History of Chinese currency

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "History of Chinese currency" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on the
History of China
Timeline Dynasties Historiography
Prehistoric Paleolithic Neolithic (c. 8500 – c. 2000 BCE) Yellow, Yangtze, and Liao civilization
Ancient Xia (c. 2070 – c. 1600 BCE) Shang (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BCE) Late Shang (c. 1250 – c. 1046 BCE) Zhou (c. 1046 – c. 256 BCE) Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE) Eastern Zhou (771–256 BCE) Spring and Autumn (c. 770 – c. 476 BCE) Warring States (475–221 BCE)
Imperial
Modern Republic of China (mainland, 1912–1949)
Related articles Art history Economic history Education history Legal history LGBT history Media history Music history Timeline Military history Naval history History of religion in China Christianity Judaism Islam Science and technology history Archaeology Cartography Discoveries Inventions Transport history Women's history
v t e

The history of Chinese currency spans more than 3000 years. Currency of some type has been used in China since the Neolithic age which can be traced back to between 3000 and 4500 years ago. Cowry shells are believed to have been the earliest form of currency used in Central China, and were used during the Neolithic period.

Around 210 BC, the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang (260–210 BC) abolished all other forms of local currency and introduced a uniform copper coin. Paper money was invented in China in the 7th century, but the base unit of currency remained the copper coin. Copper coins were used as the chief denomination of currency in China until the introduction of the yuan.

Currently, the renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is the legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau use the Hong Kong dollar and the Macanese pataca, respectively. In the Republic of China (ROC), the New Taiwan dollar is the official legal tender in Taiwan since 2000.