Koizumi's reform slogan

In Greek mythology, Zeus, the god who ruled the universe, once gave Pandora, the first woman in the world, a mysterious box and asked her never to open it. Like telling a woman never to say anything, Zeus's behavior is obviously "encouraging" Pandora to open the box. As a result, Pandora was really driven by curiosity and secretly opened the box. This box contains all kinds of misfortunes, such as diseases, disasters, wars, etc. , have come to this world, making the originally calm world began to become chaotic. Fortunately for Pandora, Pandora stopped the loss in time and left "hope" in the box, so that human beings still have hope after all kinds of suffering. In the late Western Han Dynasty and the New Dynasty, Wang Mang carried out four monetary reforms with confidence. Although there were some operations of "breathing through people", Pandora's box was opened again and again, which not only released all kinds of disasters, but even made the new dynasty perish with him! 1. Wang Mang's four monetary reforms began in the fifth year of Yuan Shou of Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty began to use a kind of copper coin called "five baht money". It has a round square hole and an inner and outer coffin. Its size, weight and metal composition are very standard, because it has been used for hundreds of years. Since the Regency period, Wang Mang has been planning to make a big fuss about "five baht". Five baht 1, the first monetary reform Wang Mang carried out the first monetary reform during the regency. "History of Food in Han Dynasty" records: "(Wang Mang) has a lot of money, with a diameter of two points and a weight of twelve baht, saying," A lot of money is fifty ". He also made mistakes again and again. Qi Dao, its ring is like big money, its shape is like a knife, and it is two inches long. The text says "Qidao 500". The wrong knife is wrong with gold, saying,' One knife goes straight into five thousand'. At five baht per four products, parallel imports. This passage means that on the basis of "five baht", Wang Mang made another kind of big money. Its weight is "twelve baht", equivalent to two and a half "five baht". However, its nominal value far exceeds the value of its own metal material, and it can be used as 50 "five baht". What's more, Wang Mang later made several kinds of knife coins, among which "Qi Dao" is equivalent to 500 pieces of "five baht money" and "Wrong Dao" is equivalent to 5,000 pieces of "five baht money". The reason why it is so valuable is because it is inlaid with a little gold. You can imagine the consequences of doing it by mistake. First, it caused serious inflation, the devaluation of the five baht and soaring prices; Secondly, many people stole coins, and others stole coins, which made the monetary system of the Western Han Dynasty fall into chaos. 2. After the second currency reform, Wang Mang proclaimed himself emperor, because he was afraid of the word "Liu" with "Dao" (the traditional Liu was composed of gold, wool and Dao), so he abolished five Thai baht coins and all the knife coins he developed himself. In order to distinguish himself from the Liu Han Dynasty, he changed to the newly minted "Junichiro Koizumi's One Money" and "Daquan Fifty Money". Because Junichiro Koizumi's one money only weighs one baht, it is also called "Small Money" and "Daquan Fifty Money" is called "Big Money". However, because people have long been used to using "five baht", they still secretly use it as currency. When Daquan learned about this, Wang Mang immediately wrote a letter: "Those who hold five baht and promise to pay a lot of money will vote for four generations than those who don't have good land." However, he worked so hard to promote the new currency, but the result was that farmers were unemployed, food and goods were all wasted, and the people were crying in the road "(Biography of Han Mang). In order to avoid taboo and individuality, the original intention of Wang Mang's currency reform can be said to be pedantic and ignorant, which also caused his new dynasty economy to be on the verge of collapse. 3. The Third Currency Reform In view of the previous two failures, Wang Mang had to start the third currency reform. This time, he was more open-minded and came up with the "six-product treasure system". According to the records of food and goods in Hanshu, "treasures" are made of gold, silver, turtles, shells, money and cloth. Liupinbao system is the most complicated (none) and only monetary system in China history. For a time, 28 kinds of coins with different units, textures and shapes appeared in the new dynasty. As a result, people were confused and their goods were not good. Private purchase for five baht. Suffer from it. "("Hanshu Shihuozhi "), people still privately took out" five baht "as currency. The result of this reform is the same as last time, "farmers are unemployed, food and goods are wasted, and people are crying in the market", and it has failed again. 