Huizi (currency)

In Hangzhou and the areas around it bianqian huizi (便錢會子) or "comfortable money" had become a common form of exchange during the beginning of the Southern Song dynasty.

Between the years of 1161 and 1166 the government of the Song dynasty had produced 28,000,000 dào (道, equal to a guàn or 1000 wén) in Huizi notes.

During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong the usage of paper money came into question but as there was a shortage of copper cash coins they were assessed to be needed for the economy to be maintained as the amount of coins in circulation didn't sufficiently meet the markers demands, at this time there were Huizi notes with denominations as high as 4,900,000 guàn in daily circulation.

The Huizi notes were set to expire 3 years after their introduction and could be exchanged for their nominal value in copper cash coins, but in reality they were only produced every 9 years and 20,000,000 guàn in newly printed notes were added to the market, in 1195 this was raised to 30,000,000 guàn.

As the Mongols continued marching south the Chinese military required more money causing the government to print an excessive amount of Huizi notes.