There are some bronzes of the Yin Shang period with inscriptions on them, recording the use of "shells", clearly stating that the Shang king rewarded "shells" to his courtiers, and the courtiers who were given used these "shells" as funds to cast bronzes, and mentioned in the inscription that the use of these "shells" was to "use" to cast these bronzes. Note "Bei" has a payment function.
Some inscriptions also indicate the amount of "bei" rewarded, such as "bei twenty peng" or "bei bai peng". "Peng" is the "bei" as the unit of quantity of money, five "bei" is a string, two strings are a "peng", that is to say, a peng "bei" has a total of ten. The King of Shang often rewarded his courtiers with meritorious service to "Bei", and according to the records of the Oracle Bone Bu Ci, the Shang King rewarded a nobleman with two hundred "Bei", that is, a total of two thousand "Bei". This was the most documented reward during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In addition to sea shells, the "shells" of the Shang Dynasty were also stone shells, bone shells, and copper shells. If the sea shell because of its inaccessible, easy to count, easy to carry and so on advantages make it have the factor of becoming physical currency, then the minting of "copper shell" indicates that metal money at least existed in the Shang Dynasty.
Western Zhou Haibei, Sanmenxia Yuguo Prince Tomb excavated
In the early days, the Shang were a nomadic tribe, they migrated frequently, but in order to obtain the necessities of life, they would exchange with other tribes, such as food, livestock, and so on. When they settled down and began to farm, agriculture gradually developed, and some agricultural and sideline products were derived, such as silkworm reeling, winemaking, and so on. With the development of agriculture and handicrafts, gradually formed a social division of labor, formed an independent handicraft industry, and the classification is very meticulous, and now in some Shang Dynasty sites found some handicraft workshops, such as bone making workshops, pottery workshops and so on. The handicraft categories of the Shang Dynasty are: bronze, pottery, bone ware, jade, leather, textile, bamboo, boats, buildings and so on. The development of handicrafts is the basis for the formation of commerce, and the exchange of what is produced is the bud of commerce.
Moreover, the Shang Dynasty tamed cattle and horses, made boats and carts, and had means of transportation, which allowed the wang capital to have convenient exchanges with various local states, which was conducive to the exchange of property in different regions. In Anyang Yin Ruins, sea mussels, sturgeon shells, large turtles, precious jade, turquoise, copper, tin and so on were unearthed from all directions. Among the collections of the National Museum of China is a large piece of whale bone unearthed from yin ruins. All this shows the existence of commercial and trade activities, and the existence of "shells" as money is based on it. The modern scholar Wang Guowei clearly said, "Yin Shiyu and Bei are both currency." ”
Western Zhou Shu Degui inscription. Wang Zhi shu Dechen raised ten people, ten friends of bei, and one hundred sheep, and used them as treasures and yi.
Literature records that the cities of the Shang Dynasty had a place dedicated to trading, "city", that is to say, "city" in the Shang Dynasty was a place dedicated to commodity trade. In the "city", there is also "wanton", and "wanton" is the shop or shop that specifically sells a certain kind of commodity. Daily pottery, decorative jade, seasoned salt... They can all be obtained through buying and selling in the market. Sell the goods you can produce, get the "shell", and then use the "shell" to buy back the goods you need. Natural sea shells could not meet the demand, so there were bone shells, jade shells and copper shells that were actively cast with metal, which promoted the economic development of the Shang Dynasty, which was the process of civilization.
"Bei" is not only the earliest currency in China, but also the earliest currency in many places around the world. According to historical records, today's India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos and other countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and other countries have historically used "bei" as currency. Some of the indigenous peoples of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean also use the "shell" as currency.
The Western Zhou Dynasty inherited and continued the custom of Yin Shang, still using "bei" as currency. In the bronzes of the Zhou Dynasty, there are often records of the King of Zhou rewarding his courtiers with "shells", still with "friends" as the unit. During the reign of King Cheng of Western Zhou, the second king of Western Zhou, he rewarded a nobleman named "De" with ten friends of "Bei", and De used these "Bei" as funds to cast Ding and Gui. In addition, the inscription also records that in addition to rewarding "bei", King Zhou Cheng also rewarded De with a hundred sheep and ten slaves who were specially responsible for cooking.