It used to sleep in the continuous mountains, unknown to everyone. It was once the earliest currency hidden in the world, unknown. However, once it became a currency, its silver light immediately shone on the whole world. In order to seek and transport it, the world began the Age of Discovery; In order to acquire and possess it, the world experienced currency wars for the first time; With it, China became the world’s largest economy in the 16th century; Leaving it, China’s feudal road will come to an end in a depression; It may be the root of all of this, or perhaps the surface of all of this, it is silver capital. Shanghai Banknote Printing Co., Ltd. Every day, with the roar of machines, a special product is produced in Shanghai. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is not a general commodity, but can measure the value of all commodities. This is the paper currency that people use every day. It is the currency form commonly used in various countries around the world today. The fifth set of RMB is currently circulating in the market. On the face of the RMB, it is printed with the national emblem of the People’s Republic of China and the name of the issuing bank. The People’s Bank of China. These patterns are the most important pillars supporting the monetary system and even the entire financial system, and the national reputation. Therefore, the RMB is also known as the national business card. After precise and complex processing and manufacturing, it has anti-counterfeiting performance. The magnificent transformation of banknote paper into the legal tender of the country. Today, the renminbi is the seventh largest trading currency in the world, and its issuance, circulation, and price stability are closely related to the economic lifeline of a country. Sun Jianhua, Chairman of Shanghai Banknote Printing Company: The printing quantity of this currency is a planned task completely controlled by the state. Every year, the state issues production tasks, and after receiving instructions, the China Banknote Printing Company distributes the annual production tasks to our various subordinate enterprises. We cannot print one more or one less. For this, we have established a complete legal system and financial system, which has gone through a long and arduous journey of exploration. The China Banknote Printing and Minting Museum in Beijing dates back to 600 to 700 years ago. Although there were no modern machinery, the craftsmen had clear division of labor and cooperated well. This seemingly simple printing workshop was the most advanced printing factory in the world at that time. The legal tender of the Ming Dynasty and the precious banknote of the Ming Dynasty were printed here. Coin Museum – Yang Jun: The Da Ming Pass Treasure Note was issued nationwide in the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, which was 1375 AD. It is approximately 35 centimeters long and 22.5 centimeters wide, making it the largest paper currency in the world. The Ming Dynasty was not the first feudal dynasty in China to issue banknotes. As early as the Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago, the Chinese applied papermaking and printing techniques in the the Four Great Inventions to the economic field. For the first time, human beings broke away from the shackles of nature and created a new kind of currency. Coin Museum – Yang Jun: At that time, due to the circulation of iron coins in the Sichuan region, the market value of iron coins was very low due to their heavy weight. According to records at that time, ten coins were only equivalent to the market value of one copper coin, which seriously affected the commercial exchanges in the Sichuan region. At that time, there were 16 merchants in Chengdu who jointly issued a quasi currency called Jiaozi, which was a paper currency. This is what we call the earliest paper currency in China – Jiaozi. Due to its very early issuance time, more than a thousand years ago, and the dampness in the Sichuan region, which is not conducive to the preservation of paper, no physical Jiaozi has been found to be preserved so far. When currency first appeared in paper form, its portability and accessibility made people feel unprecedentedly convenient. In a European prison at the end of the 13th century, a prisoner was giving a vivid speech, and no one dared to refuse to use it. In fact, they were all happy to use it because no matter where one went in the Khan’s territory, it was universal, like pure gold currency. This narrator was Marco Polo, who had once traveled to China through the Maritime Silk Road. He was talking about paper currency issued by the Yuan Dynasty. After the Song and Jin dynasties, paper currency made new developments in the Yuan dynasty. For the first time, paper currency was used as the legal tender of the country and widely circulated throughout the country. At the beginning of the establishment of the country, Kublai Khan used silk or silver as the currency base and issued currency according to the amount of currency. This currency system was very similar to the modern concept of reserve funds. He also formulated paper currency management policies and laws for the first time, which made the credit of the yuan currency famous and allowed it to flow smoothly throughout the country and many countries where it was traded. It is no wonder that the knowledgeable Venetian merchants praised paper currency so much. At that time, gold and silver coins were still used throughout Europe, and paper currency appeared here four hundred years later. After all, it’s impossible to talk about establishing a series of financial systems around paper currency. However, due to the