How Did Chinese Currency Change During The 18th Century

Because the Chinese government were being inspired by the flow of the silver production they decided that all taxes and trade fees be paid in silver which affected China’s economy in a way that it would decline. In document 1, Ye Chunji, a county official of Ming China, orders an issue dealing with a limitation on wedding expenses. He doesn’t want people to live a lavish life and waste all of their money. He wants them to be cautious

Silk and porcelain industries in particular flourished; in Jingdezhen, porcelain-making industries recorded almost 100 000 workers and during the late 1600s became a main component of the trade between the east and the west, In Suzhou, Silk manufacturing industries had around 2330 workers and also became a viable item of trade, other places like Hangzhou and Nanjing also produced high quality silk, for which they are renowned for in modern day China. The early 1800s of the Qing era saw the development of “Remittance Banks” which allowed a merchant to exchange metallic currency for a remittance certificate, in which he could collect his money elsewhere; these banks became vital to the progression of commercial activity in China. Under the successful but unpopular Qing regime, new crops were established and sweet potato, maize and peanuts became introduced into the Chinese diet. During the reign of the Yongzheng emperor, the Qing Government also introduced a new tax policy that only allowed the payment of taxes through money (copper or silver, for larger transactions) rather than the previous “goods and wares” tax that allowed the Chinese to pay taxes in things like agricultural produce. The new amount of tax payed by civilians was almost entirely dependent upon the amount of land a person

The wealthy were able to obtain more silver than the lower class causing an unequal distribution of silver. China has issued a new policy to limit wedding expenses. They are requiring the payment in silver which explains their way of limit wedding expenses. The frugal man would have something left over because he is able to save and use limited resources. While the other extravagant man would spend much more than is needed. These men are from two different social classes. Ye Chunji was a county official during the Ming Dynasty and must have earned the position he is in so he is able and has the authority to limit the wedding expenses of a frugal and extravagant man to what he feels is right. (Doc 1). China’s policy of silver being paid as taxes has affected grain prices and has mainly affected poor peasant farmers. This expresses dominance the government has over the farmers which is causing them troubles. Wang Xijue, a Ming dynasty court official reported this problem to the emperor. In the report he criticized the national government’s new silver policy about the farmer’s lack of silver. He personally could have been a farmer himself and rose to more power which is affecting his view. (Doc 3). In China, the dye shops have changed the way they charge their customers for service. They went from not using money to a currency way of paying. This made the form of

Ogedei laid the foundation of prosperity and brought master craftsmen of various fields from China (Doc.4). By bringing in skilled artisans from China, Ogedei increased the amount and quality of goods for both regional and foreign trade. Francis Balducci Pegolotti explains how the lord of Cathay would purchase silver from foreign merchants and give them paper money in exchange. Merchants were then able to use this currency to buy silk and other goods (Doc.7). As we know from Marco Polo, Cathay was being controlled by the Mongols during this time (Doc.2). Being an Italian businessman, Francis Balducci Pegolotti’s description of this trading process accurately represents foreign trade with Mongols. This system of paper money created by the Mongols facilitated trade and allowed the merchants to easily purchase items at a fixed price as well as not having to carry a burden. Despite these benefits, paper money contributed to the fall of the Yuan Empire because the value of notes were doubted. Similar to the trading cities established by Latin Europe, economy was entirely dependent on local and long-distance trade. Both these trading cities and the Mongol Empire relied on trade to fuel their

China had a significantly larger population than Europe, China was the home to one hundred to one hundred thirty million people, whereas Europe had only fifty to fifty-five million people in the fifteenth century (Kennedy 4). China had been severely deterred when the Mongol hordes entered their civilization and in the aftermath of Kublai Khan invading their country. However, the Ming dynasty surfaced in 1368. The Ming were able to bring the empire back together by finally defeating the Mongols, and by restoring old Chinese order and tradition. With the Mongols being defeated, the Chinese made leaps and bounds in the world of technology, creating inventions that were far ahead of their time. From an early time, there were very large libraries in China. In order to create the books that existed those libraries, the Chinese created printing by movable type all the way back in the eleventh century. This segued into the use of paper money, which quickened the flow of commerce, which resulted from the increase of trade due to “… canal building and population pressures…” (Kennedy 6). Perhaps what is most impressive about Ming China was their overseas exploration. The most prominent of

China’s population was growing rapidly, almost doubling between 750 and 1100. Because of this huge population boom, paper money was established, and the trade industry grew. There were many advances that were made, such as technological improvements

