Mr. Li Guoqing Fan Changming has a straightforward personality and is humble, we usually do not have much contact, occasionally meet, he always calls himself a teacher, which makes my little brother sincerely afraid and flattered.
A few days ago, Brother Chang Ming called to inform him that he had recently published a book called "Yunnan Banknotes" (Yunnan Publishing Group, Yunnan People's Publishing House, November 2016, 1st edition), and wanted to send me a copy. We were both acutes and met the next day.
When I saw Brother Chang Ming's masterpiece, it was indeed a masterpiece, a large 16-open international hardcover edition, printed on coated paper, illustrated and textual, sprinkled with more than 500 pages, between Russia, marvel and admiration spontaneously.
Brother Chang Ming repeatedly commissioned me to write a book review, and I confessed that I was completely a layman for coin collection, and I was afraid of having a heavy trust, and he praised me, and at the same time said that he did not ask for anything, and what kind of writing was what it was. Since this is the case, it is better to be respectful than to obey, and my "duck" can only try to get on the shelves, and as for the result, I can only resign myself to fate.
"The belt gradually widens and finally does not regret it, and the people are haggard for the sake of Isaac"
Through conversations with Brother Chang Ming and access to relevant materials, the "past and present life" of a Yunnan banknote collector suddenly appeared————
Fan Changming, born in October 1944, a native of Kunming, Yunnan, is a college culture and former full-time deputy secretary-general of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee of the China Democratic Construction Association.
Speaking of which, Fan Changming's interest in studying and collecting Yunnan banknotes is purely accidental. One day in 1982, he and a friend together "punched the shell", ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, the world, the south of the sea, chatting, friends heard that Fan Changming was collecting ancient metal coins, he suggested to him, engaged in collection should also be innovative, unique, follow the butt of others will certainly not make any name. Fan Changming felt reasonable and hoped that his friend would give him an idea. Friends said bluntly, you simply collect Yunnan banknotes, there is a lot of article to do.
Fan Changming asked his friend to explain the reason, but the friend did not answer positively, but told him a real bloody case that had happened in Kunming.
On February 12, 1949, a sensational shooting and murder occurred in Kunming, and 21 people fell in a pool of blood on the night of the Lantern Festival.
Located in the center of Kunming, Nanping Street, lined with commercial buildings and endless flow of people, has now become a pedestrian street, which is even more lively. At that time, Nanping Street was called "Oriental Wall Street". The Central Bank (Kunming Branch) and 48 other Chinese and foreign banks have gathered on this street, and the "Kunming Central Bank Blood Case" that shocked the whole country also occurred on this street.
In 1949, half of the Kuomintang was in turmoil, the building of political power was about to fall, and the financial and economic order was also in chaos, making the people unhappy and the people's hearts floating. In this context, the "Kunming Central Bank Blood Case" occurred.
At that time, the Kuomintang government disregarded inflation and issued a large number of gold yuan coupons, which Yunnan refused to use, and the semi-open silver dollar coins used in Yunnan in the past replaced the gold yuan coupons in circulation in the market. Affected by this, several provinces in the southwest also switched to silver dollars and silver horns. The Kuomintang Ministry of Finance also wanted to take advantage of this situation and intended to take out the nickel auxiliary coins in stock and circulate them like silver dollars, so it issued an order to restore the nickel coins that had long been abolished, and exchanged 10 dimes for 1 silver dollar, thus setting off a nickel coin wave in various parts of the southwest. Before the order was announced, senior officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank learned of the news and secretly colluded with businessmen to buy scattered nickel coins everywhere. Within a few days, a few people had become a profitable upstart, but the majority had been deceived into selling old nickel coins at a low price of a few corners or even a few pounds. When the Nationalist government ordered the use of nickel coins to be resumed, the angry people refused to use them, and the authorities had to devalue the nickel coins again, causing chaos.
At that time, the golden yuan coupon could still be exercised in Kunming. At the beginning of February 1949, a 50 yuan denomination gold yuan coupon appeared on the market, which was very inconsistent with the color and seal stroke of the same kind of coupon of the central bank forwarded by the Kunming branch of the central bank. This was originally the issuance bureau of the central bank adopted two different patterns, printed in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The Kunming branch only received samples of the Shanghai version sent by the distribution bureau, but did not receive the sample of the Hong Kong version. The Hong Kong version of the golden yuan coupon flowed into Yunnan from outside the province, but the Kunming branch was at a loss.
