The book is a treasure trove of new information on the centuries-long monetary history of a society (which happens to be China). While its content may have value for many political historians of China or East Asia, there are numerous things of all kinds to learn for monetary economists.
To be sure, the author does not spend adequate time on implications or theoretical lessons as on numbers and event descriptions. Comprehension becomes even more difficult for readers unfamiliar with Chinese history or those who struggle with Chinese nouns/names.
The most important lesson from the book for this reviewer is that currencies and monetary policies have had vastly different forms and results over time. Historically, perceived value in any non-specie currency was primarily a function of the trust and legitimacy of the issuing rulers. Once past this, acceptance in pre-industrial communities depended on the imposed use cases - first and foremost driven by the acceptable mode of payment (as well as the amount) for taxes.
If Chinese monetary history provides good evidence to bolster chartalism, there is much more ammunition in the book for money supply monetarists. With different forms of fiat currencies in issuance over almost a thousand years, China's political history has examples of ravages wrought by both excessive and deficient money supply.
There are tales of instability caused by the uncontrolled private money-minting for present-day policy practitioners. Less useful are flows instigated by inefficient markets and exchange rate arbitrages. While linkages between monetary and fiscal policies are obvious to any economist, the book provides good examples of connections between money and politics/geopolitics.
This is not an easy read but for the interested, here is a unique history that leaves one with many things to ponder.
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