introduction

This book: coin economy to silver economy: crucial watershed
    state exercised great direct control over money than over any other facet of the economy.deemed monetary policy the single most important tool of economic management at the ruler's disposal
    bronze coin: fundamental form of money
    from Song, found it more difficult to maintain bronze coin monetary system
    song-yuan-ming, tried paper certificates to supplement bronze coins
    ming, paper currency defunct in early ming
    transition to uncoined silver economy
The market economy and paradigms of china's modernization
    1500-1800
    "sprouts of capitalism" and "early modern" paradigms
        sharp contrasts in basic assumptions about the nature of Chinese society
        both predicated(断言)on reified（具体化的） conceptions of modernity informed by western european experiences
        early modern paradigm infused into cultural studies. portrait of "restless, fragmented, competitive" market society. implicit assumption that market economy expanded cultural horizons, created new opportunities for individual or corporate autonomy, inspired more creativity etc
        while the study of the market itself not enough to support the premise. e.g. Philip Huang's work
foreign silver and global monetary order
    early modern paradigm: defines early modern china in terms of monetization of economic life: 
        from: produce for household use, exchange by custom and barter, in-kind rents and taxes
        to: produce for market, money as medium of exchange and tax payment
        impetus: from mid 16th importation of silver from japan and spanish domain in new world
        scholarship on silver:
            conclusion: foreign silver fueled china's market economy. E.g. Susan Naquin, Evelyn Rawski. 
            resulted from asymmetry of commercial exchange
            but also made china vulnerable to interruptions in trade flows or reversals in balance of trade
    "Crisis Thesis"
        more complex and darker picture of impact of imported silver
        postulate china, like europe, plunged into mid-17th crisis which culminated in the fall of ming
        Pierre Chaunu. china's prosperity hinged on atlantic economy's cycles; treatment of china as passive and inert participant within in global economy
        others assumed a more active role for china
        still, presume that china was beholden to uninterrupted infusions of silver to maintain prosperity. vicissitudes of bullion flow are now invoked as crucial factor in the crisis
        Challenge to the thesis: Brian Moloughney and Xia Weizhong: decline in silver imports far less severe than Atwell suggests; Jack Goldstone: several logical inconsistences, claims that the fall of ming was due to a fiscal crisis instead of a monetary one. still remained answered: why china attracted such amount of silver, and how silver functioned in chinese economy
    why china attracted such amount of silver?
        Traditional approach: resulted from asymmetry of commercial trade balance
        Instead, "Commodity nature of monetary metals"
            challenged by K.N.Chaudhuri: not merely because of difference in absolute price level.  he used Specie-Flow Theory of Ricardo: bullion flow from [low production cost of precious metals + high price leve] to [high production cost of precious metals+ low price level]
            Ricardo's specie flow mechanism: recognize monetary metals were commodities governed by the same economic laws as other commodities. important insight into nature of money in hard money world
            Dennis Flynn: 
                Europeans brought silver to china because they profited immensely from the trade (instead of reluctantly surrender precious metal just because they wanted chinese goods so much)
                arbitrage profits due to discovery of silver lodes in japan and new world in 16th
                that's in effect exchanges of commodities instead of exchange commodity for money
                portrays movement of silver as primary cause--rather than the result--of east-west trade
            Richard is with Flynn and Chaudhuri.
    the role of silver in China
        price revolution thesis
            Earl Hamilton: secular rise in prices in europe 1500-1650 was resulted from import of bullion from americas
            effect of price revolution:
                enabled capital formation, stimulus for economy-----"early modern" approach in China
                close of price revolution in 1650 inaugurated longterm economic decline---crisis of 17th---crisis thesis in China 
        However, paid scant attention to questions of monetary demand, indigenous monetary media, infrastructure of markets and exchange within China itself. need investigation of the place of silver in China's domestic monetary system
evolution of china's monetary system
    integration of china's monetary system into wider international economy long before rise fo european trading empires
    two exceptional features:
        absence of gold and silver coinage
        early appearance of paper money 
    shift from bronze to silver: already underway long before late ming (influx of foreign silver)
        13th onward: paper and uncoined silver supplement/supplant bronze coins
        ming-qing: parallel bimetallism(division into separate spheres of exchange) generally true. though also involving interchange between the two
        uncoined silver: problem of lack of a single monetary standard
            add complexities
            but not necessarily chaos: kuroda akinoku　黒田明伸: erosion of a unified monetary standard itself was a result of market expansion. as money use broadened--increased diversity in demand for monetary media---manifold currencies in imperial china
        monetary history of china
            still lack studies in this  P9
            中国史研究会@kyoto：
                monetization of Song economy owed more to "fiscal trade"(tax remittances, state monopolies, military procurement) than private commerce. use of money in private commerce derived from its primary function as means of state payments, rather than the other way around, value of coin sustained by the demand for it created by the state.
                they also delineate that state played determining role down the end of ming. Richard not convinced by this. Richard: silver standard originated from private commerce instead of state payments. transition from coin to silver economy started much earlier, in 14th century.
                market trade eclipsed fiscal trade by 17th
                spread of commerce to countryside---coin more suitable for petty exchange---demand for coin due to commercialization and appreciation of coin to silver in early Qing
                challenges the unilinear model of economic growth of "modern linear" thesis
                    "regression" from silver to coin in 18th, not recession but due to economic growth in local level
                    similar phenomenon in india, japan
            Richard: agree with insistence on the need to analyze specific functions of each type of money. differences in demand structure for different forms of money. 
            State lost effective control over monetary system during yuan-ming transition. ming, qing: monetary system refracted into manifold regional currencies. type and quality of teal and coin varied. lack of state's authority+ lack of sophisticated credit institutions precluded formation of strong national monetary system