How did ancient banks prevent counterfeit money?

Printing in Qing dynasty; Official tickets of the household administration department; And; Qing dynasty paper money; , mostly block printing or copperplate printing, similar to Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. The face is vertical, square and large in scale. Although it is two or three-color overprinter, the color is monotonous and the printing process is not complicated. People can imitate many things. At that time, the official had to stamp the official seal on the ticket face to protect the credibility and enhance the reliability, because it was necessary to prevent civil fraud and there were no technical measures. This is an early and simple counterfeiting measure in the history of printing money in China. At the same time, the government has also enacted laws to safeguard the credibility of paper money. By punishing and rewarding counterfeiters and those who expose newspaper officials, we can prevent and sanction counterfeiters and ensure the circulation and credibility of paper money.

Paper money in the Qing Dynasty, except those issued by the government; Official tickets of the household administration department; And; Qing dynasty paper money; In addition, official and private banks were also printing money in the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, private money houses are also called money houses, money shops, money houses, banks and other names, and are a local financial industry. Its business is mainly to exchange money and issue currency notes. Play the role of making money and playing the role of fighting. The printing quality of banknotes issued by private banks was relatively simple and rough, and the face value figures were mostly handwritten, lacking necessary anti-counterfeiting measures, which made the monetary system at that time more chaotic.

In the 21st year of Guangxu reign (1895), the Japanese occupied Taiwan Province province, and Liu Yongfu, general of China in Taiwan Province, led the people of Taiwan Province province to rise up.

In the meantime, the General Administration of Official Money was established in Tainan, and Tainan official silver ticket (color map 17- 1 1) was issued, which was equal to the silver dollar prevailing in Taiwan Province Province at that time, and was mainly used to plan military provisions and pay to support the anti-Japanese war.

At the same time of military invasion, western powers also poured western money into China to print money for local and private banks in China. The banknotes they printed attracted the attention of people of insight in the Qing government because of their advanced modern printing technology, exquisite pictures and excellent printing. In particular, some government officials who advocated innovation called on the imperial court one after another, demanding that the government introduce advanced western printing technology and issue paper money in China to meet the economic needs of the Qing government at that time.

In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), the Ministry of Housing (later renamed Duke) sent personnel to Japan to inspect the printing technology of paper money, and in March of that year, it submitted a memorial to the court on the establishment of the official seal bureau. The monument reads: ..... You should know that paper money was originally used by businessmen and people in Hebei Province, but it is actually an organ of finance ... All countries in the East and West issue paper money and all kinds of books and official documents, and all valuable ones belong to the government to prevent private manufacture. The Ministry of Finance is in the process of financial consolidation, so it is extremely appropriate to take appropriate measures, make proper preparations and lay a good foundation ...; . Since then, 1907, after the inspector group returned to China, it has put forward the methods and opinions of the imperial court to set up a printing bureau. At this time, in order to save the crisis situation, the Qing government should; Unify laws in exchange for rights; In order to control the financial economy, it is necessary to issue paper money. In addition, at this time, China's industry and commerce has achieved initial development, and domestic and foreign trade is increasing. China's old silver dollar, the old paper money issued by the silver dollar and the Qing government could not meet the needs of the circulation field at that time, and it also required China paper money to develop to a higher and newer level. Therefore, the Qing government adopted the memorial of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and decided to establish it. Home printing bureau; .

1907, the Qing government approved the convening of a memorial meeting of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development began. Home printing bureau; Preparation work. In view of the fact that the world printing industry was in a leading position with the intaglio printing technology of steel plates adopted by American banknote companies at that time, the Qing government sent personnel to visit the United States and decided to adopt the United States; Beijing National Printing Bureau; The scale and level of the construction of China official seal bureau.

At that time, there were two kinds of engraving intaglio technology, one was copper intaglio technology and the other was steel intaglio technology. Compared with the two, the steel intaglio is solid in texture, fine in pattern, distinct in layers and resistant to printing. The printed products have clear lines and thick ink layers, which have a particularly unique effect on the expressive force of human heads and landscape paintings. But also is not easy to forge, and has a good anti-counterfeiting function.

The printing bureau is located in Baizhifang outside Xuanwu Gate, Beijing, covering an area of more than 240,000 square meters. Construction started on June 1908. Designed and drawn by our company in Milla, USA, and built by Japanese Huasheng Company. American Laoqi Changyang Company is responsible for purchasing and installing machinery and equipment at a cost of1120,000 silver. At the same time, we also started to set up an organization. The comprehensive office and the deputy office have two offices, namely, Affairs and Works. The production management department of the Ministry of Works consists of five departments: plate making, color making (ink making), printing, finishing and machinery. In addition to printing banknotes, the Qing government also transferred the printing of stamps from the postal department to the printing bureau for printing.

In order to master the engraving technology of steel intaglio, the Qing government hired five American technicians from the United States, including sculptor Hai Qu, to work in the printing bureau to teach the engraving technology of steel intaglio. The establishment of the Banknote Printing Bureau of Du Zhi Branch and the arrival of American technicians such as Haiqu ushered in a new era in the history of banknote printing technology in China.

In the process of preparation, the branch printing bureau is building a factory building and recruiting personnel for technical training. It is particularly worth mentioning that Bi Chennian, Li Fu, Yan Xilin, Wu Jintang and others, who were recruited from Tianjin Official Newspaper Bureau and had studied copper intaglio carving technology from the Japanese, all mastered the steel intaglio carving technology after a period of study and became the first generation of steel intaglio carving technicians in China, which attracted the attention of the printing industry at that time and laid a solid foundation for the further development of China steel intaglio carving technology.

The plate-making and printing equipment of the banknote printing bureau was configured according to the scale and level of the American banknote printing company, which was at the first level in the world at that time. There are mainly universal engraving machines (see figure 13- 12), steel plate printing machines (figure 17- 12) and manual gravure printing machines (figure 17- 13) purchased from the United States. Its complete equipment and advanced technology are unique in China and first-class in the world. By 19 14, the printing bureau was completely built. (color map 17- 14) is a panoramic view of the printing bureau carved by Wu Jintang. The Qing government spared no expense to set up a printing bureau branch, which was undoubtedly a great contribution to the printing industry in China.

Carving steel intaglio is a very difficult skill, which combines painting art, carving art and technology. The sculptor is required to have a certain painting foundation and his own artistic inspiration before he can reverse-engrave the manuscript (painting or photo) on a special steel plate. Without years of training and profound cultivation, it is difficult to achieve the expected artistic effect. Generally speaking, an excellent engraved intaglio can't be copied. Not only is it difficult for others to copy, but it is also difficult for sculptors to carve steel plates with the same texture. In particular, the carving of human heads requires not only a strong three-dimensional sense, distinct layers and clear lines (including hair and facial lines), but also direct cutting on steel plates. If you are not careful, all your efforts will be in vain. Therefore, carving a good steel intaglio portrait is actually a process of artistic re-creation, which takes half a year to complete. The steel intaglio for printing money can not only enrich the ticket content, but also have strong anti-counterfeiting performance, which is incomparable to other printing methods. It still has high practical value and is constantly developing and perfecting.

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