关键词: 大国货币, 历史视角, 革命根据地货币, 人民币, 主权货币的国际使用

Abstract: After more than 40 years of reform and openingup, with the rapid rise of Chinese economy, RMB, as a sovereign currency, is gradually stepping onto the world currency stageYet how to turn it into a worldwide leading currency in parallel with the major ones in the western world remains an issue of widespread public attentionThe paper argues that an objective evaluation of this issue requires an analysis from perspectives of both history and theoryA pure focus on theory tends to confine the Chinese choice to the path taken by American dollar and British poundBut if seen from a historical perspective, the feasibility of that choice will be greatly discountedHistorically, the Chinese currency system was shaped by its unique characteristics of an overlarge scale of economy and a currency made from cheap metal, which indicates that it was designed to serve domestic economy and people's livelihood, in contrast with some of the western currencies which were frequently used as a tool in foreign expansion and the establishment of world hegemonyUndoubtedly, the present RMB system cannot shake the influence of this traditionIn the process of the nearly one hundred years of national crisis and selfimprovement in modern times, the Chinese Communist Party, the creator of this system, has been fully aware of the importance of the independence of currency system and the stabilization of currency valueAnd its main target has always been more to serve domestic economy and people's livelihood than to pursue the internationalization of its currencyAccordingly, this has resulted in the asymmetry between the big scale of its economy and the limited international use of its currencyHow are we to objectively evaluate the asymmetry? Should it be considered as a dilemma or as a characteristic? The conclusion of my paper is that the growth of RMB into a worldwide leading currency is the natural outcome of rather than the premise condition for the rise of Chinese economyHence, we need to properly handle the timing of the internationalization of RMB, especially the rhythm of its international use, so as to explore a path unique  to China in this process

Key words: leading currency, historical perspective, currency circulated in revolutionary bases, RMB, international use of a sovereign currency