At noon on February 12, a vendor took a Hong Kong version of a gold yuan coupon to the Kunming branch of the Central Bank on Nanping Street to exchange it, and the bank staff believed that it was counterfeit currency and stamped it with the stamp "Counterfeit banknotes are invalid" The news spread quickly, and the people, worried that the gold yuan coupons in their hands could not be exchanged, flocked to the Kunming branch of the central bank to run them. The 12th is a Saturday, and the bank is closed in the afternoon. At about 13:00, the anxious crowd opened the side door of the bank and rushed in to rob various things. The bank was busy calling to report to the Yunnan Security Headquarters in Wuhuashan. The Security Command immediately dispatched more than 30 gendarmes, together with the police of the first branch of the Kunming Municipal Police Station, to surround the Kunming branch of the Central Bank and arrested more than 200 people and detained them upstairs in recent days.
Lu Han, the chairman of the provincial government, received the report and personally visited Nanping Street in the evening of the same day to interrogate the arrested people in front of the bank. The secretary Li Guangping accompanied Lu Han and was ordered to write a notice of the incident. Prior to Luján's interrogation, the gendarmes had already interrogated the arrested people one by one. Luhan's interrogation merely glanced at the arrested man and did not ask much. There was only one young man who looked like Sven, and Luhan asked him what he was doing, and the young man replied that he was a student at a certain university. Luhan then asked, "What's the whole thing you did with a student's house?" The young man said that he was passing by here, and he wanted to go inside to see what was going on. Luhan disciplined him a few times to let him go. This questioning luckily saved the college student's life. The other 21 were taken to the entrance of Anning Lane across the street from the bank and shot on the spot. This night coincided with the Lantern Festival, and it was time to eat floating balls (tangyuan), but the 21 people ate guns. They were originally small businessmen with difficult livelihoods, and they were afraid that the banknotes in their hands would be invalid before they went to cash out, and they knew that they had done wronged ghosts! Kunming, which is supposed to be a red-hot traditional festival, is full of panic and blood. In fact, at the time of the incident, only a small number of robbers were involved in the chaos, and it is said that some of them had jumped off the roof of the people's houses from the back window of the bank and run away, and most of them were killed later.
Just the day after the bloody case, Xinhua broadcast the incident, declaring that "the blood debt is repaid from Lu Han, the executioner who slaughtered the people!" ”
The Kunming Central Bank bloody case reflected the serious financial crisis and social contradictions at that time. In order to calm the run-on trend and prevent social unrest from being induced, Luhan used excessive means to make a big mistake for a while. After the bloody case, Lu Han took the opportunity to remove Wu Yong, president of the Kunming branch of the central bank, without authorization, and took over as his own person, Zhao Kangjie. Since then, everything in the Central Bank of Kunming has been under the command of Lu Han.
Listening to his friend's account, Fan Changming felt very sad and shocked that a small paper bill actually triggered a bloody case, which was a major event in the modern history of Yunnan, for which the CCP designated Lu Han, the maker of the bloody case, as a "war criminal." Shocked, Lu Han chose to throw himself into the people and resolutely launched the Yunnan Uprising on December 9, 1949, which led to the peaceful liberation of the Three Kingdoms. It can be seen from this that paper money is closely related to the survival of the country and the livelihood of the people, and can affect the course of historical development under specific conditions; the reason for the rapid collapse of the Kuomintang is that in addition to military defeat, the indiscriminate issuance of paper money leads to inflation is also an important reason. He realized that behind each banknote can be excavated a historical story, which can be called a living fossil of social evolution.
Therefore, he decided decisively to turn to the collection of paper money and break out of a new world in the collecting world. When he first entered the road, he was pleasantly surprised to find that old banknotes, like metal coins, contain rich historical and cultural connotations, but old banknotes belong to paper money, due to the age, scarcity, and difficulty in preservation, he realized that he was about to embark on a long journey, and it was likely to pay a lifetime of hard work and sweat.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Fan Changming to find that collecting paper money was really more difficult, begging for food, where was the difficulty, where was the suffering? It can be summarized by "five fees": time-consuming, labor-intensive, labor-intensive, cost-consuming, and labor-intensive.
First of all, it takes time to collect paper money, but Fan Changming is an incumbent, and he is in an important position in the unit, shouldering a heavy burden, and must be "welded to death" for 8 hours a day. Only after work, after a few mouthfuls of food, go to the old currency market to go around, often in the middle of the night to go home, sleep for a few hours and go to the unit to "carry the beam". It's really bothersome, where is the "object" you are looking for hiding? For example, the kind of 50 yuan gold coupons printed in Hong Kong that triggered the Nanping Street massacre are very few, and who is willing to sell them? Laborious, in order to collect their favorite old banknotes, had to run the old coin market again and again, really can not find, but also had to ask grandpa and grandma to ask "money friends" at home and abroad to help find.
