The money used by ancient people was basically silver, and it was real money. The value of money is equal, so there can be no paper money and no one trusts it. But after all, silver is limited, and in the Qing Dynasty, because of several large-scale reparations, the amount of silver also dropped sharply. At that time, it was necessary to issue paper money, but the appearance of paper money led to the collapse and crisis of the Qing economy. Why is it difficult for paper money to replace silver?

Paper money has the advantages of low manufacturing cost and portability, and is widely circulated in the current society. However, in ancient society, the circulation of paper money was not an easy task. The ancient paper money in China was produced to solve the "money shortage", and its embryonic form can be traced back to Feiqian in the Tang Dynasty, but Feiqian is only a foreign exchange certificate, not an officially issued currency. As for the Song Dynasty, Jiaozi appeared in Chengdu, which was once very popular and could be regarded as the earliest regional currency. Since then, there have been attempts to issue paper money in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, but they all ended in devaluation and inflation. In view of the experience of the previous generation, the Qing dynasty has always been cautious about issuing paper money.

According to records, the earliest paper money in the Qing Dynasty was issued during the Shunzhi period, which is generally called "Shunzhi Paper Money Pass", but the information about "Shunzhi Paper Money Pass" is very limited at present. The most influential and well-preserved ones in the future are the official tickets issued by the Ministry of Housing and the Qing banknotes issued during the Xianfeng period.

After the First Opium War, the Qing government was forced to cede territory to pay compensation, and the outflow of silver became increasingly serious, and the price of silver soared everywhere. Then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement broke out, the Qing government's military expenditure increased sharply, and the financial crisis was further aggravated. After Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne, he had to think about a good solution in the face of empty treasury and tight finance. At this time, many ministers began to put forward the idea of issuing paper money.

In the first year of Xianfeng (185 1), when Wang Maoyin took the post of Shaanxi Daoyu, he presented the "bill discount" to Xianfeng Emperor and put forward his own reform proposal: issuing cash in limited quantities. Emperor Xianfeng submitted the memorial to the Ministry for deliberation, which was not adopted at first, but due to the pressure of the situation, the issue of paper money had to be put on the agenda. In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), Wang Maoyin, Hua Shana and others drew the official ticket style, formulated the implementation regulations, and presented them to Emperor Xianfeng. Emperor Xianfeng officially issued a decree to issue banknotes, and the official banknotes of the household department began to enter the circulation field. The Qing government also set up "four dry and five rich official banks" (Ganheng, Ganyu, Ganfeng, Ganyiguan Bank and Yusheng, Yuheng, Yufeng, Yutai and Yuqian Bank) to handle foreign exchange.

However, due to the fact that the official ticket of the household department cannot be cashed, it is greatly restricted in the circulation process. Most people don't trust its value, so that the official ticket of the household department began to depreciate from the beginning of circulation. Many local officials use the official tickets of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to extort money, and foreign businessmen also use the official tickets of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development for opportunistic purposes. Emperor Xianfeng subsequently issued paper money in the Qing Dynasty, trying to solve the problem, but it further aggravated the chaos in the money market and the value of paper money declined rapidly. In the first year of Tongzhi (1862), the official ticket of the household department finally died, and the actual circulation time was less than ten years.

Of course, compared with the previous generation of currency, the official ticket of the household department has also made some progress. First of all, the paper money not only has the year number, but also the date of production. Secondly, numbers and crowns began to appear on paper money. At the same time, the paper money is also added with fine fiber silk for anti-counterfeiting. These show that the paper money manufacturing technology has been significantly improved at this time, and the official management is very strict. Generally speaking, the official ticket of the household department has a certain position in the currency history of China.