Ming banknote

Ming banknote

This week Neil MacGregor's history of the world is exploring the great empires of around 1500 - the threshold of the modern era. Today he is in Ming Dynasty China and with a surviving example of some of the world's first paper bank notes - what the Chinese called "flying cash". Neil explains how paper money comes about and considers the forces that underpinned its successes and failures. While the rest of the world was happily trading in coins that had an actual value in silver or gold, why did the Chinese risk the use of paper? This particular surviving note is made on mulberry bark, is much bigger than the notes of today and is dated 1375. The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, and the historian Timothy Brook look back over the history of paper money and what it takes to make it work.

Producer: Anthony Denselow

Jaksot(101)

Statue of Huastec goddess

Statue of Huastec goddess

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Shiva and Parvati sculpture

Shiva and Parvati sculpture

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Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy

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Holy Thorn Reliquary

Holy Thorn Reliquary

Neil MacGregor's world history as told through things. This week he is exploring the sophisticated ways that people expressed religious yearning in the 14th and 15th centuries. He is looking at the st...

5 Heinä 201013min

Taino ritual seat

Taino ritual seat

The history of humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum. This week the Museum's director, Neil MacGregor, is exploring high status objects from across the world around 700 ...

2 Heinä 201014min

The David Vases

The David Vases

The history of the world as told through objects that time has left behind. This week Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, has chosen some of the great status symbols of the world aroun...

1 Heinä 201014min

Ife head

Ife head

The history of humanity as told through one hundred objects from the British Museum is back in Africa. This week Neil MacGregor is exploring high status objects from across the world around 700 years ...

30 Kesä 201014min

Hebrew astrolabe

Hebrew astrolabe

Neil MacGregor's world history as told through objects at the British Museum. This week he is exploring high status objects from across the world around 700 years ago. Today he has chosen an astronomi...

29 Kesä 201014min

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