About the chaotic currency of the Ming Dynasty

There were three types of currency in the Ming Dynasty: silver, copper coins, and treasure notes.

The economic system of the Ming Dynasty was not based on silver. It was originally intended to be based on treasure banknotes, supplemented by silver and copper coins. However, because treasure banknotes were only issued but not received, and had poor credibility, they continued to depreciate during the Ming Dynasty. Originally, in terms of face value, 1 Guan of treasure notes was equivalent to 1 tael of silver. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, it often took 2 Guan of notes to exchange for 1 tael of silver.

Let’s talk about copper coins. The management of copper coins in the Ming Dynasty is often more confusing than treasure banknotes. Unlike TV and novels, the value cannot be calculated in terms of “wen” because copper coins forged in different eras have different names, sizes, and weights. For example, According to Ming history records, the "Dazhong Tongbao" issued in the early Ming Dynasty can be exchanged for 4 coins for one silver coin, while the copper coins issued in the later period can be exchanged for 50 to 70 coins for 1 silver coin. If it is poor folk money, It even takes more than 4 coins to exchange for 1 coin of silver.

Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty intended to use treasure banknotes as the main currency, supplemented by copper coins, the actual situation was due to the chaos of its own currency management, and eventually silver became the main currency of the Ming Dynasty.

However, due to the Ming Dynasty's own policies, small transactions were still dominated by treasure notes. c