Expensive. As a paper money used for the exchange of goods for general equivalents, once it withdraws from the circulation field, its value increases, which is the characteristic of cultural relics. In the old currency market, in the 1970s and 1980s, you can buy your favorite old banknotes for a few tens of yuan, but with the passage of time, the market is bullish all the way, sometimes even spending thousands of yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan or even higher to get what you want.
Fan Changming's collection of banknotes is "Han Xin general, the more the merrier", so the expenses have become a heavy burden, pressing him enough. However, as long as he encounters his favorite collection, even if he loses his family, he must try to get his hands on it, otherwise he will not be able to eat even food. For example, once a friend recommended to him a set of Yunnan Fudian Bank in the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920) issued three vertical small corner tickets of One Corner, Two Corners and Wu Jiao, and the price offered by the person made Fan Changming a little difficult to accept, and after a little hesitation, this set of banknotes fell into the hands of others. Fan Changming regretted that he had missed the opportunity and was determined to make up for it, so he tracked down and searched for seven times in a row (this ticket changed hands many times, and the price even flipped and fought), and finally he finally made it at a high price.
In June 1994, a Guangdong coin merchant was willing to give priority to Fan Changming a gold treasury coupon issued by the Guizhou provincial government in the early Republic of China, which was a rare treasure, but the price was not cheap, Fan Changming could not take out so much money for a while, and in a hurry, he painfully transferred a set of imported combination stereos at home in exchange for this "yellowed paper". In April 2004, a collector in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, desperately needed money to sell an old banknote issued during the warlord melee in Guizhou Province during the Republic of China. In order to get the one-dollar military note first, he told the owner not to transfer it. Then, taking advantage of the "May Day" holiday, the servants rushed to cook and sold at a price satisfactory to the owner.
According to the "exposé" of confidants familiar with Fan Changming, sometimes just received a monthly salary and saw a beloved old banknote, Fan Changming may take out the full month's salary to exchange for a "paper note" that can no longer buy any property in reality and take it home. What's more, in his collection, the Qing Dynasty's Yunnan official circulation banknotes and Xincheng Yinzhuang and other rare Yunnan local banknotes, he was bought by debt at that time. As for the case of purchasing rare banknotes from the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and other places after several twists and turns, the yunnan border bank and the Bishi Railway Bank are also numerous.
Fan Changming's obsession with collecting old banknotes that cannot be eaten, drunk or used makes many people puzzled, and over time, even his family misunderstands him, wondering whether he is fooled by someone or crazy.
Fan Changming is not impatient, taking advantage of various opportunities to teach his family lessons, patiently explaining the effectiveness of the search for paper money "puzzles, making friends, and storing wealth", which is a systematic cultural project, the merit is in the contemporary era, the benefits are in the thousands, it is difficult to complete with his own strength, and he needs to get the understanding and support of his family. Over time, his family was gradually "assimilated" by him, and he went all out to support his cause, and his wife, son, and daughter-in-law all became his "allies".
Labor-intensive, receiving the required old banknotes, but also have to find a way to find out its origin, provenance and value, which means that they have to consult historical materials, consult experts, and force themselves to do research and research.
In this way, Fan Changming became a Puritan, usually rough tea and light meals, tobacco and alcohol do not stick, occasionally passing by entertainment venues is also not squinting, single-mindedly "love money as fate", known as the strange people in the collection industry.
Today, Fan Changming has collected more than 5,500 kinds of paper money from chinese dynasties, more than 1,000 kinds of paper money from all over the world, and more than 700 kinds of ancient coins, copper dollars and coins.
As a result, many well-known numismatic collectors and "banknote dealers" across the country are now familiar with Fan Changming's obsession with local banknotes in western China, such as Yunnan and Guizhou, and the richness of his collections. Even more than 10 international coin auction companies in Beijing Guardian, Beijing Chengxuan, Shanghai Hongsheng and Taiwan and Hong Kong have long-term contacts with him. So far, he has become a well-known banknote collector with high integrity in the southwest region recognized in the national banknote collection circle, and has been listed as a permanent member of the Hong Kong Numismatic Research Association.
