This note reads Da ming tong xing bao chao, which translates as "Great Ming Circulating Treasure Note." The value of the bill is recorded as one guan, or a string of 1000 coins; a picture of this coin string is also printed on the note, presumably for the benefit of the illiterate. Also included on the bill are instructions on how to use it, as well as a warning against counterfeiting.¹

After the fall of the Yuan dynasty, the new Ming government attempted to return to use of metal coins. This was partly in an effort to invoke the feeling of a return to the old, tried-and-true Chinese way of doing things after the removal of the foreign Mongol rulers, though in fact, paper money was commonly used as early as the Song dynasty. Due to a shortage in bronze, however, the Ming rulers attempted to return the printing and release of paper currency.²  Further problems arose when economic mismanagement led to severe inflation, when the value of paper money plumetted. The government was forced to stop the production of paper currency, which would not be used again in China until the 1850s³, which makes this paper note one of the last to be printed in China for nearly five hundred years.

(1) See the web page devoted to this object on the British Museum's Compass site.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Ibid.