The S’ung dynasty cautiously issued true-paper money in 1023, in small amounts in a limited area good for a specific time period. The notes would be redeemed after three years, to be replaced by new notes for a 3% service charge. source
With the United States wanting (source) China to devalue their currency, China finds itself between a rock (1.3 billion Chinese) and a hard place (America). If China caves in and does as America wants, products manufactured in China would cost more. If that happened, demand for Chinese products from other countries would decline and Chinese people would lose jobs.
Labor unrest in China is already increasing. source People want jobs and higher pay so they can join the growing middle class and buy more things like Americans do. To get ready, China’s police are undergoing special training to deal with expected social unrest over factory closings that have left millions of migrant workers out of jobs.
What’s happening in China today is similar to what happened in America during the 1860s and ’80s. source
It’s the same old story—the rich want to keep the money while workers want to earn more.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
His third book is Crazy is Normal, a classroom exposé, a memoir. “Lofthouse presents us with grungy classrooms, kids who don’t want to be in school, and the consequences of growing up in a hardscrabble world. While some parents support his efforts, many sabotage them—and isolated administrators make the work of Lofthouse and his peers even more difficult.” – Bruce Reeves.
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I had no idea that using paper money was that old and that it started in China. I thought it was more recent in history. We absolutely love your blog. Do you accept guest writers for an occasional post?
Thank you for the offer. We do accept guest posts but they must focus on China and the Chinese and not be promoting a product for profit driven commercial purposes.
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