The Zhuangpiao (), alternatively known as Yinqianpiao (銀錢票, "silver money notes"), Huipiao (會票, "corporate notes"), Pingtie (憑帖), Duitie (兌帖), Shangtie (上帖), Hupingtie (壺瓶帖), or Qitie (期帖) in different contexts, refer to privately produced paper money (or company scrip) made in China during the Qing dynasty and early Republic of China periods issued by small private banks known as qianzhuang. Other than banknotes qianzhuang also issued Tiexian (貼現, "discountable notes").
A qianzhuang would issue a zhuangpiao after receiving a deposit and these notes could generally also be cashed in at other qianzhuang after they were confirmed to be genuine specimens by checking the banknote seals. zhuangpiao served as de facto banknotes in China during periods when the government had long stopped issuing them and were an alternative currency when government banknotes such as the Great Qing Treasure Note and Hubu Guanpiao were later introduced and abolished.
Early zhuangpiao were generally denominated either cash coins (or strings thereof) represented by the currency unit of wén (文), or in the tael (兩) silver weight unit. Later zhuangpiao would also feature denominations such as the yuan (元 / 圓) which was based on round silver coins.
Concept
Zhuangpiao were privately produced notes issued by qianzhuang private banks (or "native banks").
There were several differences between zhuangpiao and modern banknotes, the credit of modern banknotes come from the power of the state, but zhuangpiao served purely to convert metal coinages into paper money. An advantage which the zhuangpiao had for the Chinese economy as it would save the amount of money that was circulating and help facilitate more cross-regional trade across China. There issues associated with the zhuangpiao as faraway qianzhuang couldn't always verify them, it was more convenient for qianzhuang to let a zhuangpiao circulate in different places or in the same city and only be accepted and admitted by local qianzhuang there and these local qianzhuang needed a local place for exchange and debit within the city or region.
The Shanghai qianzhuang guild had an intricate system of exchanging zhuangpiao and the note would play its scale effect that was an equivalent to expanding the operating funds of the qianzhuang, this effect was similar to the money multiplier effect of modernised commercial banks in monetary economics. As a result of the transfer and rolling of accounts in this exchange, there had to be imbalances in expenditures, some qianzhuang need to pay the cash, and some qianzhuang was needed to recover the cash. If a qianzhuang did not have enough cash in its reserve to pay for the zhuangpiao and would need to borrow money from another qianzhuang in a short-term loan. To remedy this situation many local qianzhuang guilds set up interbank lending market systems to provide for things such as adjustment and allowed for member qianzhuang to have a buffer for the times that they wouldn't have sufficient funds to pay out the zhuangpiao they had issued. This interbank lending system was of great convenience for the daily operations of a qianzhuang.
History
Qing dynasty
Many qianzhuang issued their own scrip known as zhuangpiao (莊票) and (if denominated in silver) yinqianpiao (銀錢票, "silver money notes"). This scrip was also accepted by proximate shops but to cash these out would take around 10–15 days after it was given to the shop, this was because couriers would have to liaise with the issuing shop in order to verify their authenticity and rule out fraudulent zhuangpiao notes.
The qianzhuang had employed some rather strict rules and regulations on their negotiable instruments such as the zhuangpiao. An example would be that when the Shunkang Qianzhuang receives a banknote issued by the Hongsheng Qianzhuang, the first thing that the Shunkang Qianzhuang would do is to send the old secretary or apprentice to the Hongsheng Qianzhuang to confirm the authenticity of the banknote. When the secretary or apprentice delivers the bill he would hold return book, this book indicates the number of produced banknotes. After this the important staff members of the Hongsheng Qianzhuang check to see if there are no problems with the note, they check you see if the Hongsheng Qianzhuang stamps on the left or right corner of the note are correct. If a note has been authenticated the issuing bank must always cash it in. To all qianzhuang a zhuangpiao is regarded the same as cash money (or a "promissory non-recogniser") and they had a very trustful relationship with each other.