人民币单位名称及其由来

一、人民币的单位名称

1、 Unit name of RMB

我国人民币的单位名称同其他国家一样，也是历史发展的结果。人民币的单位名称“元”、“角”、“分”构成人民币的价格标准，它标明人民币所代表的价值。1948年12月1日发行第一套人民币时，票面金额较大，只发行了主币，没有发行辅币，最小的票面金额为1元，较大的有1000元、5000元、10000元和50000元，12种面额。这是因为当时正处于经济恢复时期。但接着进入第一个五年计划的经济建设阶段，国家的财政经济状况得到根本好转，物价稳定，币值稳定，这就逐步暴露了货币价格标准上的问题：一是货币票面金额大，计价与流通都很不方便；二是仍留有旧中国通货膨胀的残迹，给人民群众以“钱毛”的错觉；三是只有主币，没有辅币，不能完整体现我国货币单位的概念。因此，1955年3月1日起发行了第二套人民币，同时发行了辅币。第一套人民币与第二套人民币的兑换比价是1：10000，这就是人民币价格标准的改革。这种改革，从货币所代表的价值来说没有变化，并不是人民币的贬值，而是把票面金额降低了，商品价格也随着降低了，是在人民币所代表的价值上抹掉了四个“0”而已。以后两套人民币的价格标准均未改革。

The unit name of RMB in China, like other countries, is also the result of historical development. The unit names of RMB "Yuan", "Jiao" and "Fen" constitute the price standard of RMB, indicating the value represented by RMB. When the first set of RMB was issued on December 1, 1948, the face value was relatively large, only the main currency was issued, and no auxiliary currency was issued. The minimum face value was 1 yuan, and the larger one was 1000 yuan, 5000 yuan, 10000 yuan and 50000 yuan, with 12 face values. That's because the economy was recovering. But then we entered the first Five-Year Plan of economic construction stage, the state's financial and economic situation was fundamentally improved, prices were stable, and the value of the currency was stable, which gradually exposed the problems in the price standard of the currency: first, the face value of the currency was large, and the pricing and circulation were very inconvenient; second, there were still traces of old China's inflation, giving the people the illusion of "money Mao"; third There is only the main currency and no secondary currency, which can not fully reflect the concept of monetary unit in China. As a result, the second set of RMB was issued on March 1, 1955, and the secondary currency was issued at the same time. The exchange rate between the first set of RMB and the second set of RMB is 1:10000, which is the reform of RMB price standard. This kind of reform has not changed in terms of the value represented by the currency. It is not the devaluation of the RMB, but the reduction of the par value and the decrease of the commodity price. It is just the erasure of four "zeros" in the value represented by the RMB. The price standards of the later two sets of RMB have not been reformed.

二、人民币单位名称的由来

2、 The origin of the name of RMB unit

中国历史上的纸币单位十分复杂，有文、贯、串、吊、枚等等。“文”，每一制钱称一文，明清多通用制钱，因此在纸币上常用“文”作单位，如大清宝钞有伍佰、壹仟、百仟文不等。“贯”，始于唐代，在元、明两代纸币上均用贯作单位，每一贯值1000文，如大明通行宝钞壹贯。“串”，同贯，即一串也相当于1000文，清末和民国时期有些官银号所发制钱票也用“串”作单位；革命根据地中央苏区的一些银行发行的人民货币如鄂东南工农银行发行的纸币也用“串”作单位。“吊”，也相当于制钱1000文，旧时东北地区的纸币如吉林永衡官银钱号、黑龙江广信公司的官帖均以“吊”作单位。“枚”，是铜元的单位，单铜元相当于10文，双铜元相当于20文，民国初其财政部平市官钱局及一些省地方银行发行的铜元票均以“枚”作单位。那么，新中国人民币为什么采用“元”作单位呢？现在有两种较流行说法：一种说法认为，是从我国的货币单位名称发展中演变而来。我国货币已有4000多年的历史，货币的单位先后经历过实物单位、重量单位等，最后发展到以“元”作单位。货币出现“元”是从唐初开始的。唐朝以前，铜钱都是以重量为单位名称，如“半两”、“五铢”等。唐高祖为了整顿币制，废五铢，改为“开元通宝”。“开元”是开辟新纪元的意思，改为两、钱、分、厘的十进制计算。当时的“元”字虽然并不代表货币单位，但从此货币的重量就和货币的名称发生了分离。到了清光绪二十六年（1900年），在铸造银元的同时，广东开始制造机制铜元，由于铜元样式新颖，其精巧、整齐程度是以前任何钱币无法比拟的。清朝铜元分两大类，一类是“光绪元宝”，一类是“大清铜币”，清朝铜元的发行为今天的货币名称“元”打下了基础。清末，随着国际贸易的发展，西方银元传入中国，银元质地、形状的整齐划一，使它广泛流通。由于国内经济的发展，交换的扩大，人们迫切需要更轻便的货币来代替银元、铜元，这时银元、铜元已不适应经济发展的需要了，因此，银行就印制了一种银元、铜元的兑换券，这种兑换券的名义价值和实际的银元、铜元一样，逐渐兑换券演变成了纸币。我国人民币的名称“元”就是这样演变来的。

