How Did The Single Gentle Impact China Economy?

The global flow of silver from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century had vast effects both socially and economically around the world. By this time an interregional trade network had been clearly established and world trade was booming. When China, a prominent trade nation, accepted silver as its currency and would only exchange for it, the importance of silver increased. This new rapid scramble for silver proved to be both beneficial and disastrous. While countries which were lucky geographically in their supply of raw silver could now trade prominently with China, demand created an increase of labor and social unrest. Reliance on silver both helped and hindered economies and societies, bringing

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the extent to which the Chinese Cultural Revolution impacted China’s economy from 1966 to 1970. The main body of the investigation will focus on the persecution and violence towards high-level party officials and capitalists by the Red Guards and the “Destroy the Four Olds” campaign. The “Destroy the Four Olds” campaign was significant because it inhibited industrial and agricultural innovation and production of an entire country for a decade as it placed the country’s economy and industry into the hands of inexperienced revolutionaries. Two sources that will be used will be China: A New History and Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present, and they will be evaluated in regards to their purpose, value, and limitations. An analysis of these sources and the evidence will be used to form a conclusion as to how and to what extent the revolution impacted the Chinese economy.

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

Silver production in the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century increased substantially due to Spaniards gaining control of Potosí. This led to them creating mines in the area, which was rich in silver. By doing this, they substantially increased the silver in the hands of the Spaniards, which they mainly used to pay for luxury goods and products from Asia. The silver trade had long reaching effects on the social and economic state of empires and countries worldwide from the time period of the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century. Socially, the silver trade affected the Chinese social mindset and structure and caused them to change. Economically, the silver trade negatively affected the economy of Europe overall.

This document is reliable as it is a scholar whose primary purpose should be to observe and record. The Portuguese also took advantage of this Silver Trade integration. Ralph Fitch was aware of this stance of the Portuguese by recording in his account of travels in the East Indies during the year 1599. He claims, “…more than 600,000 cons of Japanese Silver… the Portuguese bring from China gold, perfume, silk, copper, porcelain, and many other luxury goods.” (Document 4) This quote by Fitch reveals that the Europeans, or in this case the Portuguese, were frequently trading with China for goods that they did not frequently obtain before this time. Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa, a Spanish priest in the 1620’s exclaimed, “…silver taken secretly from these mines to Spain, paying no 20 percent tax or registry fee, and to other countries outside Spain including the Philippines and China.” (Document 6) This quote means that there was silver that was being spread throughout the

During the mid sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century, the usage of silver was immensely popular because of its dominance in trade such as the requirement of paying domestic taxes and trade fees with silver in the Ming Dynasty. Thus, the increased flow of silver caused social and economic effects in all region associated with trade such as Ming China, Spain, Tokugawa Japan and England by increasing trade and wealth but also profoundly weakening the state of these countries such as increasing social division, competition, and inflation.

Coming into the 4th Era, the Church held a prominent role in society. Many rulers legitimized their power through the approval of the pope. However, the church was seriously reformed under the criticism of Martin Luther in that, while other theologies like protestantism began to take hold, the catholic church’s role decreased. As secular perspectives began to intensify, both art and wealth shifted toward the furthuring of the human being rather than the glorification of religious deities. As such, interest in commodities from Asia grew as European entities traveled west with the hopes of reaching East Asia.

Tomás de Mercado, who was a Spanish scholar in 1571 wrote to show that Asian commodities were going to destroy Spain, to hurt the economy greatly, and it did once they had no silver left for themselves. Document 3 states how even though the harvest is poor, grain is cheap because there is not enough flowing silver for the customers. Which means there was less money to pay the workers, so less workers, so less land that could be worked on and harvested, all because the government wanted only silver and nothing else, when the government took all the silver already. Less food means more starvation, famine, and death. This did not only occur in China, but everywhere the government only wanted silver.

While silver allowed Europeans to increase trade with Asian empires, it also caused a trade imbalance between European and Asian merchants. While the Europeans sought Asian silk, spices, and luxury goods, most Asian merchants had no interest in European goods and rather demanded silver. The impact of this imbalance on Spain is described in Document 1; the author claims that expensive goods ruined the economy of his country, attributing this to Spain’s reliance on silver, rather than the production of goods. The author’s critical tone can be accredited to the economic state of Spain at this time, facing increasing inflation as the constant production of silver drove up prices. In Document 7, the account of an English political economist further defines this pattern.

Silver, the monopoly of the old world changed many things. In China, there was such a lust for silver that they now began interacting with Europe. Spain began venturing to the Americas in search for silver. Doc. 3, 5, and 6 talks about how China was hurting their own economy by hording the silver and they didn’t give it back out to their people, Doc. 2 and 4 explains Asian trade and how it changed China, Doc. 7 and 8 talks about how China benefited from the silver trade the most. Doc. 3, 5, and 6 talks about how China was hurting their own economy by hording the silver and they didn’t give it back out to their people.

From 1570 to 1750, silver was mainly mined in Spanish colonial America and Japan. They traded their silver and gold for Chinese luxuries and about 30% of all the silver exported by the Spanish Americas ended up in China. Having required that all taxes and trade fees be paid in silver, China’s economy was soon backed by silver. Though it may seem like this only affected China, this caused a great impact on the whole world both socially and economically because, like it said in document 1, even the poorest men had silver in China, but in Spain, prices of precious Asian luxuries increased, and, due to the widespread distribution of silver, the value of silver decreased (document 2), which harmed Spain’s economy greatly. This also affected Britain

From 1500 to 1750 silver production was led by Tokugawa Japan and Spanish colonial America around the world. Silver was important and very needed but hard to obtain. In China for example the government only accepted silver as a form of payment for domestic taxes and trade fees. During the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century the effects of silvers global flow was impacting. Socially, the silver flow caused people to suffer while turning others greedy making them unfair with trade. Economically , the global flow made it difficult for people to stay afloat.

As many European countries began to establish themselves in global trade, they brought with them the new resource of silver. Being the primary producers of the valuable commodity, they became very involved in global trade thus improving their economies. As the Mongol Yuan dynasty fell, China’s economy also faced many negative repercussions including the overuse of paper money. When the Ming conquered the Yuan, they inherited the currency issue and began to require that all taxes and fees be paid in silver. The growth of the flow of silver between the 16th and 18th centuries caused social and economic impacts in many regions by creating economic opportunities in European countries, both weakening and strengthening them, and increasing social

Between the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century, the flow of silver was able to give a whole new meaning towards the structures in many societies socially. The global flow of silver also created a huge change in the basis of the economy in the Asian and European countries. The flow of silver changed the customary life in Ming China, it shaped the economies in all the regions that were involved, and the flow of silver ruined the currency and Spain’s economy. The increased flow of silver during the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century caused both social and economic effects in all regions that connected with trade by increasing the integration of Europeans in the globalization of world trade and creating greater economic opportunities but also growing social divisions with China.

The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World, by Ho-fung Hung. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.