中国历史上的西汉初年，既是封建经济飞速发展又是货币管理极为混乱的时期。作为一种交换媒体，货币在秦汉前的春秋战国就已广泛使用。《盐铁论》中所描绘的那种“市朝而无刀币，各以其所有易所无”的景象至迟也是春秋以前甚至夏、商以前的情形；而春秋时期则已经是“龟贝金钱 The early years of Western Han Dynasty in Chinese history were not only the rapid development of feudal economy but also the period of extremely chaotic monetary management. As a medium of exchange, the currency was widely used in the Spring and Autumn Period before the Qin and Han dynasties. The scene depicted in Salt and Iron on the basis of “the city without a knife-edge currency, with all its excesses and without money,” is at least before the Spring and Autumn even before the Xia and Shang periods; in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was already "Turtle Tony money