Money is an inevitable product of the development of human society. At the end of the ancient primitive society, the first form of money was physical money. For the nomads, their "wealth" was mainly in livestock and hides, which became a form of physical money. For the agricultural people, grains, cloth, farm tools, pottery, seashells, pearls and jade and other items are the earliest representatives of physical money.
The phrase "with a lot of money" is often used to describe a person who is extremely wealthy. So, how much wealth does the "Wanguan" here represent?In ancient times, the currency in circulation was mainly copper coins with a square hole in the middle. In order to make it easier to carry, people usually wear copper coins on ropes, and every 1,000 copper coins are worn together, which is called "consistent" or "hanging".
In the eighth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1375), the paper currency "Daming Tongbao" began to be issued, with a denomination of "Yiguan". At that time, "one run" was equal to 1,000 copper coins, or one tael**, or a quarter of a tael**. According to this calculation, a "10,000 guan" is equivalent to 10,000 taels**, or 2500 taels**. This is undoubtedly a considerable amount of wealth, and it is no wonder that people use the term "pocket-deepening" to describe money as so rich.