Timeline

• until 1933
• Silver bullion trade based on the Tael as both unit of account and weight unit for silver ingots (referred to as "Sycee"). The Tael varied between the provinces and cities, nation-wide significance had:
  - Kuping Tael (Treasury) at 37.301 grams for the accounting of taxes and state revenue
  - Haiguan Tael (Maritime Customs) at 37.810 grams for foreign trade after the Treaty of 1858
  - Caoping Tael at 37.020 grams for trade in Shanghai and along the Grand Canal
  - Shanghai Currency Tael at 0.98 Caoping Tael for the trade of silver ingots at the Shanghai exchange.
• until 1933
• Use of foreign silver coins in Chines silver bullion trade, not as coins but as ingots of stable and certified weight and fineness:
  - The Spanish Dollar entered in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty, from the mid-18th century predominantly as Mexican Peso (8 Real)
  - In the late 19th century the European colonial powers and Japan attempted to displace the Spanish Dollar with own "Colonial Dollars". Some of them where overweighted (US American Trade Dollar, Japanese Trade Dollar, original Indochinese Trade Piastre) and were hoarded or melted, others (e.g. reduced Indochinese Trade Piastre) were regionally successful.
• until 1905
• Use of copper coins Cash coins that were cast in moulds without essential change since the 7th century. The production was mostly unregulated such that many forgeries existed. The coins were bound together in strings. The value of the strings against goods and against silver was not fixed and fluctuated regionally and over time.

Timeline

• Spring 1887
• Petition to the imperial court by Zhang Zhidong, Viceroy of Liangguang (including Guangzhou Province) for the production Chinese silver coins to displace the Spanish (Mexican) Dollar and other foreign coins of that size. Coinage began 1888-1889 at Guangdong Mint, and the first so-called "Dragon Dollars (lóngyáng)" and silver subsidiary coins were issued in 1890 (initially inscribed as "0.73 Kuping Tael", quickly revised into "0.72 Kuping Tael").
• 1890-1910
• Proliferation of the production of the so-called "Dragon Dollars" and subsidiary silver in the various provincial mints. The weight and fineness standards were not kept, such that the coins were traded as bullion rather than used as coins.
• 1900-1933
• Production of subsidiary coins in copper as replacement for the medieval Cash coins. The coins were nominally fixed to the silver Dollar but were always traded at fluctuating values and with discounts depending on the issuing mint:
  - In 1900, the Guangdong mint began issuing standardized coins in denominations of 20, 10, 5, 2 Cash at gross weight of 50 Cash to the Kuping tael copper; the other provincial mints soon followed
  - 22.08.1905: Imperial ordinance adopts the Guangdong standard for all mints; the reduction of the prolific mintage of the various mints could not be enforced
  - Currency laws of 1910 and 1914 prescribed also the renewal of the copper coinage, but could not be implemented.
• 27.09.1905
• Establishment of the "Imperial Board of Revenue Bank" as state-owned commercial bank with issuing privilege for paper money
  - ??.01.1908: Name change into "Imperial Bank".
  - 05.02.1912: Reconstitution into the "Bank of China" (after the 1911 revolution).
• 21.11.1905
• Imperial decree on replacing silver bullion and Chinese and foreign Dollar coins by Tael coins, based on a "currency Tael" of 1.1 Kuping tael silver 0.872 (1 tael silver 0.960, alloyed with 0.1 tael copper); effective immediately but not implemented
• 24.05.1910
• Law on the creation of an "Imperial" silver Dollar coin and the abolition of the provincial coinage; effective immediately:
  - All former coins (Chinese "Dragon Dollars" and foreign coins) should be exchanged within a year at a ratio of 1.5 Dollars per Kuping tael silver 0.985 fine.
  - Paper money issuance was restricted to the Imperial Bank.
  - Issuance of the new coins began in 1910 at the central mints in Wuchang and Nanjing, due to the outbreak of the Xinhai revolution, the coins were preliminarily released in October 1910 (the inauguration was planned on 24.12.1910).
• 07.02.1914
• Government resolution on the creation of a "National Currency (guóbì)" silver Dollar including subsidiary coinage in silver, nickel and copper; effective immediately:
  - All former coins could be exchanged (no time limit given) at a rate of 1 Dollar per 0.648 Kuping tael fine silver.
  - The re-coinage of the collected silver coins led to a reduction of the fineness of the Dollar coins to 0.890 (instead of the legal 0.900) such that they were technically underweighted.
  - Coinage began in 1914 at the central mints in Tianjin and Nanjing, the "Yuan Shikai Dollar" coins were first released on 24.12.1914.
• 15.08.1924
• Establishment of the "Central Bank of China" as state bank of the Nationalist government in Guangzhou
  - 25.10.1927: Government resolution on amending the bank's constitution as supreme national finance institution (with seat in Shanghai); effective immediately
  - 08.10.1928: Government resolution on amending the bank's constitution as central bank; effective 01.11.1928.
• 1930-1942
• Customs Gold Unit (CGU) used as auxiliary unit of account:
  - 01.02.1930: Law on the creation of the CGU at 601.85mg AU fine (or 0.40 US Dollars) to replace the gold Tael; effective 01.05.1930
  - 01.05.1930: First issue of paper money (gold certificates) denominated in CGU
  - 10.07.1942: Abolition of the CGU, the paper money remained in circulation as 1 CGU = 20 Chinese Dollars (1935).
• 02.03.1933
• Law on the abolition of the silver bullion trade with and the switchover to the silver Dollar in US standard, silver bullion (including foreign and previous coins) was rated at 1 Dollar per Kuping tael silver 0.715; effective 10.03.1933.
  - 05.04.1933: Ordinance on the ban of the silver bullion trade with, including foreign and earlier coins) which had to be exchanged at the official rate; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1890-1933
• Metallic currency based on silver bullion with auxiliary silver coinage. Base weight was the Chinese Tael / 10 Mace / 10 Candareens / 10 Li at 37.301 grams (Kuping) or 37.020 grams (Caoping) or 37.810 grams (Haiguan).
• 1933-1935
• Metallic currency based on circulating silver coins. Base weight was the English troy pound / 12 ounces / 480 grains at 373.242 grams.

