The monetary nature of Chinese gold and silver coins has long reflected the functions of storage, payment methods and world currency. In a large number of pre-Qin literatures, there are many records of the use of gold in the pre-Qin Dynasty, mainly for tributes, rewards, gifts, and large payments between nobles.

In China, gold and silver have a long history as a currency. In the book "Guanzi", the currency of the Warring States is "to use Zhuyu as the upper currency, to use gold as the Chinese currency, and to use the knife as the lower currency." The book also records: "The ancient leather coin, the princes to enjoy. Jin has three, gold is the upper, platinum is the middle, the red gold is the next." Platinum is silver. Therefore, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, gold and silver not only expressed wealth, but also entered the currency field.

Unlike copper coinage, ancient Chinese gold and silver are generally weighed in currency, which must be weighed and valued, rather than counted and exercised. Therefore, it is often not made into a unified shape, uniform weight, and uniform color in each period. When gold and silver coins are weighed, we use balances, weights, etc., and the units in the pre-Qin dynasty use "jin", which is 16 two. In some areas, "é•’" is used, and 20 is combined. After Qin unified the country, the statutory special "é•’". Han changed to "jin". After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the "two" units were used.

Judging from the use of ancient gold and silver coins, when Qin unified, the decree clearly stated that gold was the upper currency, copper coins were the lower currency, and the "beads of the pearl tortoise were the treasures of the ornaments, not the coins." At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the silver began to see the literature for rewards and bribes. The use of gold before and after the Wei and Jin Dynasties was weakened. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the use of gold and silver coins has developed greatly, and the folks have begun to use them. In particular, silver coins have gradually become currency, Song Shiyin. It has been used to express prices and is popular among the society. Until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, silver coins officially became the legal tender, and the two systems of silver were established. The government’s grain and tax revenues were both deducted from the silver. The bureaucratic and treasury expenses were paid in silver, and silver was implemented. The currency in which money is circulated in parallel.

In contrast to the development of silver in the field of circulation, gold has gradually reduced its use in circulation since the mid-Ming. The Qing dynasty continued the monetary system in which silver and money were paralleled. The form of silver coins in the Qing Dynasty became diversified, and there were many problems related to the manufacture, circulation, exchange, and color identification of related silver currencies. Later, as the western currency and financial system entered China, the use of silver two was strongly influenced by the silver coin, the silver dollar, and the old silver coin was gradually replaced by the modern currency silver dollar. By 1933, the government implemented the “waste two yuan reform”. The monetary policy ended in the end of the silver system, and the old silver coins were withdrawn from the currency circulation.