"Although it is hard work, blowing to the yellow sand begins to see gold"
If measured by general standards, Fan Changming is already a top figure in the field of paper money collecting, full of ambition and success. However, to become a real collector, only satisfied with the increase and accumulation of the number of collections, and without the academic research results, it can only belong to personal hobbies, always stay at a lower level and level, at best can only be regarded as a collector, and can not become a home.
Fan Changming aspires to start a family, he is not willing to invest in so many years of painstaking solitude, and the result of the "five fees" can only become a "collector" who has a large number of unusable banknotes and achieves nothing. Therefore, from the very beginning, he paid attention to collecting and doing research at the same time, and one day published a monograph, which became a blockbuster in the field of paper money collecting. Since Chinese colleges and universities do not have majors in paper money collection, he can only take the road of self-taught talent.
The first is a lot of reading. He spared no expense in his work, and sought a large number of books such as various versions of numismatic dictionaries at home and abroad, such as "Ancient Chinese Banknotes", "History of Modern Chinese Banknotes", "Yunnan Historical Currency", and "Chinese Historical Monetary Series", chewed them repeatedly, and repeatedly recalled them in order to find the three tastes of the Chinese; at the same time, he took advantage of various opportunities to go to the door to seek advice, learn from teachers, and with a piece of sincerity and true feelings , the true fire that the teachers did not easily show, illuminated the road he was painstakingly seeking, and became an expert in the collection of Chinese banknotes and the study of paper money history.
According to a friend familiar with Fan Changming, "Time has passed, Fan Changming, as always, has lost a lot of his own 'silver two', but he has earned a spiritual wealth." Appreciating these family treasures of his own is a great pleasure for him, more than 30 years of hard work is unusual, and he is very intoxicated by watching all kinds of old banknotes arranged in an orderly calendar according to different periods. The wordless Khan Qing, the silent historian, took him to do a journey through time and space, countless vast times will meet in Si, the vicissitudes of the world, the joys and sorrows, the glory and disgrace of prosperity and decline, and there is no way to escape the inadvertent records of these old banknotes. Sometimes there are some setbacks or physical insecurity in life, and flipping through these precious old banknotes has become Fan Changming's best spiritual comfort. ”
Currently, Fan has joined the Asian Numismatic Society and has been admitted as a permanent member of the Hong Kong Numismatic Research Association.
Over the years, he has wholeheartedly devoted himself to promoting numismatic culture, rescuing national cultural heritage, popularizing the knowledge of paper money collection, and making his due contribution.
Fan Changming believes that as a true collector and researcher of paper money, he must have an open vision, be open-minded, be willing to publicly display his treasures, and change private collections into public ownership. In 1984, 1989 and 2007, he held three exhibitions of personal banknote collections with the help and support of enthusiastic colleges and enterprises, with a total audience of more than 10,000 visitors, and more than ten central, provincial and municipal news media conducted special interviews and reports. He often used "money" to meet friends, visit famous artists to increase "money knowledge", enrich the collection, and hold various large-scale coin exchange meetings and auctions inside and outside the province, he always took the time to participate, and did not miss every opportunity to visit and study.
For those newcomers who have just entered the Tao, Fan Changming's ancient road is hot sausage, willing to be a ladder, and all those who have asked for advice always put all their own collection experience and experience and disk out, helping people to help the real place, in the Yunnan banknote collection industry has a well-known reputation, quite praised.
"In the dream, I looked for her a thousand hundred degrees, and I looked back, but the man was in the middle of the light"
Compiling and printing the Yunnan banknotes that he has treasured for many years into a book, so that these rare treasures can go to the people and play their due role, is Fan Changming's greatest wish in life.
If you just compile "Yunnan Banknotes" into a general compilation of materials, it will undoubtedly save a lot of effort; however, Fan Changming's principle is not to do it, to do it well, now is not often said "domestic leading, world-class", he has this ambition, determined to compile "Yunnan Banknotes" into a scientific, professional, knowledgeable, ornamental, interesting, readable in one furnace, with long-term preservation value of the Yunnan banknote encyclopedia, which is equivalent to their own problems, their own set of "roadblocks", It can be said that thorns stand in the way, and the mountains and rivers are repeated.
Fortunately, God arranged a golden combination for him, the best partner. Su Jun, a native of Nanjing, is a member of the Beijing Numismatic Society. Collecting Chinese banknotes for more than 20 years, due to the influence of the "Chinese Banknotes" published by Smith in the United States in 1970, he began to engage in professional research on Chinese banknotes, believing that the "Standard Catalogue of Chinese Banknotes" should be systematically written by Chinese himself. In 2009, after organizing the Chinese Banknote Exhibition at the Beijing Capital Museum, he co-founded the China Banknote Research Network with Mr. Chen Changbin, a paper money collector, and in 2012, with the addition of collector Mr. Lv Naitao and the establishment of Yuchang Group's Tianyou Oriental (Beijing) Culture Co., Ltd., he began to publish the series of "Standard Catalogue of Chinese Banknotes" for Chinese Banknote Research.