Timeline

• 03.11.1935
• Government resolution on the creation of a "Legal Currency (fǎbì)" in the gold standard; effective immediately
  - Paper money issuance was restricted to the Central Bank of China (est. 1924), Bank of China (est. 1912), and Bank of Communications (est. 1908); de facto, the continued note issuance of the Farmers' (Agricultural) Bank (est. 1933) remained tolerated.
• 04.11.1935
• Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins, the 1933 Dollar coins were exchanged at face value.
• ??.03.1938
• Establishment of a British-American Stabilization Fund for China, which subsequently assumed monetary control. A 5-member "Stabilization Board for China" was set up in June 1941.
• 30.06.1942
• Government resolution on the monopoly for paper money by the Central Bank of China; effective immediately
• ??.11.1945
• Demonetization of Japanese occupation moneys for the five distinct currency areas:
  - Manchuria: 1 Chinese Dollar (1935) = 0.1 Manchurian Yuan
  - Inner Mongolia: 1 Chinese Dollar (1935) = 2.50 Meng-Chiang Yuan
  - Northern Area: 1 Chinese Dollar (1935) = 5 Japanese-Chinese (Northern) Yuan
  - Southern Area: 1 Chinese Dollar (1935) = 200 Japanese-Chinese (Southern) Yuan.

Valuation Regimes

• 1935-1941
• Variable rate
• 1942-1945
• Fixed rate against US Dollar
• 1945-1948
• Variable rate, highly inflationary

Timeline

• 19.08.1948
• Presidential decree on the currency reform; effective immediately
• 19.08.1948
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 19.08.1948: Start of issuance of the new banknotes denominated in "Gold Yuan"
  - 30.09.1948: End of exchange period for physical gold and silver (200 Gold Yuan per tael gold 0.900 fine and 3 Gold Yuan per tael silver 0.900 fine, 2 Gold Yuan per silver dollar), as well as foreign currencies (4 Gold Yuan per US Dollar); extended until 30.11.1948 in Manchuria.
  - 20.12.1948: End of exchange period for banknotes of the former currency.