4. The fourth monetary reform was under pressure. In A.D. 14, Wang Mang had to give up the complicated "six products and precious goods system" and start a new round of currency reform again. This time, he abolished the big and small money used before, and newly cast "cargo cloth" and "cargo spring", and 25 "cargo springs" arrived at 1 cargo cloth. However, perhaps because of poor mathematics, Wang Mang did not think of such a BUG when promoting these two currencies: the weight of a cargo spring is 5 baht, and the weight of a cargo cloth is 25 baht. The two materials are the same, but a cargo cloth can be exchanged for 25 cargo springs. As a result, people have melted five "cargo springs" and made 1 cargo cloth by themselves, which is tantamount to making money. Private coinage has become a common practice. Who can't do such a good business as "printing machine" After learning about this BUG, Huoquan Wang Mang wrote a letter saying, "If you dare to steal money to distribute goods in a partial way, whether you know it or not, you are an official slave." ("The Biography of Han Wang Mang") As a result, it is conceivable that such monetary reform failed again. Wang Mang's four monetary reforms were accompanied by severe punishment and intimidation, and he successfully turned each monetary reform into a war. And he is a loser in the war every time. Second, why was the currency reform badly played by Wang Mang? 1, the currency system changes frequently. Looking at Wang Mang's several currency system reforms, almost all of them denied the last one. Many new currencies were abolished before they were fully popularized throughout the country. This capricious change not only made the people at a loss, but also brought a devastating blow to the economy of the new dynasty, and the credit loss of Wang Mang and the court was irreparable. Commodity spring II. Looking for folk wealth in the Western Han Dynasty, the reason why "five baht money" can last for a long time is because its currency value is stable and easy to circulate and store. Only with this stability can a currency show its authority. However, every time Wang Mang reformed the currency system, he took the route of greatly increasing the face value of the currency, which caused the problem that the nominal value of the currency was far from the actual value. Among them, the most exaggerated thing is that "national treasure is priceless", and at that time, 1 piece was actually worth 1 ten thousand pieces of "five baht money"! National treasures are priceless. A few knife coins invented by Wang Mang, such as the "wrong knife", can be worth 5,000 pieces of "five baht" just because they are inlaid with a little gold, which is equivalent to half a catty of gold. The weight of "Qidao" is only17g, but it can carry 500 pieces of "five baht". This phenomenon that the face value of money is seriously unequal to its own value is tantamount to extorting money from the people in disguise. Strange Road 3. The monetary system is complex. In the Western Han Dynasty, an important reason why people liked to use five baht was that it was simple and easy to use. This is also the general trend of currency development today. International currency and virtual currency make people's consumption behavior more convenient and fast. However, Wang Mang's monetary reform went against the historical trend. He invented the "six-product treasure system", which discharged 28 kinds of currencies at one time, and the product name, specifications and exchange relationship were complicated, which led to "the people are in trouble and the goods are not easy to sell"! 4. Implementing Strict Laws In the case of several failed monetary reforms, in order to ensure the issuance of new coins, Wang Mang had to use strict laws and enforce them. However, every time you do this, the result is "farmers lose their jobs and all the food and goods are wasted". The final result is that the green forest is red-browed, Wang Mang is killed and the new regime is overthrown. It can be said that Wang Mang's currency reform made him personally open the Pandora's box that destroyed the new dynasty. Conclusion of Pandora's Box: Wang Mang's four monetary reforms are a great spectacle in the world monetary history. The coins he invented are varied and bizarre, but they all belong to the fine works of ancient currency in terms of texture, technology and style. Nowadays, many exquisite coins of the New Dynasty attract Chinese and foreign coin collectors. However, Wang Mang's initial intention was to save the new dynasty with currency reform. How ironic it is for Wang Mang, whose ambition is higher than the sky! References:

Biography of Wang Mang in Han Dynasty, Records of Eating Goods in Han Dynasty and Ancient Chinese Coins (Li Rusen)