Discussion Of The Late Overseas Trade

Evangelization and pursuing wealth are two primary driving factors for European overseas expansion in the early modern era. The Portuguese arrived in east Asia in the early 1510s and rented Macro during 1554-7, which served as a base of exporting Chinese goods to Japan, Europe/Indian Ocean, and the Philippines; Spaniards started to colonize the Philippines in 1565, and the trade among China, the Philippines, and the Spanish American colonies followed a few years later; The Dutch East Indian Company was founded in 1602, and moved its headquarters to Batavia in 1619. The Company occupied Taiwan in 1624, thus successfully developed China - Taiwan - Japan trades. China partly lifted its ban on foreign trade in 1567, which led to the prosperity of private trade.Japan and the Spanish American colonies had discovered rich silver mines since the middle of the 16^th century. As commercial economy developed, China was desperately in need of silver as a means of transaction. As a consequence, inexpensive but high-quality Chinese goods, especially silk, were exported to Japan, Europe, and the Spanish American colonies to exchange for huge quantities of silver. Almost all the Chinese silk are produced in Jiangnan area.Traditional thinking suggests that foreign trade had great influence on the economy and politics of Ming China. Some foreign scholars argue that the monetary crisis caused the collapse of Ming China (global recession led to the decrease in China export and silver import). The budding of capitalism in China has attracted a great deal of attention in China for the past several decades. It was almost a consensus before 1990 that capitalism sprouted in the Jiangnan silk industry in late Ming.This study first covers the foreign trade of late Ming dynasty, especially in its 17^th century phase. Then, I discuss the subject of China 17th century monetary crisis and the issue of commercialization in Jiangnan silk industry. The main findings are: (1) Ming China did not experience any "17^th century monetary crisis." (2) With respect to the domestic demand, foreign markets were the equally important pulling force for the deep and broad commercialization in Jiangnan silk industry in the first half of the 17^th century. (3) Foreign trade hardly exerted any impact on the "story line" of late imperial China.