User talk:AjaxSmack/Sandbox/Chinese cash (currency)



Cash was a currency denomination in imperial China.

The English term "cash" was derived from the Tamil kāsu, a South Indian monetary unit. The English word "cash", meaning "tangible currency", is an older word from Middle French caisse.

The world's first paper money, issued in China between the 7th and 15th centuries was denominated in cash. The notes carried depictions of coins, sometimes in strings of ten. The notes of the Yuan dynasty suffered from hyperinflation due to over production without sufficient coins to back them and were withdrawn. Paper money reappeared in the 19th century.

Early Korean and Japanese currencies, the Korean mun and Japanese mon, were derived from the Chinese word for cash, wén. In 1695, the shogunate placed the Japanese character gen (元), meaning "yuán" on the obverse of copper coins.

Paper money reappeared in the 19th century. In 1853, notes were introduced in denominations of 500, 1000 and 2000 cash. 5000 cash notes followed in 1856, with 10,000, 50,000 and 100,000 cash notes added in 1857. The last of these notes were issued in 1859.

In the 19th century, foreign coins began to circulate widely in China, particularly silver coins such as the Mexican peso. In 1889, Chinese currency began to be denominated in the yuan and its subdivisions. One yuan was worth 1000 cash. The last coins denominated in cash were minted in the early years of the Republic of China in 1924.