This five-volume work traces the history of Chinese currency from its origin to the Fifth Series Renminbi, spanning 3,000 years. It provides an accurate, comprehensive, and systematic analysis and account of the monetary systems, currency forms, production, circulation, related figures and events, monetary thought, and the impact of money on society, politics, and the economy from the pre-Qin era to the present day. 

This volume traces the origins of Chinese currency, from cowrie shells and knife/spade coins to Banliang and Wuzhu coins, and the diverse monetary systems of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, laying the foundation for China’s monetary tradition.

Yao Shuomin is a monetary historian, numismatist and executive director of the Chinese Numismatic Society. He was deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Numismatic Society, deputy director of the Chinese Numismatic Museum, and editor-in-chief of Chinese Numismatics. He has edited and published four volumes of The History of Chinese Currency, etc. He has published more than 20 papers, including “The Role of the Traditional Great Migration and Seasonal Movement of Nomadic Peoples on the Formation of Ancient Commercial Roads in Central Asia”, and “The Turkestan and their Coinage”.