ANSWER: China always issued fiat bronze and iron coins. There never were any gold or silver coins whatsoever until modern times. The Emperor issued the first actual paper money.
That is distinguished from banknotes, which were not actually money but were slips of paper that merely reflected assets in the bank. That is totally different from the China notes of the 13th century.
These were issued by the government China and were actually simply government issues as legal tender, which is why the Mongols had to continue accepting them when they conquered China.
If we consider deposit slips as money (banknotes) the first is really ancient Egypt. They never issued any coinage whatsoever from at least 3000BC until the conquest by Alexander the Great in 334BC.
That was the longest running system of such deposits slips (banknotes), which were grain, not gold or silver. Gold did not come into use as a medium of exchange until about the 7th century BC.
It had to become common enough for circulation. Previously, gold was reserved only for ornamentation by kings – never the common man.
The China sycee was a type of silver or gold ingot currency that was used in China until the 20th century. The name “sycee” is derived from the Cantonese words meaning “fine silk” because it was bolt of silk that was really money.
Silk is what the world wanted from China first and second its porcelain from which people in the west called them Chinese because the sold china to the West.
These ingots formed a two tier monetary system whereby they really facilitated international trade. The only circulating coins were bronze or iron.
http://www.talkmarkets.com/content/global-markets/china-was-first-official-paper-money--never-issued-gold-or-silver-coins-until-modern-times?post=46337
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