Monetary Management Under Copper Coins And Silver: A Study On Baojin Mint In The Qianlong Period

From the middle Ming Dynasty to the Qianlong period,the Ming and Qing dynasties practiced a monetary system with the Silver-Copper Coin Bimetallic Currency System.Silver,as a weighing currency,is mainly used for official salaries,fiscal taxes,inter-regional business activities and international trade,while copper coins,as a counting currency,are mainly used to meet the daily trading activities of the common people in the folk local market.When silver and copper coins circulate in the market at the same time,price relations between silver and copper cash will be formed,and the ratio of silver and copper coins will change with the market.The fluctuation of price relations between silver and copper cash in the market would affect the transactions in the fork market.In order to maintain a relatively stable market and guarantee the basic living needs of the people,the Qing government mainly chose copper coins as the intervention means.Based on the research object of the Multiple Currency Coexistence,this paper mainly adopts the methods of literature research,empirical study,quantitative research,qualitative research.using the HUke TIben of the First Historical Archives of China as the basic material.In combination with macro and micro perspectives,this paper systematically and specifically studies several aspects including the constitution planning of Baojin Mint under the monetary management of the Qing government,the operation process,operation process and links of Baojin Mint under the monetary management,the mechanism of issuing circulating currency Cheap Silver and Expensive Copper Coins in the operation links,and the regulation policies and characteristics of currency.This paper explores the purpose,operation mechanism and effect evaluation of the minting operation of Baojin Mint in Qianlong Dynasty,and defines and evaluates the ability and scope of monetary policy management in Qing Dynasty.The first chapter mainly focuses on the background of minting and the planning of the rules of minting of the Baojin Mint in Qianlong Dynasty.Summary of the Qing government planning Baojin Mint copper,white lead,black lead,tin and other currency materials regulations.The basic casting standard of minting coins in Baojin Mint is investigated,that is,"casting regulations of 100 jin coins mining one day",which is the technical standard of casting coins of Baojin Mint in Qianlong Dynasty.At the same time,it is also the financial accounting basis of coins material,labor,material and casting money in the process.Its significance is that only by following the basic casting rules of"casting regulations of 100 jin coins mining one day"makes Baojin Mint batch cast metal coins into standard coins with the norms of the Qing,and also enables the Qing government to accurately control and manage the amount of coins cast by Baojin Mint every year.The second chapter focuses on the specific history the minting and the operation process of Baojin Mint,reviews the operation links and operation mechanism of Baojin Mint.From the perspective of the operation process of Baojin Mint,the Qing government will increase or decrease the number of furnaces based on the monetary price parity fluctuations of the local market.The number of furnaces varies with the degree of monetary price in the market,indicating that the purpose of Baojin Mint to mint is to solve the problem of copper coins appreciation in currency in the market.From the perspective of the operation process and operation mechanism of Baojin Mint Drum Casting,the one-year operation process of Baojin Mint minting is,that the Qing government needs to allocate silver from the treasury as the cost of merchants to procure coins;Then,the Baojin Mint mints copper coins according to regulation for mining copper coins;Secondly,the Qing government pays the treasurer copper coins every year to set up the soldiers’salaries at the official price and easily sold the copper coins at the current price,so as to put the minted copper coins into the market in two main the exchange rate between silver and copper coins,and extract the excess silver in the market;Finally,the silvers obtained are subtracted from the prepaid mining for copper coins of cost silver,and finally the drum casting the silvers obtained for the year is obtained.This process is the operation process of Baojin Bureau mining copper coins for one year.In this process,there are several successive links such as"procurement of coin materials","minting copper coins","issuance currency",and"easy exchange of silver to obtain surplus silver".Among them,it is worth noting that under the management of the Qing government,the Baojin Mint"issuance currency links",that is,the Qing government sells the money to the market by setting up military salaries and selling money,increasing the amount of money in the market.and at the same time,it is easy to exchange it back into silver,and the silver obtained is used to pay for the drumming cost of the year,and the remaining surplus silver is used to supplement financial and military expenses.It can be indicated that the Qing government uses the market price of cheap money to stabilize the triple interests of monetary price parity fluctuations,supply finance and military,which means that the Qing government can realize its own governance logic under the