Financial instrument, or medium that enables the movement of capital, is a sine qua non in any economy, capitalistic or not. However, hitherto studies on Ming-Qing socio-economic history tend to focus more on issues like production, trade, consumption, population, etc., and much less on issues related to capital formation and circulation. This paper shows that, beginning from the sixteenth century, the Ming salt ticket [yanyin] came to be used as a note of public debt and a lively speculative market for it was created. This capital market, unintentionally created by the Ming government since early sixteenth century, was also unintentionally abolished by the Ming government in 1617. This paper explores the rise, evolution and fall of this unique capital market and assesses its impact on the development of Chinese economy.