continuous military use, huge war costs, and luxurious court life of the Yuan Dynasty, the country’s finances were unable to make ends meet. Faced with a huge fiscal deficit, the government thought that printing paper currency was the quickest way to earn money. The overwhelming amount of yuan currency sparked a huge economic storm, with prices soaring and inflation everywhere it went, eventually even the Mongols swept back to the grasslands of northern desert. The issuance of excessive amounts of money revealed a sinister side to the paper currency, which became a curse that countless rulers could not break. Professor Li Guoping from Central University of Finance and Economics: Inflation refers to the continuous increase in the overall level of prices. Of course, the first one here is the overall level, and the second one is continuous. If you rise for a day or two, it cannot be called inflation. This inflation is difficult to solve. So far, there is no mention of which country has solved this inflation problem. The main impact is on the lives of the people, and then on production. For example, I cannot arrange this production. For example, if I buy steel, today’s steel costs 1000 yuan per ton, tomorrow it will rise to 2000 yuan, and the day after tomorrow it will rise to 5000 yuan. How can I arrange production? For the country, it mainly depends on the financial system. When everything is destroyed, as for the common people mentioned earlier, your money is not worth it, When people don’t use your money anymore, like waste paper, what should we do if we don’t use your money? The entire financial system of the country will collapse. The Ming Dynasty, established after the Yuan Dynasty, did not stop exploring paper currency due to the failure of the previous dynasty. In the eighth year of the Hongwu reign (1375 AD), the government officially issued the Da Ming Tongbao banknote, which became the legal currency of the country until the downfall of the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the traditional treasure banknotes were exchanged for 1000 wen copper coins, or one or two silver coins. By around the 20th year of the Hongwu reign, in some places, the traditional treasure banknotes could only be exchanged for 160 wen copper coins. From the initial issuance to 60 years later, the value of the Ming treasure banknotes depreciated to one thousandth of their original value, becoming useless paper. The cycle of history seems to be about to repeat itself. Will the Ming Dynasty, which had been established for more than 60 years, die in a short life like the previous dynasty? Faced with the inadequacy of banknotes, the people disregarded the government’s ban on gold and silver, and for a time, gold, silver, and copper coins became substitutes for banknotes. Compared to minting copper coins, printing paper currency can greatly save costs. The Ming government, which had tasted the sweetness, was unwilling to return to the old path of using copper coins. At this moment, finding a currency that was acceptable to both the people and the government may be the only hope for the Ming dynasty to turn the tide and turn the tide. Professor Li Guoping from Central University of Finance and Economics: In the Ming Dynasty, the economy developed, especially in the Jiangnan region. The commodity economy in the Jiangnan region was relatively developed, and the trade volume was also very large. If you bring copper coins with you, it will definitely be inconvenient for business. So, there needs to be a new currency to replace it. What are the characteristics of this currency? The first is light weight, and the second is very valuable. So, of course, it is precious metals, such as silver. At this moment, an unexpected turning point arrived. In the first year of the Zhengtong era (1436 AD), a minister petitioned that it was extremely inconvenient for officials in Beijing to go to Nanjing to collect their salary rice. People often sold it at a low price on the spot, and the salary rice of seven or eight stones could only be exchanged for one or two silver coins, which was not beneficial for national officials. He requested the emperor to convert it into cloth, silk, and silver when collecting taxes in some provinces and transport it to Beijing as official salaries. Emperor Yingzong agreed to the minister’s request and said that this was a temporary measure and not a common practice. The next year, more than one million taels of silver were transported to the capital. These silver coins later had an exclusive name, “Golden Flower Silver”. These silver feet, with golden flowers, became the miraculous elixir for breaking the curse of paper currency in the Ming Dynasty. Wan Ming, Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: During the Ming Dynasty’s orthodoxy, in order to stabilize the treasure money, he once again banned copper coins. However, he himself also had a large demand for silver, which was already circulating in the public. Therefore, this country cannot be isolated, so it also needed silver. Since the orthodoxy, there were too many warehouses. Originally, too many warehouses only collected grain, which was a storage warehouse for grain, but later began to collect silver. This silver was brought about by monetization itself, which had some impact on this country. After the use of gold and silver, the scope of silver gradually expanded. During the Zhengde period, almost all official and military salaries were paid with silver. After taxes were converted into silver, corv é e was converted into silver. After going through the four dynasties of Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde, and Jiajing, gold and silver finally