminbi?

The mainland's famous spokesperson "Meng Ying" posted the currency designs of China and the United States on Twitter, with an appendix: "A beautiful country believes that the mainland does not respect ethnic minorities. Then look at the renminbi banknotes, which are also printed in Tibetan, Uighur, Mongolian and Zhuang next to Chinese. National unity has long been deeply ingrained in mainland society. On the other hand, is there any other language on the dollar bill besides English? ”

Then, you may have a question: why are tibetan, Uighur, Mongolian and Zhuang chinese printed next to the Chinese on the renminbi? Let's look at the history of the renminbi.

The predecessor of the renminbi: border area banknotes

The renminbi has been used on the mainland for 78 years, longer than the history of the republic. But the renminbi also has a process of development, the predecessor of the renminbi is called the side coin.

After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, the government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region used the legal tender of the Nationalist government in accordance with the agreement between the two parties. Later, due to the lack of auxiliary coins and the failure of market circulation, the Border District Bank issued the "Guanghua Store Price Coupon" in the name of Guanghua Store in June 1938, with a denomination of two cents, five cents, one dime, two corners, and five corners, and later issued an additional seven cents and five cents, which was used as a supplementary currency and exchanged with the same value as legal tender. In 1941, the Bank of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region officially issued border currency and gradually withdrew the price coupon of Yan'an Guanghua store.

After the Anhui Incident, the banks of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region issued a total of 1 dime, 2 jiao, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 50 yuan, 100 yuan, 200 yuan, 500 yuan, 1000 yuan, 5000 yuan, 5000 yuan, a total of 10 denominations and 14 kinds of coupons.

The issuance of border coins effectively promoted the development of industrial and agricultural production and commerce in the border areas, and played an important role in the victory of the War of Resistance. In January 1948, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Area Bank merged with the Northwest Farmers Bank and stopped issuing border currency.

Photo of the bank in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region

Today, the three currencies issued by the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Bank have become precious revolutionary cultural relics. These currencies were limited to the historical environment and conditions of the time and were relatively crude and not suitable for preservation. At present, the "Wufen and Yijiao" coupons of the "Yan'an Guanghua Price Coupon" and the "Wu Qianyuan" coupons of the "Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Bank Currency" are even more rare and difficult to collect.

Why is the renminbi printed in five languages

In 1948, with the smooth progress of the People's Liberation War, the general trend of the country was already clear. To this end, on December 1, 1948, the Chinese Min Bank was established in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, and on the same day began to issue renminbi. Comrade Dong Biwu, who was then chairman of the North China People's Government, wrote the name of the bank of the Chinese for the set of renminbi. Bian currency retired, and the renminbi officially entered the stage of history.

The first set of renminbi selected the pattern of economic construction and people's lives in the new society in terms of pattern themes. There are 12 kinds of denominations and 62 editions, including 2 kinds of 1 yuan coupons, 4 kinds of 5 yuan coupons, 4 kinds of 10 yuan coupons, 7 kinds of 20 yuan coupons, 7 kinds of 50 yuan coupons, 10 kinds of 100 yuan coupons, 5 kinds of 200 yuan coupons, 6 kinds of 500 yuan coupons, 6 kinds of 1000 yuan coupons, 5 kinds of 5000 yuan coupons, 4 kinds of 10000 yuan coupons, and 2 kinds of 50000 yuan coupons. In February 1955, a second set of renminbi was issued.

The second set of RMB and the first set of RMB are equivalent to the second set of RMB 10,000 yuan. There are three minority scripts on the back of the second set of renminbi: Mongolian, Uyghur, and Tibetan.

The second edition of the renminbi issued the only 3 yuan in Chinese history. The stock in the market is very rare, and the value has been speculated more than 10,000 times higher, so the three-dollar note has a very high collection value and investment appreciation space.

The renminbi also has Tibetan, Uighur, Mongolian and Zhuang chinese printed next to it, which began in 1962

The third set of renminbi was issued by Chinese Bank on April 20, 1962. It is equal to the second set of renminbi and mixes with it in the market. Compared with the second set of renminbi, this set of renminbi cancels the 3 yuan banknote, adds four metal coins of 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao and 1 yuan, and retains the 1 cent, 2 cent and 5 cent banknotes.

