Effects of Silver

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The Social and Economic Effects of the Global Flow of Silver Today, silver is precious and expensive and not used as an everyday thing, however, between 1500 and 1750, silver was essential around the world. The global flow of silver produced social and economic effects worldwide. Europe, Asia, South and North America were all greatly affected by this. In China, the Ming Dynasty ordered taxes and trade fees were paid in silver. The heavy flow of the silver greatly affected China's economy. The silver coin soon became scarce and put the Ming economy at risk when people weren’t able to pay for their taxes. In 1593, the Ming emperor realized the need of silver coin in China. Wang Xijue probably felt that the decline in economy would most likely cause problems in the society and they would soon have to deal with rebellions (doc 3). He Qianyuan was also a court official and he insists, also, that Ming economy was declining by appealing to the emperor on repealing the ban on foreign trade. He makes the point that silk in China was worth twice or thrice as much in the Philippines. Also, foreign merchants wanted native products and in hopes of improving the Ming economy, the ban would need to be repealed (doc 7). Ye Chunji was a county official during the Ming Dynasty. He created an order to limit the wedding expenses that were paid in silver due to the deficiency of silver in China. He thinks that the people of China should live sparingly, saving what they can. This way, people would only spend money on necessary items (doc 1). Additionally, Xu Dunqiu's essay in The Changing Times shows how using silver as a currency has its effects on China's economy system. Instead of trading item for item, customers were to pay with silver coins. This also shows how the society of China had changed (doc 5). Many other places were affected by the increased flow of the silver trade,

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