Research On The Influx Of Overseas Silver In The Late Ming Dynasty

In the Ming Dynasty,especially in the late Ming Dynasty,after a long period of development,China’s traditional economy has been quite developed.The prosperity of commodity economy stimulated the development of domestic productivity,and the exchange of large quantities of commodities has virtually become a perfect domestic market network.With the change of the world situation,i.e.the great geographical discovery of western countries and the discovery of silver deposits in America,European countries headed by Portugal and the West entered the tribute trade system of East Asia with China as the center,and exchanged raw materials and handicraft manufactured goods produced in China with silver,a special commodity,as a means of payment.The Global trade network formed in the late Ming Dynasty.Silver became the world currency through the foreign trade mainly composed of silk and silver,which initiated the transformation of Chinese ancient society to modern society.The first economic globalization has begun to emerge.In the first chapter,the author reviews the reasons and background of silver currency in Ming Dynasty from the institutional basis and monetary system at the beginning of Ming Dynasty.It also tries to grasp the internal logic of the development and evolution of the monetary system in a long-term perspective,and examines the two driving factors affecting the silver of money: the development of market economy and the state’s economic system.At the same time,based on the historical track of changes in Yuan and Ming Dynasty,this paper explores the changes of state organization and monetary system in Ming Dynasty from the perspective of system inheritance and reform,and finds out the institutional impetus behind the final formation of silver currency.Chapter two tries to discuss the routes of overseas trade in the late Ming Dynasty,investigate the routes and ways of silver inward inflow,and make a rough estimate of the inflow.In order to explore the impact of the inflow of silver abroad on China’s domestic,and the role in the world trade system at that time.Chapter three discusses the influence of the large amount of overseas silver inward flow on the state organization,monetary system,economic thought and other aspects of Ming Dynasty society.Through the two-way investigation of government and market,this paper analyses the impetus of silver as a substitute currency for money in the field of national system and the folk market.It also analyses the economic and ideological debates made by the scholar-bureaucrats in the face of the silver inwardflow from abroad,and discusses whether to strengthen the monetary dominance,government control or let the market develop on its own and conform to the trend of the times.Based on the background of the times,this paper systematically and comprehensively examines the social changes and structural changes caused by the inward flow of silver abroad.