"Chinese monetary history is a topic that requires readers to leave behind
certain concepts that have characterised our money for some time. The
emergence of metallic money gave rise to two distinct traditions. The
first, which the West has inherited, originated in Mesopotamia around
the second millennium BC and is characterised by the use of precious
metals as a payment instrument. The so-called intrinsic value of the
money is determined by the weight and purity of the metal. In China, by
contrast, money has had an eminently fiduciary character from the start.
Its value was guaranteed by ties of trust between economic agents and
the issuer, but most importantly by quantitative control of the coinage.
Chinese metallic money, in general, was thus conditioned by its
singular function, facilitating transactions. Currencies with a high
intrinsic value (gold, jade, silver, tortoise shell, etc.) were used as
stores of value. Putting these into circulation would have led to
hoarding, which would have prevented them from serving their function. .."
Source: http://www.nbbmuseum.be/2011/07/chinese_money.htm
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