The paper currency units in Chinese history are very complex, including Wen, Guan, Chuan, Diao, Mei, etc. "Wen" is called "one Wen" for every money making. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was commonly used for money making. For example, there were five hundred, one thousand and one hundred thousand Wen in the banknotes of Qing Dynasty. "Guan" began in the Tang Dynasty. It was used as a unit in Yuan and Ming Dynasty notes, with a consistent value of 1000 Wen, such as one Guan in Ming Dynasty. "String" is the same, that is to say, a string is also equivalent to 1000 Wen. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, some official bank issued banknotes with "string" as the unit. People's currency issued by some banks in the Central Soviet Area of the revolutionary base, such as the banknotes issued by the industrial and Agricultural Bank of Southeast Hubei, also uses "string" as the unit. "Diao" is also equivalent to making 1000 yuan of money. In the old days, paper money in Northeast China, such as Jilin Yongheng official silver money number and Heilongjiang Guangxin company's official post, were all based on "Diao". "Mei" is the unit of copper yuan, single copper yuan is equivalent to 10 Wen, double copper yuan is equivalent to 20 Wen. At the beginning of the Republic of China, copper yuan tickets issued by pingshiguanqian Bureau of the Ministry of Finance and some provincial and local banks were all issued in "Mei" as the unit. So why does the new China RMB use "Yuan" as its unit? Now there are two popular sayings: one is that it evolved from the name of monetary unit in China. China's currency has a history of more than 4000 years. The unit of currency has experienced physical unit, weight unit and so on, and finally developed to "Yuan" as the unit. The appearance of "Yuan" in currency began in the early Tang Dynasty. Before Tang Dynasty, copper coins were named by weight, such as "half Liang" and "five baht". In order to rectify the currency system, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty abolished wuzhu and changed it to Kaiyuan Tongbao. "Kai Yuan" means to usher in a new era. It is changed to a decimal system of two, money, minutes and centistokes. At that time, although the word "Yuan" did not represent the monetary unit, the weight of the currency was separated from the name of the currency. In the twenty-six years of Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty (1900), while casting silver yuan, Guangdong began to manufacture mechanism copper yuan. Due to the novel style of copper yuan, its exquisite and tidy degree is incomparable with any other coins before. There are two kinds of copper coins in Qing Dynasty, one is "Guangxu Yuanbao", the other is "Great Qing copper coins". The issue of copper coins in Qing dynasty laid a foundation for today's currency name "Yuan". At the end of Qing Dynasty, with the development of international trade, the Western silver dollar was introduced into China, and its texture and shape were uniform, making it widely circulated. Due to the development of domestic economy and the expansion of exchange, people urgently need lighter currency to replace silver and copper yuan. At this time, silver and copper yuan are not suitable for the needs of economic development. Therefore, the bank printed a kind of silver and copper yuan exchange certificate. The nominal value of the exchange certificate is the same as the actual silver and copper yuan, and gradually the exchange certificate evolved into paper money. This is how the name "Yuan" of China's RMB evolved.

至于元以下的辅币单位“角”和“分”，也是习惯继承下来的。“角”本义为兽角，《说文》载：“分，别也；从八从刀，刀以分别物也。”本义为分别，分开，后引伸亦指被分开后的部分。所以，就长度而言，一两的百分之一称分；就地亩而言，一亩的十分之一称分。引用到货币单位，一元的百分之一亦被称分。人民币的“分”自然产生于此。

As for the fractional currency units "Jiao" and "Fen" under yuan, they are also inherited by habit. The original meaning of "horn" is the horn of beast, which is recorded in Shuowen: "divide and don't; divide things from the eight swords and the swords." The original meaning is separation, separation, and post extension also refers to the separated part. Therefore, as far as the length is concerned, one percent or two is equal to one percent; as far as the local Mu is concerned, one tenth of one mu is equal to one percent. One percent of a dollar is also called a percent. The "cent" of RMB naturally comes from this.