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 Also, foreign merchants wanted native products and in hopes of improving the Ming economy, the ban would need to be repealed (doc 7).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.
Document 4’s POV is of a British merchant accounting his travels to the East Indies. This document is informative because they list the way that silver was traded by the Portuguese their silver. They know this because they were most likely trading in similar and/or the same areas as the Portuguese merchants. This document relates to the question in that it explains how the silver trade between China, Portugal, and Japan brings in mostly luxury goods back to Portugal which affects Portugal economically and socially. Document 6’s POV is of a Spanish priest.
Also in Russia, all of the tax went to Moscow because Moscow was the tax collector because Chinggis Khan did not live directly in Russia, so this helped build Russia’s wealth. In China, since the Mongols lived directly in China, the Mongols could receive all tribute directly from China, which depleted China’s economy. Another way the Mongols affected China and Russia differently was that the tribute they got from Russia they kept but the tribute they got from China they reinvested. In Russia, there was no promotion, but in China the Mongols repaired roads, built and repaired canals and built new cities which helped with trading and economic growth within China. The Mongol rule on Russia and China initially affected both civilizations in a beneficial way, but at times the economies of both civilizations were in devastating conditions.
Document 1 [Ye Chunji] gives a quote about how Chunji has noticed the social gap and how the upper class is becoming increasingly unsatisfied and greedy; whereas document 3 [Wang Xijue]tells more of the economic social gap between the two main classes and explains how the economy is aiding the social gap through the harvest. In document 7 [He Qiaoyuan] another Ming court official talks about how China makes goods that are worth maybe 100 silver coins but sells them for triple that amount. All three of these documents also contribute to the fact that the Ming dynasty played a major role in the global trade of silver. During this time the economic impact of silver in Spain can be seen in Documents 2 and 6. Document 2 [Tomas de Mercado] shows that the ballast stones used in the ships on the outgoing trip were replaced by silver during their return trips; while document 6 [Antonio Vazquez de Espinos] claims that from 1545 to 1624 a total of approximately 326,000,000 silver coins were taken out of the mines in Potosi.
Lastly the Stamp Act made the colonists pay for everything in silver coins. This was fair because the British didn't have any representation over them. The colonists then made the saying "No taxation without representation" This meant that the colonists shouldn't be taxed without any representation. Since the British were in so much debt then they thought the least the colonists could do is help them pay it off. Why should the colonists keep helping the British after all they have done to them?
The Trans-Atlantic trading system mainly took silver from deposits in Potosí, Bolivia, thus, creating a connection to the old and new world. By trading silver with Chinese, who only accepted silver from the Americas, it created a high demand for silver, allowing an increase in global economy. Resulting in the middle passage, the Trans-Atlantic had a gigantic involvement with slaves, who kept up sugar plantations, thus, connecting West Africa to the Caribbean and America to Western Europe. In contrast to the Trans-Atlantic, the Indian Ocean trade connected East to West Africa and Europe to Africa. Goods traded along the system included silk and porcelain from China, spices from SE Asia and peppers, pearls, and cotton from India.
Page 131, Questions for Analysis 1. Why might slavery have been less important in Han China than in the Roman Empire? Why would the treatment of slaves have been less harsh in China than in Rome? In contrast to the Roman Empire, which relied on slavery, the Han dynasty built its economy on the labor of free peasants that were forced to give up their surpluses as taxes. Additionally, in China, slaves were bound only to do the tasks assigned to them in a written contract; these contracts protected them by specifying exactly what could be asked of them and what they could not be punished for.
China was completely contrary from Central Africa on economic, political, and cultural bases during the 1500-1800. From 1000-1500 China led the world in economic development and there after experiencing the trauma of rule by the Yuan Dynasty, China adopted policies that favoured Chinese political and cultural tradition. On the other hand, the kingdoms of central Africa had initiated commercial relations with Portuguese merchants and diplomatic relations with Portuguese monarchy. Portuguese traded for slaves and slave trade undetermined the authority of the King. The Kings were converts of Christianity just to establish closer relations with Portuguese whereas Chinese has great problems with the exclusivity of Christianity but the Jesuits were respectful of Chinese culture and won a few converts.
His success in implementing arms treaties and starting foreign relations with these other countries was significant. It became the era of “Nixonomics (Sons).” Basically “Nixonomics” was opened trade routes for China and the US, proposed a steep tax in imported goods and a freeze on all wage and price increases for the next ninety days (Nixon). His purpose was to try and stabilize the national debt. Also, the value of a U.S. dollar dropped. Nixon then devalued the American dollar; he did this by severing its ties to gold.
The overseas Chinese played a pivotal role in the economic front for china because during period of national disasters, they would raise money. They also facilitated in the building of china’s infrastructure through the contributions to industrial programs such as building roads, bridges, schools, railways and contributed on other investments for the china. Their remittances to china were important because it was one of the main sources of income of households in china. The importance was also seen in the attempts by the Qing dynasty to get the support from the Chinese merchants through awards and recognition in their contribution to the Chinese economy. They helped the economy by buying Chinese products and boycotted foreign products.