took a crucial step towards the monetization of silver in the Ming Dynasty. In the mid-16th century, silver, coins, and banknotes were nominally used in parallel, but due to the severe depreciation of precious banknotes, almost all of them disappeared in daily life. During the Jiajing period, not only was the national treasury accounted for by silver, but the court also clearly stipulated the conversion ratio of precious banknotes, copper coins, and silver. Later, when Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, he issued an order that those who bought and sold goods worth more than one yuan could use both silver and silver, while those worth less than one yuan were not allowed to use money. After nearly two hundred years of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, silver was finally officially recognized as the legal status of currency. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: In the later years of Jiajing, silver as a circulating currency had already been officially recognized by the government. As the son of Jiajing, during the Longqing period, the main position of silver currency was determined. Even in the most remote rural areas, it is very common to buy and sell things with silver. This is so magical to Father Rasgodes who came to China. Every Chinese person carries a steel clipper with them when purchasing things. According to the price of the goods, they twist the silver ingots into silver blocks of different sizes, and weigh the weight of the small silver blocks. People are very skilled in doing this. If they need two or five li of silver, they can often chisel an accurate amount at once. In China, even children estimate the weight and quality of the silver ingots. People will carry a copper bell like object with wax blocks inside, which is used to collect and reduce the weight. When the silver shavings accumulate to a certain amount, people can melt the wax blocks to recover the silver. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences – Zhang Yuyan: Silver is easy to cut, and the technology for identifying its color is also quite advanced. According to historical records, an apprentice who goes to a bank or something can basically master this level after working for three years. He takes out a piece of silver, weighs it, and looks at it to know what your color is, with an error of no more than 0.3%. During the period when the famous politician Zhang Juzheng vigorously implemented various reforms, he followed the historical trend of silver monetization and implemented the one whip method, which was to convert land tax and various types of corv é e into silver and merge them for collection. corv é e was originally mainly borne by the population, but was now divided into Galaxy land tax according to the population and land area. The implementation of the one whip method truly created convenient conditions for the circulation of silver in the market, and the position of silver was further consolidated. The billowing silver swept the whole Ming Dynasty, pushing it into a broader Xintiandi. Silver also turned from behind the scenes to in front of the stage, becoming the most important role in China’s feudal economic history. In the following 500 years, silver’s position as the standard currency could not be shaken. Professor Li Guoping from China University of Finance and Economics: We are now talking about the commodity economy, which is based on currency. Without currency, your goods cannot become commodified. Therefore, a whip method is equivalent to monetizing the economy of the Ming Dynasty at that time, and monetization will promote the development of this commodity economy. As the economy becomes more developed, the money supply should increase accordingly. However, how should this amount of money increase? One is to accelerate the circulation speed of currency, such as: one yuan is in my hands today, and tomorrow it will be in someone else’s hands; The second way is to simply increase the supply of money, such as printing money, or increasing the mining output of silver in the Ming Dynasty. This is Yunhe, the border of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, where hidden treasures are hidden in the depths of this rarely visited mountain. According to “Tiangong Kaiwu”, silver was produced in China and there were old mines in Zhejiang and Fujian. Cultural Relics Management Committee – Yang Kexin: Behind this mountain lies a large number of mining caves, right behind it. Yang Kexin, the secretary of the Yunhe County Cultural Heritage Bureau, accidentally discovered a huge silver mine during a cultural relic census, presenting the Ming Dynasty silver mine to the world for the first time. Along with other preserved historical sites in the area, it presents the complete scene of Ming Dynasty silver mining, processing, and transportation to the world. For this reason, he specially invited geological exploration and surveying experts from Lishui City to conduct on-site exploration, and a mystery of Ming Dynasty silver mining is about to be revealed. Cultural Relics Management Committee – Yang Kexin: Maybe because there was no wind or rain inside, it had a bit of its original appearance. At that time, in places like this, if there was a hole after a little bit of drilling, how did it climb up? I have some doubts. Maybe when picking, it was done from the top, from the top, from the bottom, and from the bottom. Like rust in this place, it may be a place with a relatively high metal content. During the peak mining period, Yunhe pays 90000 taels of silver to the country every year, but the mining here is quickly depleted. After burning a piece of water and splashing it