system of copper coins appreciation in currency.But once turn Silver appreciation in currency,then the market does not need to put copper coins,it can not be easily exchanged for silver in the market,and at the same time because the market silver appreciation in currency,the Baojin Mint mining copper coins may pay more rising costs,so from the market and financial aspects,the Baojin Mint drum casting system has to stop mining,and the Qing government in the system of copper coins appreciation in currency under the formation of efficient governance ability is effective,but also limited,once the exchange rate between silver and copper coins turns,the Qing government loses the ability to regulate and control currency.The third chapter mainly analyzes the results the casting research of Qianlong Baojin Mint.First of all,the Bao Jin Mint casting money"one Mao"research."one Mao"is not fixed,it is based on the change of the number of furnace mounts.Secondly,according to the differences of the number of furnace blocks installed in the Baojin Mint during different periods of Qianlong Dynasty,this chapter discusses the coin materials spent in the casting and making of coins,the manual materials spent in the casting and making of coins,the amount of coins obtained by the casting and so on.The conclusions are as follows:the more the number of furnaces,the greater the annual casting amount of copper coins,the greater the annual payment for food and miscellaneous materials for the workers,and the greater the annual actual copper coins to the treasurer.At the same time,it is proved that the Qing government can control the monetary amount of copper coins mining every year only by increasing or decreasing the number of furnaces through monetary price parity fluctuations in the market.This shows that the Qing government’s regulation of Baojin Mint is a precise quantitative management.The fourth chapter mainly explores the purpose of the Qing government’s mining performance from the monetary policy of regulating in Shanxi market to solve the problem of expensive money in the market.According to the changes of the exchange rate between silver and copper coins in Shanxi,the Qing government implemented flexible and effective money making policies from the 20th year of Qianlong to the 60^th year of Qianlong.From the 23rd year of Qianlong to the 28th year of Qianlong,the price of money in Shanxi increased,and the Qing government implemented the positive monetary policy.From the 30th year of Qianlong to the 36th year of Qianlong,the current price of Shanxi was gradually reduced,and the conservative and prudent monetary policy of the Qing government was adopted.From the36th year of Qianlong to the 59th year of Qianlong,Shanxi’s current price no longer needed government intervention.Therefore,the Qing government adopted the monetary policy of gradually reducing government intervention.Performance in the number of money is to reduce the number of furnace,from the way to issue money,is to reduce the length of money in the process of issuance,delivery frequency,to the Qianlong 60t years of Shanxi Baojin Mint stopped casting.It can be seen that the Qing government would flexibly combine monetary policies through the production,casting and circulation of money and the issuance and circulation of money,so as to achieve the purpose of regulating the market price of money in specific months.This study shows that the fundamental purpose of Qing government operation mint is to adjust the current price of Shanxi market,rather than to take advantage of salaries,nor to obtain huge profits.On the whole,the research of this paper proves the following:First,this paper believes that the purpose of the Qing government’s casting of Baojin Mint is to solve the problem of monetary price parity fluctuations,rather than to obtain huge profits.Thirdly,this paper argues that the Qing government could alleviate the problem of monetary price parity fluctuations from two aspects:the casting and issuing of copper coins when the market was in a state of"copper coins appreciation in currency".Fourthly,the monetary management of the Qing government was limited to the monetary system of parallel money and money under the condition of coexistence of multiple currencies.This paper argues that the money management of the Qing government concentrated on copper coins,and the premise of the operation of this money management was decided by the Qing government according to the reality of"cheap silver and expensive coins".The conditions for its monetary management could only be achieved under the condition that the ratio of silver to money in the market was"copper coins appreciation in currency",and the realization of monetary management under the condition of"copper coins appreciation in currency"could only be achieved when there was a large supply of silver and copper coins,which meant that the historical facts only left the Qing government with extremely limited monetary management authority.Fifthly,this paper argues that under the state of"copper coins appreciation in currency",the Qing government realized limited and effective governance by using the mining system to mint,produce and issue currency.However,by the 19th century,with the change of the condition of"copper coins appreciation in currency"under the coexistence of the multiple currency,the Qing government lost the ability to effectively manage currency.