The Global Silver Trade and Its Impact on China

Introduction

Location: Andes mountain range, South America.
Time: 1581, discovery of pure silver which sparked global trade.
Key Figure: Emperor of China demands taxes in silver, creating massive demand making silver more valuable than gold.
Objective: Explore how Spanish silver met Chinese tax demands, transforming world trade over 400 years ago.

16th-18th Century: China as the greatest economic and cultural empire, with luxury goods like porcelain and silks highly coveted worldwide.
Qianlong Emperor: Celebrated Chinese emperor, who displayed massive wealth and expanded China.
Dependency on Silver: China had to import silver to pay taxes as demanded by the Emperor.

East India Company: Held the exclusive right to import tea from China to Britain. Faced challenges in trading goods that interested the Chinese market.
Lord George McCartney's Mission (1792): Tried to secure better trade terms with China and obtain a trading base; Failed to meet demands and wasn't recognized by the Chinese Emperor as an equal.
Qianlong’s Response: Rejected British requests, maintained a strict control over foreign trade.

Haukua: Wealthiest Chinese merchant, strong ties with the American traders. Lent money and invested in American railroads and factories, indirectly influencing the American Industrial Revolution.
American Trade: Struggled like the British to find goods to trade other than silver; resorted to trading fur and ginseng initially.

Opium as a Trade Item: British and later American merchants started smuggling opium into China, significantly impacting the Chinese economy and society.
British and American Participation: Jardine and Matheson, major figures in the opium trade, built clipper ships and moored off the Chinese coast to facilitate opium smuggling.
Commissioner Lin Zexu: Appointed to crack down on the opium trade; confiscated and destroyed large amounts of opium, leading to tensions with Britain.

First Opium War (1839-1842): Britain launched military action after China's crackdown on opium; the Treaty of Nanking forced China to cede Hong Kong and open additional ports to trade.
Treaty of Nanking: Marked the beginning of China's "century of humiliation"; ceded Hong Kong to Britain, opened new trade ports, and led to China's relative decline as a global economic power.

Due to the wars, China suffered great losses, both in terms of territory and economic control.