with water, it (mining) can enter one meter. These were all traces of explosion at the time, all of which were loosened by the explosion. Why is the color slightly different? This is water vapor, because there is water, some fungi may grow here, and the silver glitters like a silver powder. In fact, there are some things that are still a mystery and unknown to this day. The silver mines in eight provinces and cities including Yunhe, Hu, Guang, Yun, and Gui provided about 20-30 million taels of silver for the Ming Dynasty. This seemingly huge amount, compared to China’s vast land, nearly 100 million people, and huge market demand, was just a drop in the bucket. The economic bloodline of the empire was eager to inject more silver. While China struggled to maintain its limited silver production, the silver shortage also seriously troubled European countries. Like China, Europe was not rich in gold and silver production. In the 14th and 15th centuries, with the increase of population, the emergence of emerging industries, and the development of foreign trade, the contradiction between Europe’s growing commodity economy and the increasingly depleted gold and silver mining intensified. Ultimately, gold and silver prompted a large number of adventurers to set sail, facing the sea breeze and waves, and move towards the legendary rich East, where gold is everywhere. As a result, human civilization entered a new era of global maritime trade. Professor Li Guoping from the Central University of Finance and Economics: At the end of the 15th century, Europeans began the Age of Discovery, which was known as the Great Discovery of Geography. There were many reasons for this Age of Discovery, including Europeans who, after reading Marco Polo’s Travels, believed that China was very wealthy, so they wanted to come to the East they had long longed for. Another reason was that in Europe at that time, such as Britain, the silver standard was also implemented, but these European countries were not rich in precious metals such as silver and gold. Therefore, Europeans also began to explore these precious metals. When the Spaniards crossed the sea to Mexico, they discovered an astonishing reserve of silver mines. Under the day and night labor of tens of thousands of Indian laborers, countless amounts of silver were mined, which changed the fate of two regions. Every year, tens of thousands of tons of silver drifted across the sea to Spain, and then flowed throughout Europe. At this time, Europe’s products were extremely limited, and a large amount of daily necessities relied on imports from the East. At this time, the Ming Empire in the East was deeply troubled by a shortage of silver. Therefore, two regions separated by the ocean were about to intersect on the sea. With the repeated dives of divers, they broke through the South Australia Island for many years. The silence of this sea area, once bustling with activity, was the location of the Ming Dynasty’s maritime trade and a necessary anchorage for trade along the southeast coast, At the end of the last century, a Ming Dynasty sunken ship was discovered here, bringing people back to that once bustling history. Underwater exploration showed that the Nan’ao No.1 sunken ship was loaded with tens of thousands of pieces of porcelain and a large amount of silk fabrics. People believed that the path the sunken ship must pass through was a path of porcelain or silk. However, for Ming Dynasty China, this was also a path of silver on the sea. More than 26000 cultural relics were salvaged from the sunken ship Nan’ao No.1 in Shantou City, Guangdong Province in the Nan’ao Sea area. The vast majority of them are displayed in this warehouse of the Guangdong Museum. Cui Yong and his colleagues are currently sorting and organizing the cultural relics that have emerged from the water. Director of Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology – Cui Yong: This is a typical blue and white intertwined peony jar. This is a typical Zhangzhou kiln porcelain, and it has a characteristic that there is a connecting tire here, and the marks of the connecting tire inside are particularly obvious. Moreover, because the supply was tight at that time, her work was very rough, becoming a kind of assembly line production. Originally, this type of jar was rarely passed down, and now there are not many that can be seen. Nanao No.1 may have produced the most. It was these export porcelain products with a profit of up to 600% that brought back the most scarce item for China at that time – silver. The total amount of goods loaded on Nanao 1 was over 60000 pieces. If it could return smoothly, the amount of silver that could be exchanged for the entire ship’s cargo would definitely be an astronomical number. Experts speculate that the sinking of Nanao 1 should have occurred during the Wanli period based on the age of the exported cultural relics. At this time, the Ming Dynasty had abolished the ancestral system of maritime prohibition, and foreign trade merchant ships with sails scattered throughout the South China Sea. It was this huge fleet of foreign trade ships that fundamentally solved the silver shortage problem that plagued China. Director of Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology – Cui Yong: Nan’ao No.1 was discovered on Nan’ao Island in Shantou, Guangdong. Nan’ao Island happens to be located at the junction of the East China Sea and the South China Sea, which is the border between Guangdong and Fujian. Therefore, it is a middle point on the route from Fujian to Southeast Asia. These porcelain products from China to Southeast Asia perfectly prove the trade of Manila’s sailing ship at that time, from