中国历史上货币使用的种类除了贝壳、铜、铁之外，也以珍贵的金属铸造出的锭，如银锭 (sycees)当货币流通。在西元九世纪初期的唐朝发展出一种票券叫做飞钱(flying money)，因票券的质量非常的轻盈，如不小心就有被风吹走之虞，故得其名。飞钱不是纸钞，远行的商人只需要把银两在办事处兑换成票券，并把存款收据的票根拿到另一指定地点，便可兑换成货币。
一直到了北宋时期（西元960-1127年）因为造纸业和印刷业已迅速发展，商业贸易繁荣，中国货币的流通开始有了质量较轻的纸钞(paper money)，这是中国最早（西元1011年）也是全世界最早发行的纸币叫做“交子”。最先在四川一带由“富民十六户主”发行使用，这些商人在纸钞上暗藏标记，以此代替铁钱，当时“交子”的使用也促使了“交子铺”的设置，交子铺就像现今的银行一样，专门为商人保管现钞，并可从中收取一定的保管费用。
友谊网页连结
- Valerie Hansen's The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 (published in New York by W. W. Norton in 2000) has a discussion of early banking and currency developments on pages 261-272. You can use Worldcat.org to search for this book in English or in a Chinese version.
- The NOVA documentary television program in the United states mentions the year 806 as the first year for paper currency in their history of money page.
- The Computersmiths have a page about the history of paper money in China.
- The National Numismatic Collection suggests that the Chinese may have had paper money as early as the seventh century, but such a date is not widely recognized by the authorities we've consulted.
友谊网页连结
- Valerie Hansen's The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 (published in New York by W. W. Norton in 2000) has a discussion of early banking and currency developments on pages 261-272. You can use Worldcat.org to search for this book in English or in a Chinese version.
- The NOVA documentary television program in the United states mentions the year 806 as the first year for paper currency in their history of money page.
- The Computersmiths have a page about the history of paper money in China.
- The National Numismatic Collection suggests that the Chinese may have had paper money as early as the seventh century, but such a date is not widely recognized by the authorities we've consulted.