Finance in China

Day Nine: Lecture 3 By Professor Ren Bing , Tianjin Planning Exhibition Hall (Small models of Tianjin), Chinese Museum of Finance, Italian Village, Tianjin Eye(Tallest Ferris Wheel in Asia)
- I was very interested in visit the Chinese Museum of Finance. Being a Finance graduate, I wished that all the words were not in Chinese and I could read more about everything that was in the museum. Luckily, Jason, a professor that is with us on our tours answered a lot of my questions. I found it interesting that China experiences some of the same problems as the United States. For example, at the beginning of 2007 China started to experience subprime mortgage crises like the United States did. Both China and America were hit hard in 2008 and many companies were filing for bankruptcy.
I also found it very interesting that China's first form of currency was sea shells. Wouldn't it be nice if you could go to the ocean and try to find as many sea shells as you could? I would be the richest woman in the world! Lastly, China's currency can be called Renminbi or Yuan. I asked why this was because there was an example of fake money and real money in one of the display cases. Lisa, I Chinese graduate, told me that there is a lot of fake money made in China and 20 years ago the government decided to change their currency from Yuan to Renminbe to help prevent the problem of counterfeit money. This was a nice attempt by the government to try and prevent counterfeit money from being produced; yet, it is a still a large problem in China. When we first arrived in China, our guide Lina told us about this problem and she showed us the difference in fake and real money. The sound the paper makes is a big indicator that it is real. I find the history of Chinese money to be fascinating. I also love their old accounting systems. The calculator they used is amazing. It has wooden circles on spools. Lisa said that they are taught how to use the calculator in primary school. Personally, I still do not understand how to use it. Overall, I thought that the finance museum was very interesting and I am glad we got the opportunity to see the history of Chinese Finance.