China to Manila, and then from Manila to various European countries. In 1573, the first Manila sailing ship loaded with silver from the Americas set sail from the Mexican port of Acapulco, heading straight to the Philippines. At that time, the Philippines was an international trade center, where products from various Far Eastern countries were distributed. Since then, Manila sailing ships transport about 15 tons of Spanish silver coins to Manila every year, and return home loaded with Chinese silk and porcelain. Therefore, these ships are also known as Chinese ships. These Spanish silver coins, due to their high silver content, can be directly melted into silver ingots and are highly trusted by Chinese merchants. In the 16th/17th century, many countries around the world used silver as their base currency, and it was the massive production of silver in the Americas that gave rise to the global common currency – silver – when economic integration first emerged in the world. Coin Museum – Zhou Weirong: After the 15th century, with the great development of trade, countries around the world, including those engaged in trade, generally accepted silver as a means of payment. Only then did silver become the world currency and the true capital of silver. Afterwards, whether it was Spain’s Twin Pillars, the Netherlands’ horse swords, or Portugal’s silver cakes, they all came to China continuously in international trade at that time. Accompanied by the repeated voyages of Manila’s sailing ships, a sea route was born with Manila as the midpoint, connecting one end to Chinese silk and the other end to American silver. The east-west trade conducted on this sea route was called the Silk Silver Convection. Li Guoping: China is not a country rich in silver, so during the Ming Dynasty, silver was used as the legal currency. So how did this silver come to China? At that time, there were two sources of silver in the Ming Dynasty, one was Japan, and it is estimated that Japan’s silver accounted for about 20% of the silver supply in the Ming Dynasty; Another way is through the Manila trade, which came from Europe. After this silver entered China, it greatly promoted the economic commodification of China in the late Ming Dynasty. In the early morning, Suzhou woke up from sleep, and the families living along the river began a new day. This water alley has many small bridges, and the families are all on both sides of the river. Today, it is still a unique Jiangnan style with rows of Ming and Qing architecture and small bridges and flowing houses. The Ming Dynasty Suzhou depicted by Feng Menglong in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, on Shantang Street, is a bustling scene. Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture, is seventy miles away from the city, with a town named Shengze. The residents of the town are thick and broad, with a simple and rustic culture. They all work hard in sericulture, with men and women being diligent. The sound of weaving and weaving machines runs all night long. There are over a thousand silk and tooth shops on both sides of the city, and nearby villages and workshops weaving silk products are all available for sale here. Around the 17th century, silk fabrics accounted for 95% of the total value in Manila’s sailing trade. With the continuous development of overseas trade, the demand for silk, a typical Chinese made product, surged. At that time, foreign merchants who came to China to purchase raw silk wrote, “Of all kinds of silk goods imported from China, white is the most popular, as white as snow. No European product can match China’s silk goods.”. After China’s silk goods were transported to Mexico and Latin America, the local people, especially the wealthy upper class, rushed to purchase and enjoy them. In addition to the textile industry, the cotton textile industry, printing industry, ceramics industry, shipbuilding industry, mining and metallurgy industry and many other handicrafts in the Ming Dynasty reached unprecedented heights. The huge demand for overseas trade not only transformed Suzhou from a traditional land of fish and rice to a national textile center, but also gave birth to a large number of handicrafts specializing in textile production. As more and more farmers left the land and became free laborers, they flocked to towns, greatly promoting the development of commercial towns. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: Firstly, there is the development of agriculture, which can provide a unit of land and support more people. It allows some farmers to leave the land and engage in other industries. What industries do they engage in? One is traditional handicrafts, and the other is commerce. Based on this, many people have turned to handicraft production, trade, and overseas trade. Li Guoping: So the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Manila ensured that silver could flow into China relatively steadily at that time. The stable flow of silver played a significant role in promoting the economic development of the Ming Dynasty at that time, as it ensured the supply of money, which was relatively stable. After the mid Ming Dynasty, many areas in the Jiangnan region and even the entire southern region gradually transformed from rural areas to specialized handicraft towns. Between 1550 and 1644, during the hundred years before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, about 236 export products were exported from these specialized towns, which exchanged tens of thousands of tons of silver for China. In the first year of the Tianqi era (1621 AD), a Portuguese businessman wrote that silver flowed around the world until it reached China, where it