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Qianbi chuyan 錢幣芻言

Dec 5, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Qianbi chuyan 錢幣芻言 "Crude Words about Paper Notes" is a book on money written during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Wang Liu 王鎏 (1786-1834), original name Zhongliu 仲鎏, courtesy name Zijian 子兼 or Liangsheng 亮生.

The book was published in 1837 under the title Chaobi chuyan 鈔幣芻言. The book seemed so interesting to contemporaries that it was soon supplemented by the books Qianbi chuyan xuke 錢幣芻言續刻 and Qianbi chuyan zaixu 錢幣芻言再續. The reason for the great public interest in these texts was that silver had become more expensive in comparison to copper cash, so that many officials thought about the reintroduction of paper currency that had been out of use since the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644), when this type of money had disastrously failed.

Wang Liu's book was the most important publication concerning the discourse about the introduction of paper money, which was only implemented during the Xianfeng reign-period 咸豐 (1851-1861) several decades later.

Sources:
Liu Shulin 劉叔麟 (1993). "Qianbi chuyan 錢幣芻言", in Shi Quanchang 石泉長, ed. Zhonghua baike yaolan 中華百科要覽 (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe), 108.
Wang Yi 王益, Bai Qinxian 白欽先, ed. (2000). Dangdai jinrong cidian 當代金融辭典 (Beijing: Zhongguo jingji chubanshe)809.
Ye Shichang 葉世昌 (1994). "Qianbi chuyan 錢幣芻言", in Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, ed. Zhonguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, Vol. Jingji 經濟卷 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 456.
Zhongguo baike da cidian bianweihui 《中國百科大辭典》編委會, ed. (1990). Zhongguo baike da cidian 中國百科大辭典 (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe), 317.