Abstract: State and civil institutions were both crucial for the integrity of Chinese private paper money from the Qing into the early Republic. The state did not actively support paper notes, but nonetheless upheld a legal regime that honored the sanctity of contracts. For their part, business associations acted as gatekeepers, allowing only financially sound firms to issue notes. These privately issued notes thus circulated through the rural marketing system, stitching together neighboring agrarian and commercial economies far better than unwieldy copper coins.
DOWNLOAD: Paper Money in the Late Qing and Early Republic, 1820-1935
