Abstract: Silver，copper coins and private bills of exchange comprise the diverse and complex monetary system in the early Qing China. Identifying the scarcity of silver and the“Kangxi Depression，”as the cause of social decline during the early Qing is a one-sided analysis of the function of money. The monetization of silver represented the transformation of the valuation of currency away from copper coin. The exchange rate of silver and copper coin was not just determined simply by their quantity，it also reflected the difference in the intrinsic values of the different metals also led to a “silver trap. ”Trying to escape the limits of the bimetallic monetary system and shifting to the type of private currency system that based on public confidence in bills of exchange was not possible in the absence of nation-wide credit system.