China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

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.

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China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

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.

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China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

by Austin Dean
China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937
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China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

China and the End of Global Silver, 1873-1937

by Austin Dean

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781501752414
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication date: 11/15/2020
Series: Cornell Studies in Money
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 264
File size: 33 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Austin Dean is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Follow him on X @TheLicentiate.

Table of Contents

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. The Fabi and the End of the Global Silver Era, 1933–1937
Conclusion: Reflections on the End of Global Silver

What People are Saying About This

Mark Metzler

China and the End of Global Silver, 1873–1937 is solidly researched, clearly written, and addresses a major topic in world history. The combination of American silver and Chinese demand helped create the first global economy—this is the first systematic study of how that story ended.

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