remained as if it had reached its natural center. According to the research of American scholar Avis, from 1530 to 1570, Japan was the most important source of silver in China, and after 1570, it became the Americas. Another Western scholar, Gond Frank, after synthesizing the estimates of many contemporary scholars, concluded that in the two and a half centuries before 1800, China ultimately obtained nearly 48000 tons of silver from Europe and Japan, possibly 10000 tons from Manila, as well as some silver from Southeast Asia and Central Asia on the Asian continent, as well as China itself. Together, China obtained approximately 60000 tons of silver, accounting for about half of the world’s recorded silver production. With its high-quality and affordable goods, China was in a fierce competition with goods from Europe and the Americas, to the point where some scholars believed that China was the center of the entire world economic order at that time. China has maintained a long-term export surplus, which has led to the flow of silver from the entire world, China has also become the ultimate treasure trove of silver in the world. Professor Mao Peiqi from Renmin University of China: Foreign scholars say that China has become the ultimate secret cellar of silver, with two meanings. The first meaning is that China is a huge absorber of silver, and whether it is silver produced in Japan or South America, most of it ultimately flows to China. This is a significance; So another meaning is that after absorbing silver, China no longer flows out, nor does it allow it to flow into the capital market for operation. It has become a solidified wealth, in this sense, it roughly means the ultimate secret cellar. Li Guoping: Economic development requires currency, which can be the lubricant of the economy. However, too much currency is not enough, and too little currency is also not enough. The Ming Dynasty used silver as its currency, but China is not a country rich in silver. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty completely entrusted the supply of silver to foreign countries. If one day foreign countries cut off the supply of silver to the Ming Dynasty, the economy will soon be paralyzed. The beautiful time of the ultimate secret cellar lasted for decades, and the amount of silver flowing into China began to decrease. After 1640 AD, this situation suddenly intensified, as the amount of silver imported from the Americas decreased by more than half, and the amount of silver imported from Japan decreased by nearly two-thirds. The Ming Empire, which relied almost entirely on foreign silver to maintain its economic operation, did not know that silver had already triggered a fiscal crisis sweeping across Europe on the other end of the world, and a revolutionary era was about to come. Just as silver was continuously converging towards China, Europeans were amazed to find that the amount of silver in their wallets was decreasing. After arriving in Spain and Portugal, silver did not become capital for their own production and construction, but was transferred to the East through maritime trade. As more and more porcelain was produced in European palaces, the amount of silver available for circulation in the market decreased. For a while, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Britain, and even the Ottoman Empire, wherever they were contaminated with silver from the Americas, all experienced serious financial crises. The financial crisis in Europe led to a continuous decline in Manila’s sailing trade, until it was completely terminated. China lost its most important source of silver, and the shortage of silver became a global problem that troubled Europe and Ming Dynasty China. It also brought both the East and the West to a historic juncture of life and death. Li Guoping: The shortage of precious metals was not only a phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty, but also in Europe. For example, at that time, Britain also used silver as currency. It re minted currency because silver was not enough, so Britain often re minted currency. However, the content of silver in it became lower and lower, which means it was mixed with many fake coins. For this reason, Europeans boldly attempted a series of explorations around currency and finance. When Europeans used severely depreciated silver coins as sufficient currency, the nature of silver coins was completely changed. Like the coins we use today, they no longer measure everything based on the value of metals, but rely on the credibility of the issuer for circulation. This is the modern concept of credit currency. Li Guoping: After becoming the director of the Mint, Newton realized that he had studied the ratio of gold to silver in countries such as China, Japan, and India. He realized that the shortage of silver in the UK was inevitable, so he established this gold standard and used gold as a standard currency. After the gold standard was determined, paper currency could be issued because gold was used as a reserve, which to some extent solved the problem of currency shortage in Europe at that time. The shortage of silver allowed Europeans to establish the embryonic form of a modern monetary and financial system, but at this time, the Ming government did not make any changes. With the decreasing inflow of silver, China’s economic situation continued to deteriorate, and there was a serious shortage of construction in the Jiangnan region. A large number of handicraft workers lost their jobs and became refugees. Prices skyrocketed nationwide, food was scarce, and a severe economic recession quickly spread across the country. The first place to feel the chill was