“Paper should never be money (but) only employed as a representative sign of value existing in metals or produce … at first this was the mode in which paper currency was actually used among merchants. The government borrowing, the intervention from private individuals, wished to make a real money paper, and thus the original contrivance was perverted”.

Quote: Ma Twan-lin – General Examination of Records and Scholars published after 20 years research in 1321.