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[[File: Song_Taizu.jpg|250px|thumbnail|left|Emperor Taizu (reigned AD 960-967), the First Song Emperor]]__NOTOC__

Today, most people take paper money for granted, and few know how its use originated and developed throughout history. In Western countries such as the United States, paper money has a relatively short existence going back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Still, in China, paper currency first began circulating over 1,000 years ago.

In fact, the use of paper currency in China hurt the metals industry in general as mining withered during the Southern Song. <ref> Smith, Paul J. “Do We Know as Much as We Need to Know About the Song Economy? Observations on the Economic Crisis of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries” <i>Journal of Song-Yuan Studies</i> 24 (1994) p. 329</ref> The Song discovery of paper currency truly had a great impact on East Asia, but it would be centuries before Europeans discovered the benefits and drawbacks of using paper notes.

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