Which Chinese dynasty was responsible for the invention of paper money?

The Song dynasty was responsible for the first major government-backed issue of paper money.

Paper currency emerged in China from practical problems in a highly commercial economy. Merchants and deposit shops had used paper certificates to represent stored coins, reducing the need to transport heavy strings of copper cash. During the Northern Song period, these practices developed into jiaozi, notes first associated with Sichuan merchants and later regulated by the government.

The Song court recognized that standardized notes could support long-distance trade and provide an alternative when copper supplies were insufficient. It established official production and issuing systems, making Song China the first government in history to circulate state-issued paper money on a significant scale.

The Tang dynasty supplied important commercial precedents, so it is not quite right to say the Song invented every form of paper financial instrument. The Yuan dynasty later expanded paper currency dramatically under Mongol rule, while the Ming also issued notes, but the Song pioneered the durable government currency system that made paper money famous.