![]() ![]() Chapter XXIV begins on page 587 of this online text.A "Han Gui bilingual Wu Zhu coin" (漢龜二體五銖錢) produced by the Kingdom of Kucha with both a Chinese and a Kuśiññe inscription. This book is in the public domain and can be read online at Project Trees, Made into Something Like Paper, to Pass for Money over All Hisīook of Ser Marco Polo: The Venetian Concerning Kingdoms and MarvelsĮdited by Colonel Sir Henry Yule, Volume 1 (London: John Murray, 1903). Second, Part I, Chapter XXIV: How the Great Kaan Causeth the Bark of (1) Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa, “Book In the country come into the Kaan’s possession. Still, in this way, nearly all the valuables Quantity they bring in is marvellous, though these who do not choose They would find no other purchaser give so large a price. And the owners are glad to do this, because ![]() Or silver or gems or pearls, by taking them to the Mint shall get a Proclamation is made through the city that anyone who may have gold That his treasure is endless, whilst all the time the money he paysĪway costs him nothing at all. So he buys such a quantity of those precious things every year That the merchants will several times in the year bring wares to theĪmount of 400,000 bezants, and the Grand Sire pays for all in that They can buy what they like anywhere over the Empire, whilst it isĪlso vastly lighter to carry about on their journeys. ![]() The merchants accept his price readily,įor in the first place they would not get so good a one from anybodyĮlse, and secondly they are paid without any delay. These appraise the articles, and the Emperor then pays a liberal priceįor them in those pieces of paper. He has twelve experts chosenįor this business, men of shrewdness and experience in such affairs They are so light that ten bezants’ worth does not weigh oneįurthermore all merchants arriving from India or other countries, andīringing with them gold or silver or gems and pearls, are prohibitedįrom selling to any one but the Emperor. Just as well as if they were coins of pure gold. Takes them readily, for wheresoever a person may go throughout theĭominions he shall find these pieces of paper current, and shall beĪble to transact all sales and purchases of goods by means of them Himself, dares to refuse them on pain of death. And nobody, however important he may think His kingdoms and provinces and territories, and whithersoever his powerĪnd sovereignty extends. To be made and he makes them to pass current universally over all With these pieces of paper, made as I haveĭescribed, he causes all payments on his own account The use of paper currency throughout Khubilai Khan’s Yuan dynasty: Marco Polo astonished the Western world when he described More about this note at the British Museum website. Great Ming circulating treasure note, above, from 1375 CE. The world’s first government-issued paper money.Įarliest example of paper currency that survives today is the The 1020s the government took over the system, producing The early Song authorities awarded a small set of shopsĪ monopoly on the issuing of these certificates of deposit, and in 900ĬE) started trading receipts from deposit shops where they had left Strings of coins long distances, merchants in late Tang times (c. By 1085 the output of coins had increased tenfold since Tang times to more than 6 billion coins a year. ![]() Large transactions were calculated in terms of strings of coins, but given their weight these were cumbersome to carry long distances.Īs trade increased, demand for money grew enormously, so the government minted more and more coins. During the Song was the world’s first paper money.įor centuries, the basic unit of currency in China was the bronze or copper coin with a hole in the center for stringing. ![]()
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