In 2011, the Article "Centenary of the Bank of China" was clicked 400,000 times, becoming the most concerned sticker of Chinese banknotes.
From 2011 to 2013, he published more than 10 paper money articles in the "Zhonghua Ji coin journal" in Taiwan, with nearly 100,000 words of text. Major representative articles such as "History of Bank of China Banknote Issuance (I)(II)" commemorating the centenary of the Bank of China at the end of July 2011, and "The Transformation of the Puppet Manchurian Central Bank into a Voucher" on July 32, 2013, which have been adopted by various numismatic professional magazines for nearly 100 articles.
From 2012 to 2014, he wrote dozens of academic articles for the fine banknotes auctioned by Huaxia National Auction, China Poly, China Guardian, Beijing Chengxuan and other auction companies, all of which won good results.
Su Jun wrote in the "Notes for the Editing and Publication" of "Yunnan Banknotes": "The book "Yunnan Banknotes" has lasted for more than thirty years, starting from consulting archives and sorting out materials, to physical collection, verification of content, and now to the final draft. Our journey from obscurity to the establishment of the Chinese Banknote Research Website embodies our love for banknote collecting and our cautious approach to historical research. This book covers yunnan historical materials, geological information, economic materials, biographies and other aspects. In the process of writing, we screen all the archives, documents, and works involving Yunnan banknotes and even Chinese banknotes at home and abroad, peel away the cocoon, and remove the false and the true. This book is a record of the history of the development of paper money in Yunnan, and it is also the condensation of our painstaking research on paper money. In the process of writing, we start from the source, maximize the use of the original materials of the time, and adopt an objective attitude to restore the truth of history. This book is an image of the economic life of the times, and it is an academic report on paper money in this era. ”
This passage, which is scientific, accurate, profound, objective and subtle, clarifies the purpose, purpose, significance, method and academic value of compiling the "Yunnan Banknote", and plays a role in navigating and guiding our appreciation and appreciation of the whole book. But he ignored the point that as a scholar and entrepreneur, it was he who generously donated money to ensure the publication of this fine book, which was passed down as a beautiful talk in the Chinese and foreign paper money research circles.
"Yunnan Banknote" has a novel design, reasonable arrangement, complete style and exquisite content.
The book is divided into nine chapters, the first chapter: "Approaching Yunnan (inner division three sections)"; the second chapter: "Qing Dynasty Yunnan banknotes (inner division seven sections)"; the third chapter: "Yunnan banknotes during the Beijing government of the Republic of China (internal division of four sections)"; chapter four: "Yunnan banknotes during the National Government of the Republic of China (inner division of four sections)"; chapter five: "Paper money during the republic of China government period (internal division of one section)"; chapter six: "Paper money circulated by foreign forces in Yunnan (internal division of six sections)"; chapter seven: "Paper money issued by military and political departments at all levels in Yunnan (inner division of ten sections)". Chapter 8: "The Currency of the Yunnan People's Power (Divided into Three Sections)"; Chapter 9, "Yunnan on Paper Money", basically covers all aspects of the knowledge about Yunnan banknotes, and is a "Yunnan Paper Money Encyclopedia" that "has a volume in hand and an overview of the overall situation", and its viewing and collection value is self-evident.
China is an ancient civilization with a history of thousands of years, and it is one of the earliest countries to produce and use currency, and the history of Chinese currency reflects the rise and fall of the dynasties in China from one side. China's currency in every period carries the political, economic, cultural, artistic and other information of the times, and it is no wonder that people call coins "social fossils".