Valuation Regimes

• 1948
• Fixed rate against US Dollar and gold
• 1948-1949
• Variable rate, highly inflationary

Timeline

• 02.05.1949
• Resolution of the city government of Guangzhou on the acceptance of silver Dollar coins for payment of official dues; effective immediately
• 03.07.1949
• Government decree currency reform based on the silver coinage of 1933; effective immediately
• 04.07.1949
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 04.07.1949: Start of issuance of the new banknotes denominated "Silver Dollar" in the city of Guangzhou, the city of Chongqing followed on 08.07.1949.
  - Additionally, 1933 silver Dollars coins were re-issued but were hoarded and disappeared instantly from circulation. Their issuance was stopped after short time, and the coins were recalled.
  - 31.08.1949: End of exchange period for banknotes of the former currency.
• End 1949
• Communist conquest of the Nationalist strongholds (Guangzhou: 14.10.1949; Chongqing: 30.11.1949; Chengdu: 10.12.1949) and immediate invalidation of the silver currency. Although the July currency was not recognized the notes were still exchanged as 1 (Silver) Dollar = 500'000'000 (Gold) Dollars.
  - The (Silver) Dollar notes nominally remained legal tender of the Republic of China (Taiwan) between 20.06.1950 and 05.08.1992.

Valuation Regimes

• 1949
• Fixed rate (nominally) against silver with circulating silver coins, de facto pegged to the Chinese Dollar (1948)

Timeline

• 02.10.1948
• Resolution of the North China Finance and Economic Committee on the introduction of a single currency in the liberated areas; effective 01.01.1949 (later advanced to 01.12.1948)
• 18.11.1948
• Resolution of the North China People's Government on the establishment of the People's Bank of China as merger of the North China Bank (created 22.07.1948 as merger of the Southern Hebei Bank and the Shānxi-Chaha'er-Hebei Border Area Bank) with the Beihai Bank and Northwest China Farmers' Bank; effective immediately
  - 02.02.1949: Relocation of the main office from Shijiazhuang (seat of the Bank of North China) to Beijing (Beiping).
• 01.12.1948
• First issuance of the new banknotes by the People's Bank
• 1949-1950
• Currency exchange in the conquered territories occurred at daily rates:
  - 01.01.1949: in Tianjin, the Gold Dollar (1948) was exchanged within 10 days at 1 : 6
  - 02.02.1949: in Beijing (Beiping), the Gold Dollar (1948) was exchanged within 20 days at 1 : 10 (workers could exchange up to 500 Gold Dollars at 1 : 3)
  - 23.04.1949: In Nanjing, the Gold Dollar (1948) was exchanged at 1 : 2'500 within 7 days
  - 27.05.1949: In Shanghai, the Gold Dollar (1948) was exchanged at 1 : 100'000 within 7 days
  - ??.11.1949: In Guangzhou and Chongqing, the Gold Dollar (1948) was exchanged at 1 : 40'000'000'000
  - ??.11.1949: In Guangzhou and Chongqing, the Silver Dollar (1949) was not recognized but exchange at 1 : 80 was tolerated to avoid hardship
  - 01.01.1950: Fixing of the final exchange rate: 1 Chinese Yuan (1948) = 40'000'000'000 Chinese Gold Dollars (1948) = 80 Chinese Silver Dollars (1949) [unofficial].
• 1950-1951
• Introduction of the new currency in outlying territories:
  - 01.01.1950: South China and Hainan
  - 01.04.1951: Inner Mongolia and the Northeast (Manchuria)
  - 30.10.1951: Xinjiang.
  - The Chinese Renminbi Yuan (1948) was not introduced in Tibet.

Valuation Regimes

• 1949-1952
• Variable rate, highly inflationary
• 1952-1955
• Fixed rate against US Dollar

Timeline

• 21.02.1955
• Ordinance on the currency reform (implementing a government resolution of 17.02.1955); effective 01.03.1955
• 01.03.1955
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.03.1955: Start of issuance of the new banknotes
  - 10.05.1955: Demonetization of the former currency (in Tibet delayed until 30.07.1959)
  - 01.12.1957: Start of issuance of subsidiary coins (based on an ordinance of 19.11.1957).

Valuation Regimes

• 1955-1974
• Fixed rate against US Dollar
• 1974-
• Variable rate (switch from the official to an effective rate introduced on 04.05.1972)