China Financial Standardization Technical Committee (CFSTC, SAC/TC 180) is a technical organization authorized by the Standardization Administration of the P. R. C. (SAC). CFSTC is a technical organization engaged in nationwide standardization in the financial sector, and is responsible for the centralized management of standardization technology in the financial industry and for domestic work related to ISO/TC 68 and ISO/TC 222. The Standardization Administration of the P. R. C. has entrusted The People’s Bank of China to lead and manage China Financial Standardization Technical Committee. There are three sub-committees affiliated to CFSTC covering securities, insurance and printing standardization respectively.
Culture of coins has been an important part of the Chinese civilization. Modern gold and silver coins as legal tender represent the image and credit of a nation, also shouldering the function of disseminating and promoting the Chinese national culture as a competent carrier of cultural diffusion to communicate with the whole world. From the square and round lines, coins have precisely a reflection of the beauty of coins and the charm of culture, displaying the resplendent and time-honored civilization of the oriental nation.
History of Gold and Silver Coins
Early in the dynasties of Shang (1600 B.C. – 1046 B.C.) and Zhou (1046 B.C. – 771 B.C.), gold was already used in China, and was officially used as currency in Warring States Period (475 B.C. – 221 B.C.). According to The Historical Records (or Shih Chi) by Sima Qian, “In ancient times, fur was valued as gifts and tributes by the feudal princes. Coins were made of different metals, gold as the superior level, silver as the medial level and copper as the inferior level.” The superior coins were certainly cast with gold. Archaeologically, the earliest coin plate – the gold coin plate of Ying, capital city of Chu Kingdom, was created during that period. The plate patterned with stamps of round or square seal carved characters was obvious for metallic currency.
Later in Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.), Qin Shi Huang the first emperor who ended the warring states and united China unified the currency system, defining gold and copper as the material for coins, gold for superior coins and copper for inferior coins. At that time, gold was mainly used between aristocracy for awards, gifts, tributes or large amount payment, etc. Such system was carried on to the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C – A.D. 24) which boasted the largest use of gold in history. At that time, in addition to gold plates and gold pies, coin casting in the shape of horseshoe and unicorn-foot appeared. From the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), silver were circulated for awarding and bribery purposes.
In the dynasties of Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279), the use of gold and silver coins as currency in circulation was further developed, evidence of which could be found from the artistic poems, such as “We are naturally born talents for something. A thousand gold coins spent, more will turn up again.” by the bold and unstrained poet Li Bai and “I’d like to give up thousand gold coins for the last while of our meeting each other” by the affectionate poet He Zhizhang. In the poems, gold was already popularized in use, while silver was only more widely used both in official and folk circumstances, playing an increasingly important role in the circulation domain. For portable and usable requirements, gold and silver currencies are becoming more standardized, miniaturization and graded in patterns, gradually transited into gold and silver ingots exclusively for currency circulation.
After the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), in the middle period of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), silver coins were made the official currency, and the silver-based system was established, with both silver and copper coins sustaining the monetary regime in parallel while silver was adopted to settle taxation, expenses of national treasury and officials’ salary payment, etc. This kind of currency system was continued in early Qing Dynasty (1636-1912), a period of great prosperity for Chinese silver ingot casting and its development.
In late Qing Dynasty, the western currency and financial system was introduced into China, which changed the circulation mode of traditional Chinese currency, with silver coins replaced gradually by silver dollars. In 1933, the government announced the policy of “abolishing silver ingots, adopting silver dollars”, marking the official exit of silver-based metallic currency from the circulation domain.
Reviewing the history of gold and silver as circulated currency in the ancient times, they were generally regarded and used as metallic currency, for which there were no casting standards for unified pattern and shape, quality or percentage of such materials in the different periods. Take the great prosperity period of silver coins, Ming and Qing dynasties for example, the government had not regulated the standards for the pattern and shape, percentage of material or even weight measurement utensils, so silver ingots, divided into official stoves (for casting official silver coins) and private stoves, were made everywhere. Therefore, silver coins from different places varied in their shape, name, weight and percentage of silver or gold, very complex. Under such historical conditions, ancient Chinese gold and silver coins have developed its own and unique style with the multiple categories and the complicated shapes.