In the Preface to the book "Yunnan Banknotes", the author clearly points out: "The banknotes displayed in this book basically include the banknotes issued and circulated in Yunnan from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the founding of the People's Republic of China. From these few surviving physical or photographic banknotes, you can not only get a glimpse of the financial situation of Yunnan more than a hundred years ago, but also understand some precious historical materials reflected in the banknotes and the social landscape of Yunnan in the early 20th century. ”
From a special perspective and perspective, "Yunnan Banknotes" shows readers a magnificent and turbulent picture of modern and contemporary history in Yunnan: resisting the British invasion and defending the southwest gate, the Sino-French war, the struggle of the people of Yunnan to protect the right of way and mining rights, the construction of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the Gebishi Railway, the Yongchang Uprising, the Chongjiu Uprising, the Patriotic War, the Western Yunnan War of Resistance, the Hump Route, the "121 Incident", the "Anti-Civil War, The Struggle for Democracy, and the Freedom" Movement, the Armed Struggle of the Yunnan-Guibian Column of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Peaceful Liberation of Yunnan... ..."There is not only the fighting and clamor of the jingo iron horses on the battlefield, but also the strategizing in the general's account, and there is also the vigor that sweeps through thousands of troops. One by one, the thunderous great priests who changed dynasties, the roars and shouts of the former servants of the benevolent people and heroes, and the determined contingent carrying the overwhelming flags have turned countless beautiful visions into living reality, laying the foundation for today's colorful world where thousands of purples and thousands of reds are always spring. (Huang Yilu)
Through the "Yunnan Banknotes," one after another vivid historical figures came to us with great vigor and vividness, including military and political figures Dao Anren, Cai Yi, Tang Jiyao, Li Liejun, Fang Shengtao, Luo Peijin, Gu Pinzhen, Hu Ruoyu, Long Yun, Hu Ying, Li Zonghuang, Lu Han, Yang Wenxian, Li Mi, and others, Zhuang Tian, Zhu Jiabi, and Zhou Nan, leaders of the Yunnan Guibian Column of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Huang Fengxiang, Li Honglun, Sheng Yanling, Chen Shan, Chen Jun, Wu Kun, Gu Shigao, and former premiers, governors, general managers of Fudian Bank. Gu Bingjun, Qin Guangdi, Wang Jiuling, Wang Maode, Dong Ze, Hu Daowen, Ma Weilin, Yu Enrong, Li Peiyan, Miao Yuntai...
As we all know, Dao Anren is a member of the Chinese League and a famous pioneer of the bourgeois democratic revolution. The book "Yunnan Banknotes" introduces readers to his little-known side, "Thirty-four years after Guangxu (1908), Dao Anren led Qianya students and several Japanese expert technicians back to China, opened match manufacturing and printing, textile and other factories in Ganya, and opened a precedent for the establishment of capitalist industry and commerce in Yunnan and the introduction of professional and technical personnel. He also opened the 'Xincheng Silver House', issued silver tickets, and actively raised funds for revolutionary activities. ”1
It can be seen that Dao Anren is not only a "national elite, a great man of the border plug", but also a meritorious man in yunnan's financial undertakings, which is worth entering the annals of history.
Another example is Cai Yi, we know that in his short life, he mainly did two great things: First, during the Xinhai Revolution in Yunnan, he was elected as the commander-in-chief of the rebel army and participated in leading the famous Chongjiu Uprising, thus ending the 252-year autocratic rule of the Qing Dynasty in Yunnan, establishing the "Yunnan Military Governor's Office of the Greater China State" and being elected as the Governor of Yunnan; during his tenure, he was keen on reform, promoting advantages and eliminating disadvantages, and doing a series of good things and practical things for the people of Yunnan. In addition to the reform of internal affairs, in the financial aspect, attention should be paid to abolishing the organs, dismissing the army, stopping all kinds of donations, rectifying taxation, and frugality. Cai Yi led by example, reducing the capital governor's salary from 600 yuan to 60 yuan per month. "At this time, the governor of the capital is the head of the golden throne, and the whole country has not been as good as Yunnan." 2 Cai Yi also said: "When public funds are paid, food and clothing are outside, and the army is supported, and they do not want to make the family have a surplus." ”3
The various effective measures taken by Cai Yi to govern Yunnan have achieved results to varying degrees. For example, in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), Yunnan, a poor province with financial constraints and has always relied on Sichuan and Hubei for assistance (after the Xinhai Revolution, this kind of assistance was cut off), not only did not have a deficit, but saved nearly 200,000 yuan, and even took the initiative to provide financial support of 200,000 yuan to the central government in Beijing, which can be said to have created a miracle in Yunnan's financial history. Second, in the patriotic uprising that broke out in 1915, he led the division as the commander of the defending army, and repeatedly defeated the fierce flames of the Beiyang Rebellion Brigade in the southern Sichuan battlefield, making Yuan Shikai's dream of restoring the imperial system a bubble, and he also became the founder of "rebuilding the republic".
