"VINTAGE CHINESE MONEY" KEY RING

Currency of some type has been used in China since the New Stone Age. The Chinese also invented paper money in the 9th century. The Song dynasty merchants rapidly adopted forms of paper currency starting with promissory notes in Sichuan called "flying money" (feiqian). These proved so useful the state took over production of this form of paper money with the first state-backed printing in 1024. By the 12th century, various forms of paper money had become the dominant forms of currency in China and were known by a variety of names such as jiaozi, qianyin, kuaizi, or guanzi. The Mongol-founded Yuan dynasty (Chinese: 元, 1271–1368) also attempted to use paper currency. Unlike the Song dynasty, they created a unified, national system that was not backed by silver or gold. The currency issued by the Yuan was the world's first fiat currency, known as Chao. The Yuan government attempted to prohibit all transactions in or possession of silver or gold, which had to be turned over to the government. Inflation in 1260 caused the government to replace the existing paper currency with a new paper currency in 1287, but inflation caused by undisciplined printing remained a problem for the Yuan court until the end of the Dynasty.