This paper traces the history of privately issued paper notes (票帖 piaotie) that circulated as currency in Qing-era China. Private paper notes first appeared in China as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), but their prevalence expanded by orders of magnitude from the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. By no later than the Daoguang imperial reign (1820- 1850), private paper circulated through all strata of society.

Read the paper: Paper Money In The Late Qing And Early Republic, 1820-1935

overlay image