There is also an episode about General Cai Yi coming to Dian to organize and lead the patriotic uprising. According to Zou Ruoheng, an aide-de-camp to Tang Jiyao, the governor of Yunnan at the time, "Cai (锷) asked me: 'After I left Yunnan, how did all walks of life feel?'" How does the military feel? How do the general people in Yunnan feel about Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne? How does the military feel? As for Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne, do all walks of life know how I will act after I come? How does the military feel in particular? I replied, "The general left Dian, the Dian people missed the general, and the military thinking general Yuda Pole." The governor went to Dian, and the Dian people were the hope of the great drought. The streets and alleys were crowded, and it was time to see if they were really overseers. As for Yuan Shikai's title of emperor, people with high-level knowledge generally know that after the general comes, he must make a move, especially the military battalion commanders and above are indignant and clap their fists. 4 At that time, Shanghai's Zhonghua Xinbao also had a report: "When Cai (锷), Li (Liejun) and others did not arrive in Dian a few days ago, rumors in the province swarmed, and the streets and alleys discussed, saying that the provincial army would try to change... The whole city was shocked, the financial panic immediately, Fudian Bank cashed out 500,000 to 600,000 yuan in cash in four or five days, and the price of rice also rose sharply. ...... The wind and the crane are loud, and there are almost all the grass and trees that are soldiers. ...... Cai's trip was extremely secret, but this secret news spread throughout the three worlds without a moment, and the white-headed yellow boy did not go to tell each other, and the head was celebrated, and this public will be beneficial to the country and my homeland. ...... Three days after Cai's arrival in the province, the financial panic leveled, and the number of people who took tickets to the bank to withdraw cash was almost extinct, and all prices immediately returned to their old state. ”
After reading "Yunnan Banknotes", we know that he also did a great thing, that is, during his tenure as the governor of Yunnan, he single-handedly founded the "Fudian Bank" in early 1912, which would have a major impact on the economy of Yunnan, and was the "founding father" of Yunnan's financial undertakings.
Tang Jiyao's "governance of Dian without good governance, and the protection of the country has a miraculous merit", a long-debated issue in the academic community, has also been corroborated in the "Yunnan Paper Money".
During the Patriotic War, Tang Jiyao served as the governor of Yunnan and the commander-in-chief of the Third Army of the Protectorate Army, staying in Yunnan to coordinate all parties. He successfully organized the defense of southern Yunnan and smashed the enemy's plot to sneak into the base camp of the Defending Army. At that time, the funds of the Patriotic Army were tight and stretched, and in order to support the Patriotic War economically, the Fudian Bank issued exchange coupons with a face value of one yuan, five yuan, ten yuan, fifty yuan, and one hundred yuan, all of which were printed with Tang Jiyao's head on the front, which was widely distributed, and solved the urgent need for the patriotic army, which was Tang Jiyao's meritorious side.
However, "after the end of the Patriotic War, Tang Jiyao exhausted his troops, resulting in continuous warlord melee. In order to pay huge military expenses, Tang Jiyao had to borrow a large amount from the Fudian Bank, resulting in the Fudian Bank gradually becoming a tool of feudal division and warlord scuffle. Fudian Bank's banknote issuance, military expenditure, and government borrowings are rising, and the value of the currency is falling. From "5" to the fifteenth year of the Republic of China (1926), it became more and more unmanageable, "financial disorder reached the extreme, and the price of Dian coins plummeted, which was a wild surge in the financial industry in Yunnan." At this time, the total amount owed by the Tang Jiyao government reached more than 28.9 million yuan, accounting for about 76% of the total amount of more than 38.6 million yuan of banknotes issued by Fudian Bank. Tang Jiyao himself had to admit: "The cause of the financial panic is actually due to the issuance of too much paper money." And the excess of paper money is indeed borrowed too much from the banks by the government, and if the government cannot borrow from the banks, it is not contracted by the military'. ”6
In February 1921, the political situation in Yunnan suddenly changed. Gu Pinzhen, the former commander of the First Army stationed in Sichuan and Dian, made a long-distance attack on Kunming, drove Tang Jiyao away, and became the commander-in-chief of the Dian Army. Tang Jiyao took refuge in Hong Kong.
