China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

Austin Dean

Description

In the late nineteenth century, as much of the world adopted some variant of the gold standard, China remained the most populous country still using silver. Yet China had no unified national currency; there was not one monetary standard but many. Silver coins circulated alongside chunks of silver and every transaction became an "encounter of wits." China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937 focuses on how officials, policy makers, bankers, merchants, academics, and journalists in China and around the world answered a simple question: how should China change its monetary system? Far from a narrow, technical issue, Chinese monetary reform is a dramatic story full of political revolutions, economic depressions, chance, and contingency. As different governments in China attempted to create a unified monetary standard in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States, England, and Japan tried to shape the direction of Chinese monetary reform for their own benefit. Austin Dean argues convincingly that the Silver Era in world history ended owing to the interaction of imperial competition in East Asia and the state-building projects of different governments in China. When the Nationalist government of China went off the silver standard in 1935, it marked a key moment not just in Chinese history but in world history.

Sujets

• Histoire
• International economics
• Economic history
• History of Asia
• China

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501752421
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

CHINA AND THE END OF GLOBAL SILVER, 1873–1937

AV OLUME IN THE S ERIES Cornell Studies in Money

Edited by Eric Helleiner and Jonathan Kirshner

A list of titles in this series is available at cornellpress.cornell.edu

CHINAAND THEEND OFGLOBAL SILVER, 1873–1937

AUSTiN DEaN

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which aided in the publication of this book.

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Dean, Austin, 1984–author. Title: China and the end of global silver, 1873–1937 / Austin Dean. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2020. |  Series: Cornell studies in money | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2020001154 (print) | LCCN 2020001155 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501752407 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501752421 (pdf) |  ISBN 9781501752414 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Money—China—History—19th century. | Money—China—  History—20th century. | Monetary policy—China—History—19th century. | Monetary policy—China—History—20th century. | Coinage—China— History—19th century. | Coinage—China—History—20th century. | Currency question—China—History—19th century. | Currency question— China—History—20th century. Classification: LCC HG1284 .D45 2020 (print) | LCC HG1284 (ebook) |  DDC 332.4/22309/041—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020001154 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020001155

To my parents

Contents

List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Notes on Terms, Currencies, Weights, and Measures

Introduction: Following the Money

1.  A Primer on the Qing Dynasty Monetary System 2.  Silver Begins Its Fall: The Global Circulations of the U.S. Trade Dollar, 1873–1887 3.  Provincial Silver Coins and the Fragmenting Chinese Monetary System, 1887–1900 4.  The GoldExchange Standard and Imperial Competition in China, 1901–1905 5.  Money and Power on the World’s Last “Silver Frontier”: The Currency Reform and Development Loan, 1910–1924 6.  The Shanghai Mint and Establishing a Silver Standard in China, 1920–1933 7.  TheFabiand the End of the Global Silver Era, 1933–1937

Conclusion: Reflections on the End of Global Silver

Appendix: Price of Bar Silver in London, 1833–1933 Chinese and Japanese Character List Notes Bibliography Index

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1

9

21

43

63

87

117 147

180

189 191 193 227 241

Fîgures and Tables

Figures

1. The unfortunate trade dollar 39 2. The installed coining presses in Chengdu (1898) 55 3. The plant of the Shanghai Mint 136 4. Coin made by the Central Mint in March 1933 144 5. Cartoon fromNorth China Daily News175, August 4, 1936

Tables

1. SilverCopper Ratio 12 2. Coinage Production of the Guangzhou Mint, 1890–1899 50 3. Mexican Silver Exports, Fiscal Years 1881–1882 to 1902–1903 69 4. Average Monthly New York Price of Fine Bar Silver, 1902 72 5. Monthly Price of Silver in First Nine Months of 1917 110 6. Annual Price of One Ounce of Silver in New York, 1921–1931 132 7. Average Monthly Price of One Ounce of Silver in New York, 1933 157 A.1. Price of Bar Silver in London, 1833–1933 189

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