During the rule of Justinian (527-565 CE) this empire was expanded to the greatest size that it would ever reach. Because it was so big, Justinian assigned two capitals for the empire, and as this happened, there was transfer of goods and technologies through both capitals. Because the empire was so big and the amount of merchandise and money that was managed through the empire was so broad, Justinian implemented the use of banking, which changed completely the way people earned money, saved their money, and traded goods to get money from them to bank it. As this happened in the Byzantine Empire, China fell into a cultural exchange of goods, technologies, and ideas that came from the Silk Roads. It was during the Tang and Song dynasties that this trade was at its peak. At the time, besides receiving goods from Europe and other neighbors through the complex routes of trading, the Chinese developed their own technologies for their own exportation. Among these technologies there was large metallurgical production, invention of gunpowder, naval technologies, rapid and cheap printing, and porcelain. These technologies enhanced even more trade for China and due to this, paper money was invented for the purpose of controlling trade; the same thing that occurred with the Byzantine Empire and banking. Even though China invented more technologies than the Byzantine Empire, both became major trade hotspots in their own way and invented systems to

A major effect of the global flow of silver is the economic dependency required.In Document 5, Xu Dunqui Ming purposefully explains the growing of heavy silver use in his city’s economics in 1610, leading to silver becoming the required and standard payment for cloth dying and other services, along with silver now a necesity in their lives.Wth this new standard payment of silver in China, where it is unaccessible in their own environment, they depend on Europe and Spain to in exhange for China’s goods pay in silver to make it readily available for China’s inhabitants. In

Documents 3,5,6, 7 and 8 all mention how the economy changed dramatically due to the arrival and growth of silver as a currency. In document 3, a Ming dynasty court official writes about how the silver coin is hard to come by because the government is hoarding all of it. They take silver for taxes but do not redistribute it to the people. He is writing this because he is trying to convince the emperor to distribute the silver more appropriately to the people, and because his family is obviously not doing well financially. He is a court official who most likely has small influence in the government and writes in hopes of getting the emperor to consider spreading the wealth to the lower classes of China, to save his family, and other families like his. Document 5 expresses a different, but somewhat related view about how silver has become a hindrance to regular business interactions, because customers can no longer trade items of their own to purchase goods, they have to go through a lengthy process to pay everything in silver. Document 6 shows a counter point of view about the wealth that the mining of silver has brought to Spain. Document 7 is a report written to convince the emperor of China that there is much wealth to be found in foreign trade, because of how much silver some countries will pay for Chinese goods. Finally, document 8 examines how European countries are able to purchase Asian commodities freely because of their immense supply

Although the large increase of silver flow into China was beneficial, it created harmful effects. The Chinese government during the 1570s required all domestic taxes and trade fees to be paid in silver; however, the increased flow of silver aided the people of China in following this rule set out by the Chinese government. As a Ming

The combination of increasing unemployment rate and food price created severe poverty across the nation (Goldfinger par. 1-3). The currencies in China, too, went through a lot of changes to accommodate the increasing trade. At first, the silver Spanish dollars became rare and increased in value so much that it was outlawed as a usable currency. However, at the same time, the Chinese copper currency were also being used less due to the fact that the metal was becoming rare and the administration of the currency was extremely poor. The Mexican dollar was introduced but the problem was not solved until paper money were used in 1853 (Goldfinger par. 2). To make the economy worse, during the First Opium War, China had to pay six million silver dollars to ransom Canton, and an additional nine million dollars were paid to foreigner traders for their loss. Later, twelve million taels of silver were paid to Britain and France under the treaties negotiated after the Second Opium War. All of those factors weakened the Chinese economy in the 1800s (Allingham par.5-9). However, the Opium Wars’ impact is everlasting, for “the Chinese have embarked on a long and arduous struggle to expunge the humiliations which they suffered during and since the Opium War…Foreign industrialists may continue to dream of the supposedly unlimited China market, but the Chinese…are determined to keep the 'open door' sufficiently ajar to import vital technologies, while keeping all unwanted

The 19th century had sparked a time period of bloody revolution, social and political reform, and both economic and financial problems for China. Though the cause of many of these problems could be rooted to internal conflict, foreign influence on Chinese ways proved to be disastrous. During the early 19th century the population was growing, the economy seemed stable and generally people seemed content with China’s economic progress. However these feelings of success would soon end as overpopulation would cause widespread poverty and famine. At that point in time China’s rulers had been Manchu; the Qing dynasty had been in rule but even its

China, the largest growing market in the world, currently has a policy regarding monetary regulation that allows the Yuan to “float”. This has seen the Yuan appreciate by approximately 24% over the past few years. Today, the exchange rate between the Chinese Yuan and the American Dollar is approximately 6.3 Yuan to 1 Dollar. Some argue that China should revalue the Yuan again the dollar, establishing a more fixed exchange rate. Others believe that current should allow

Paper and coin based payment has always reigned supreme when it came to paying for goods and services on demand. Early forms of paper currency were known as banknotes and could be traced back to early Asia during the Tang Dynasty. Merchants would complain over the heaviness of carrying around coins and would instead be found using paper banknotes as a method of both payment and credit. It wasn’t until the late 17-century that English banks began printing their own modern version of paper currency. As time went on, method of security were added to banknotes by having them made out of paper that was then combined with materials such as cotton and plant fibers. Also intricate drawings were added as a way to prevent counterfeit.

● Using 毛 as a measure word for the unit of the middle unit of Chinese currency,