In March 1922, Tang Jiyao led his troops back to Yunnan, and in response to the high-ranking official Houlu's bribery of Wu Xuexian, a major bandit in southern Yunnan, killed Gu Pinzhen in a surprise attack and regained power in Yunnan
"After Tang Jiyao returned to yunnan for the second time, military expenditures have expanded even more, and for four consecutive years military expenditures have exceeded fiscal revenues." 7 "Due to the continuous expansion of government military expenditure and financial deficit, he was forced to borrow from Fudian Bank. As a result, Fudian Bank had to issue paper money indiscriminately, resulting in inflation, currency depreciation, and rising prices, which in turn made the finance more difficult, and the finance and finance fell into a vicious circle of mutual influence, so that the financial crisis became more and more serious. "8" From 1920 onwards, Tang Jiyao adopted the policy of 'forbidden to enlist', opening up the ban on smoking to amass military salaries. Fudian Bank formulated the 'Method for Merchants to Order and Sell Foreign Money and Banks' to open the door for tobacco dealers. By the end of Fudian Bank, the loan balance was only 340,000 yuan, the overdue loan was 2.1 million yuan, the deposit balance was 1.38 million yuan, the temporary deposit was 1.66 million yuan, the remittance payable was 230,000 yuan, and the investment in production business was 93,000 yuan, which can be seen (Tang Jiyao, the author's note. The purpose of supporting economic construction has become an empty phrase. From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the banks that have emerged in the province are: Yunnan Daqingfen Bank, Yunnan Guanyin Money Bureau, Yunxing Bank, Qianya Xuanfu Zhuan Xincheng Yinzhuang, Tongqingfeng, Xingshunhe, Bank of China Yunnan Branch, Fudian Bank, Yunnan Border Bank, Yunnan Gebi Railway Bank, Yunnan Fudian New Bank, Yunnan Xingwen Bank, Yunnan Provincial Bank, The Sino-French Industrial Bank, the Bank of China in Yunnan, the Bank of China for the National Defense Army, and the People's Bank of the Liberated Areas of Western Yunnan, that is to say, the Yunnan people are not at all "pus" in commodity exchange and currency circulation, and they occupy a place in the whole country, which is impressive.
Kunming is a famous historical and cultural city, beautiful mountains and rivers, beautiful scenery, profound cultural accumulation, many cultural relics and monuments, the design and production of Yunnan banknotes in history give full play to their personal wisdom, near the water tower, local materials, the scenic spots in Kunming area on the face of the ticket, so that Yunnan banknotes have distinct personality, unique style, with strong local characteristics and local atmosphere, in the Chinese banknote family stand out, unique, for the world's attention.
Playing the whole book, "Yunnan Banknotes" led us to climb the twin towers of the ZuquanShan Dade Temple, enter the Yungui Governor's Palace (commonly known as the Yamen of the Zhitai), visit the Jingguo Yunqi Zen Temple, take a dip in the Wuhua Mountain Kaiwu Pavilion, and also walk towards the Victory Bridge, cross the Yuantong Octagonal Pavilion to watch the flower tide; with a reverential mood, go up to the Zhuangyuan Tower, walk the Golden Horse and BijiFang, Taihua Mountain, and jinji Pagoda, ascend to the Grand View Tower, climb Huaigu, boat on Cuihu Lake, listen to the words at Huize Tower, enter the Victory Hall of the War of Resistance to sing the "March of the Volunteer Army", Go to Kunming recently and the patriotic monument to raise your arms and shout: 'Motherland, mother! (Huang Yilu)
All in all, the Yunnan banknotes displayed in "Yunnan Banknotes" are numerous, complete in variety, complete in categories, and expensive in value, which is a rare treasure and fine product, worth collecting, passing on to future generations, and is of great value.
If this book travels freely in the city, it will not cost Fan Changming and Su Jun the two gentlemen of patriotism and love for their hometown. (Li Guoqing)
March 15, 2017
exegesis:
2 Zhou Zhongyue: "Yunnan Restoration Minutes - Construction" (Yunnan Guizhou Xinhai Revolution Materials, page 51)
3 Cai Yi: "Persuasion to Donate Military Materials" ("Mr. Cai Songpo's Testament", No. 8)
4 Zou Ruoheng: "Personal Experience of the Battle of Yunnan Protectorate" (Yunnan Literature and History Materials, Vol. 10, pp. 143, 144)
56789: Yunnan Banknotes, p. 106.
Li Guoqing, male, born in Shanghai on September 23, 1951, Han ethnicity, writer, editor, reporter. Since 1972, he has published more than 5,000 novels, poems, essays, fables, fairy tales, essays, essays, scripts, papers, reportage, folk literature, literary and art criticism and news works in newspapers and periodicals at home and abroad, totaling more than 5 million words, and has won more than 30 national, provincial and municipal awards. Biographies of Yunnan Writers" and "Biographies of Contemporary Writers and Critics in Yunnan" contain short biographies.