The words "Chinese Bank" in the banknote were written by Mr. Ma Wenwei. Zhuang characters were added to the back of the banknotes, and the words "Chinese Bank" written in Hanyu Pinyin, Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, and Zhuang were printed. The third set of renminbi did not stop circulating until July 1, 2000, which lasted for 38 years.

Many post-70s and post-80s are very familiar with the third set of renminbi. It is also the most well-known set of banknotes.

Why is the renminbi printed in Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, zhuang?

There are five scripts on the renminbi: Chinese characters, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uighur and Zhuang. Why print the language of ethnic minorities on the renminbi?

First, historical and traditional factors

Because since Qin Shi Huang unified the world, China has been a multi-ethnic country with the Han nationality as the main body, and ethnic minorities are also our brothers and sisters, which are indispensable. As a country headed by the people, the renminbi plus Mongolian, Tibetan, Uighur and Zhuang is a powerful demonstration of great national unity.

In addition, the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty, and the Tibetans also had a major influence on the culture around the southwest of the mainland, the Uyghurs are the first ethnic minority in Xinjiang, and the Zhuang have a great influence in Guangxi. So from the perspective of historical tradition, it makes sense to put them in the renminbi.

Demographic factors

There are 56 ethnic groups recognized in China. Including Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uyghur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Buyi, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazakh, Dai, Li, Lisu, Wa, She, Gao, Lahu, Shui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Jingpo, Kirgiz, Turk, Daur, Mulao, Qiang, Brown, Sala, Maonan, Gelao, Xibe, Achang, Pumi, Tajik, Nu, Uzbek, Russian, Evenk, Deang, Baoan, Yugur, Jing, Tatar, Dulong, Orunchun, Hezhe, Monba, Lhoba, Kino and Han.

Tibetan singer Alan

But many ethnic groups have very small populations and do not have their own script, so they cannot print on paper money. The Mongols, Uyghurs, Zhuangs, and Tibetans not only have their own language and script, but also have a large population, so they can be included.

Mongolian, also known as Mongolian, is used to record Mongolian, which was founded in the 13th century, and the alphabet pronunciation, spelling rules, and lines are similar to Uighur, called Uighur Mongolian. There are 10 million Mongols in the world, compared to 4.21 million in China. Therefore, Mongolian can be selected.

The Uyghur ethnic group is mainly concentrated in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, mainly south of the Tianshan Mountains, and the oases around the Tarim Basin are the centers of Uyghur settlement. The Uyghur population exceeds 10 million.

The Tibetan population in the world is about 7.5 million, about 7 million in China (2016), and the Tibetan population is conservatively estimated at more than 10 million.

Zhuang and Bu zhuang were originally zhuang self-proclaimed. In the Chinese history books, it is translated as "bump", "徸", etc., pronounced "Zhuang", which was first seen in Song Dynasty literature. After the founding of New China, it was uniformly written as "servant". Lu Rongting, the governor of Liangguang, was a Zhuang, and the founding general Wei Guoqing was also a Zhuang. The Zhuang population of the sixth census exceeds 16.92 million, making it the largest ethnic minority in the mainland.

Why manchu and Hui script is not printed with renminbi

Manchu and Hui populations are both over 10 million, so why aren't their writings selected?

First of all, in the process of the formation of the Hui people, the Han nationality is the absolute main force, which leads to the Hui people themselves using Chinese characters and Chinese, so they do not have their own script.

Although the Manchus had Manchus in history, after 300 years of development in the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus were assimilated by the powerful Han culture, and the current Manchus do not use Manchu and Manchu, they are almost no different from the Han.

Therefore, the manchu and Hui ethnic scripts do not appear on the renminbi.

Conclusion:

National unity has long been deeply rooted in Chinese society. China has been a multi-ethnic country since ancient times, and ethnic equality and mutual love have become the biggest consensus in Chinese society. Even the mainland's policy of giving more preferential treatment to ethnic minority brothers does not exist in a certain country. China's greatness lies in moderation and tolerance, and China, where 56 nationalities join hands, will only become more and more beautiful.

I love my people, which is the source of my self-confidence.