Dynasty. As to Ming dynasty, the silver became the major currency.
Shell Money before Qin Dynasty
At the end of the Neolithic Age, Chinese ancestors started to use shells as universal equivalent as the commerce developed and the exchange of goods required, for shells are durable and easy to carry and count, so it was used as money. Besides, the unit of shell money is peng (commonly a cluster of 10 shells make one peng), which has evolved to mean "friend". As time passed by, it was hard to find the right enough shells in the north, so they used other materials like jade, bronze and gold to make shell-shaped money, which was a great help in the evolution of Chinese currency, on the other hand, the bronze shell-shaped coin entered the circulation smoothly for the features of unified size, weight and value. The gold, silver and gold-plating bronze shells appeared in north China after the Spring and Autumn Period.
Shell (bei) played a key role in ancient China, and became an important character component in Chinese, such as people like to call their children or pets bao bei, or more sweetly bao bao or bei bei, which literally means treasure, and implies to honey or darling.
Ban Liang Qian of Qin Dynasty and early Western Han Dynasty
As to Qin Dynasty, Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the currencies circulated and laid the pattern of the Chinese coins in the following dynasties with gold and bronze coin. The bronze coin, named Ban Liang Qian (half liang money), was originated from those used by the Qin State in previous dynasties. Liang was a unit for weight and the coin weighted half liang. The unification of currency promoted the exchange of commodities and economic development.
Wu Zhu Qian of Han Dynasty
In 118 B.C. Wu Zhu Qian coin was made upon Emperor Wu Di's reformation. Zhu was 1/24th of one liang.
Kai Yuan Tong Bao of Tang Dynasty
Kai Yuan means the opening of a new epoch and Tong Bao is the treasure in circulation. The former was read up and down and from right to left while the latter was read clockwise from 12 o'clock. This money had two features from its predecessors. Firstly, the coin was no longer named according to its weight. Secondly, the writer of the characters on the coin was recorded in history books for the first time. Kai Yuan Tong Bao was written by Ouyang Xun, the top one among the four calligraphy masters in the Tang Dynasty. From poets and other records, we can see that this coin enjoyed high praise for its artistic value.
Monetary Development in the Song Dynasty
The highlight of the coins in the Song Dynasty was that the characters on the coins were written by emperors. The initiator of this fashion was Emperor Tai Zong. He excelled in many fields and had a preference for calligraphy. His writing of Chun Hua Yuan Bao was bold and unrestrained, admired by later calligraphers.
Jiao Zi - the Earliest Paper Currency in the World
Jiao zi is the earliest paper in the world. It was first issued freely among the people and replaced the circulation of coins. Later 16 rich businessmen took it over. When they declined, jiao zi could not be cashed in and social turmoil exploded. In 1023 the Song government set up an office in Chengdu to handle with the issuance of jiao zi. In the next year, stately jiao zi was issued. The face value was first written at the time of issuance and later was printed.
Money in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties
The heyday of Chinese ancient paper note came during the Yuan Dynasty. Throughout the dynasty, paper note was used and the concerned system was developed and perfected. Surrounding countries such as India, Korea, and Japan followed the Yuan Dynasty and issued paper note. The name of yuan bao originated from the Yuan Dynasty. It had the meaning of the treasure of the Yuan and later referred to gold and silver money. Though gold and sivler ingots were not in circulation any more, their mimics could be seen easily.
The Ming Dynasty issued Da Ming Tong Xing Bao Chao (paper note circulating in the Ming Dynasty) and this was the only paper note during the whole dynasty, which was unprecedented in the previous dynasties. The note, claimed to be the world's largest note, is 34 cm long and 22 cm wide.
With the depreciation of the paper note, mintage was started again. The reign of Jia Jing by Emperor Shi Zong of Ming Dynasty witnessed a breakthrough in the mintage technique. With the addition of zinc, brass coin emerged. Before this, all the coins were made of bronze.
In the late of the 19th century, foreign imperialist countries invaded China and set up banks and issued paper notes. The Qing Dynasty set up mintage factory in Beijing in 1908 and the first steel money template was made during this time. However, hardly were any notes issued, the Qing Dynasty collapsed.