Jin Xu
Empire of Silver - A New Monetary History of China
Like
Listen later
Finished
Notes
Add to collection
Summary
This revelatory account of the ways silver shaped Chinese history shows how an obsession with "white metal" held China back from financial modernization. First used as currency during the Song dynasty in around 900 CE, silver gradually became central to China's economic framework and was officially monetized in the middle of the Ming dynasty during the sixteenth century. However, due to the early adoption of paper money in China, silver was not formed into coins but became a cumbersome "weighing currency," for which ingots had to be constantly examined for weight and purity-an unwieldy practice that lasted for centuries. While China's interest in silver spurred new avenues of trade and helped increase the country's global economic footprint, Jin Xu argues that, in the long run, silver played a key role in the struggles and entanglements that led to the decline of the Chinese empire.
Collections
Listen on
From the same publisher
Show publisher
Avery Flynn
Jonathan Stutzman
Mia Marlowe
Start Publishing Notes
Ben Jeapes
Willa Cather
From the same authors
Reviews
No reviews yet
Start by writing your own review.