Guangzhou, the foreign trade window at that time. Guangzhou was once the busiest port city in Ming Dynasty China. Today, it has the largest and highest volume international trade fair in China – the Canton Fair. Its origin can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty in the eyes of historians. Luo Wenjing: Europeans and their ships followed the ocean currents to our southeastern coastal areas today, including Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Beibu Gulf, and so on, gradually forming the so-called centralized tribute situation. Because of the monsoon, it comes and goes twice a year, with two relatively concentrated trading times. This type of international trade exchange was known as the morning market in the Ming Dynasty. However, as foreign merchant ships transporting silver became fewer and fewer, officials in Guangzhou wrote helplessly in memorials that the days here had become increasingly difficult. Faced with the financial crisis caused by the shortage of silver, the Ming Empire was like a broken mast sailboat, unable to move forward. The stormy Ming government had no choice but to let the economy slide step by step into the abyss of collapse. In 1643, the call to reissue paper currency was heard incessantly, but it ultimately failed to be implemented. The Ming Empire, this giant ship, missed the last opportunity to turn, and under the dual blow of internal and external troubles, the Ming government was at a loss. Completely sinking. Among the many factors that led to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty, the financial crisis caused by the shortage of silver was undoubtedly the fundamental cause. Li Guoping: It can be said that to a certain extent, the downfall of the Ming Dynasty was caused by a shortage of silver. However, this shortage of silver could have been solved through European means, using silver as a reserve and issuing a certain amount of paper currency. However, for the Chinese people, we did not have it, and the Ming Dynasty did not think of this solution. At the beginning of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, there were attempts to issue paper currency. However, just over a decade later, China returned to the old path of silver capital and once again missed the opportunity for financial reform. At this time, Europe’s magnificent financial reform had achieved some results. In 1609, the world’s first stock exchange was established in Amsterdam. In 1694, the world’s first central bank – the Bank of England – was born. In 1717, Britain was the first to abolish the silver standard and establish the gold standard, which was subsequently adopted by various European countries. A new monetary system, a new financial system, and a new economic order have placed the entire world’s economic activities within the framework of a modern financial system. The fruitful achievements of the financial revolution have laid the foundation for the bourgeois revolution, and a new era has arrived. Li Guoping: In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, in fact, China’s economy was not significantly different from that of European countries. However, in just two to three hundred years, significant changes occurred. China was still in a feudal society, while Western Europe quickly moved towards modern and industrial society through industrial revolution. At the beginning of the 20th century, China began the establishment of a modern financial system, marking the end of the Silver Age and the beginning of a new era. In 1933, the Nationalist government abolished the silver standard and changed the yuan system. In 1935, it completely abandoned the silver standard and issued legal tender. China’s monetary system was once again in line with the world. After completing its 500 year mission as a standard currency, silver returned to its precious metal nature. Today, China’s legal tender, the renminbi, has become a strong currency with a strong value, strong purchasing power, and a reasonable range of floating foreign exchange rates. It plays an increasingly important role in international economic exchanges. When China returns to the world economic stage and becomes the world’s second largest economy, we have established a fair, efficient, and sustainable economic system and a relatively sound and perfect financial system, and are taking great strides from an economic power to an economic powerhouse through deepening reforms. 90 Seconds of History: Death of Emperor Chongzhen. On the first day of the first lunar month in the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644), the city of Beijing was shrouded in dark clouds, with no light in the sun, strong winds rising, and sand and stones flying horizontally. The bad news of the Nanjing Fengyang earthquake also came to the palace. On that day, during the early New Year’s Day period, Emperor Chongzhen, who had arrived at the main hall early, only saw the history of the on duty commander of the Jinyi Guard. The last days of the Ming Dynasty had arrived. In the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644), on March 18th, the sound of artillery in Beijing stopped, and the peasant army had taken control of the inner city. Emperor Chongzhen began to arrange for the aftermath, and he had his three sons change into civilian clothes to escape. Some of the concubines and princesses in the harem died under the Chongzhen sword, some chose to commit suicide, while he himself walked up to the coal mine in the early morning, covered his face with hair, and untied himself by hanging himself. Zhu Youjian, 35 years old, was a slave chosen by history, He was a slave buried for the Ming Dynasty.
Know China From Here