A Study Of The National Monetary System In Ming Dynasty

The legal tender in the first period of Ming Dynasty is Daming Baochao andofficial coppers,The Ming government established the national currency systemincluding Daming Baochao as the standard money and official coppers as fractionalmoney.Because Daming Baochao and official coppers are made by Minggovernment， the “hematopoiesis type”national currency system made a greatcontribution to the consolidation and development of the first period of MingDynasty.With the currency depreciation of Daming Baochao and official coppers’injunction,the national currency system in the first period of Ming Dynasty collapsedand circulation domain entered a period of chaos.With the development of society,the use of silver in the economyincreased,Ming government accepted the Silver Monetization trend in order tomaintain the rule and silver trading legal,Then the Ming government established anew national currency system including silver as the standard money and officialcoppers as fractional money.Ming dynasty silver supply depended heavily onimports from overseas in the times of international silver excavation because of arelative paucity of silver resources and many problems of domestic silver mining,Sothe national currency system from the “hematopoiesis type”gradually transformedinto “transfusion type”.The two national currency systems had an important influence on the MingDynasty,on the one hand it guaranteed that the Ming Dynasty can continue tomaintain its rule and there has had positive effect on tax monetization anddevelopment of the commodity economy;On the other hand the “transfusion type”national currency systems brought serious negative effect to the downfall of Mingand Qing Dynasties,even the change to the modern society by china itself.