[Music] it's here in a tiny settlement high in the Andes mountain range of South America that global trade begins and that's because of what is discovered deep inside this mountain the purest silver the world has ever [Music] seen it is 1581 and a buyer appears for this silver 11,000 Mi away the Emperor of China the most powerful man on Earth has decided that his people must now pay their tax in silver this series explores how the world is transformed when the king of Spain's silver meets the tax demands of the emperor of China it's a remarkable story that Witnesses how China came to dominate at the dawn of World Trade over 400 years ago the first time the whole world was linked into one Global Network and the most important element of this is Silva Silva allows China's Emperors to become the most powerful men on Earth it's their demands for silver that are a catalyst for extraordinary wealth across the world the impact on the world economy was amazing Chinese Craftsmen go on to create silverware of unparalleled skill and beauty that are coveted across the world already in the 18th century people were admiring this fantastic work because the why is so thin it's like hair China's silver trade drives the growth of some of the world's greatest cities Boston Hong Kong Seville and Shanghai but it also SWS the seeds of China's near destruction and leads to war with Western Powers the British were determined to get a war they got the war it's the time when China enters what's become nicknamed the century of humiliation the period when China was not in control of its own exter Affairs but China struggles to let go of its obsession with this precious metal only trust silver it is almost like religion in Chinese history silver is our gold in Chinese history this series reveals how silver changes China's history and the history of the world it's like holding a piece of history on your hand [Music] it is 1842 China is a battlefield a war is being waged between China and Britain its cause the illegal trade in British opium for Chinese tea it becomes known as the Opium War but the root cause of the war is conflict over silver China needs nothing from the outside world apart from this precious metal and that's become a major problem for the Nations desperate for Chinese products particularly Britain lots and lots of products being made in China were very popular with people in Britain tea is one obvious example and large amounts of silver was going to have to go back to China to pay for all this so the British rather Keen to find some other commodity perhaps rather less scarce than silver to try and fill that Gap and it turned out that opium if produced in mass quantities would fill that Gap extremely well the illegal trade in opium creates millions of attics in China and Sparks a social crisis China reacts by seizing and destroying over a thousand tons of opium millions and millions of pounds worth in today's money of this precious drug is flushed into the Pearl River estery China's destruction of British opium is made the trigger for war China is vanquished and forced to hand over the port of Hong Kong to British control as well as open five more ports to Western Merchants so China found itself forced by violence to sign treaties which essentially said that foreigners would have sign ific control from that moment onwards in terms of how China's trade and government would [Music] operate hard to believe today but Hong Kong is dismissed at the time by Foreign secretary Lord pariston as a Barren piece of rock however British merchants see this deep water Port as an invaluable base where they can trade freely without Chinese interference this is a Chinese export picture of Hong Kong Island and it's looking across the harbor which was really the chief reason why the British wanted to have Hong Kong the merchants were were optimistic uh I think they felt that once they could establish themselves beyond the reach of the Chinese authorities which is what Hong Kong represented then trade would be unrestricted and that many of the problems which they had suffered would go away [Music] Hong Kong becomes British territory and they begin to stamp their culture on his former piece of mainland China the Hallmarks of British Colonial Life become evident throughout the port in return many British who now live there become fascinated by all things Chinese including Fine Chinese silverware their momentos can still be seen today in London's leading dealers of Chinese export silver everyone wanted to come back from China with the tea set but in Chinese silver you could buy a te set that told a story maybe the story of the Three Kingdoms maybe stories of battles Court scenes but in Chinese silver almost everything that's got an inscription it can be traced back to the original owner because there are records these pieces were given as trophies this goblet for instance which was uh one given as a as a prize in 1850 for a Canton regata um one of the names mentioned is Augustine herd Jr he was the nephew of somebody who was in Partnership actually in a opium business the loss of the Opium War and loss of sovereignty are a major shock to the Chinese but there is also a sense the war has also been driven by a profound Clash of World Views on the one hand you had the view of what you might call the traditional Chinese Court the idea that China was at the center of the universe of ethics and behavior and that foreigners coming to China would have to adapt to the Norms of China itself on the other hand you have another very important Force the rising force of British capitalism and imperialism Britain was becoming this big outward-looking buccaneering nation that was looking for new markets and China with of course its millions and millions of inhabitants and its unopened markets became a place where it wanted to trade but in the wake of the war sales of British goods in China remain poor the British see no fault in their Yorkshire wo and Sheffield Cutlery and lay the blame squarely with Chinese obstruction they want even more ports opened and even fewer restrictions they have five ports but why not seven why not 10 they have ports along the coast and to Shanghai but what about the yanga river how can they get closer to the markets what about Wuhan hanco along the an River what about the north why should they still suffer restrictions the British look for an excuse to bring back their gunships to China and press their claims in 1856 they find one in Canton when Chinese officials bought a British cargo ship and accuse the crew of being Pirates [Music] [Music] this time it's not just the British fighting the Chinese other Western Powers see an opportunity for gain and join the assault on China you see the Gathering Together of different Imperial Powers all seeking a slice of China so if the British come in the French also come in too because they want to get more territory the Russians who are beginning to expand their empire feel they can't be left out and this means that during that time you might say that the second Opium War marks the moving into high gear of the European and Western powers in in terms of uh trying to conquer parts of China when a joint angl French Force captures Beijing in 1860 it commits a shocking Act of cultural [Music] vandalism they first loot then set Al light the emperor's Summer Palace a magnificent complex of buildings full of Priceless artifacts it takes 3 and 1 half th000 British troops to set the entire Palace of Blaze and the massive fire lasts for 3 Days the palace is destroyed by order of the commander of the British military force Lord Elgen the destruction of the Summer Palace was very much an act of punishment it was designed absolutely to humiliate and lower the standing of the Ching court at the time lord Elgen thought carefully about what gesture it was that they wanted to make and in this particular case they thought that something that really showed the Chinese Elite the court that the civilization which they had built up so carefully and so thoughtfully could be destroyed so quickly would be a salitary lesson China is also forced to pay War damages to the British with the very silver they've been determined to import 10 million silver teals in war damages in addition to 21 million silver dollarss from the first Opium War more than half of China's annual revenue the treaties China is forced to sign fully legalized the opium trade as well as opening 11 more ports to foreign trade allowing Merchants access deep into the country's interior the British national archives in London hold copies of the key peace treaties but it also holds a letter from the younger brother of the emperor Prince Gung to Lord Elgen which mournfully acknowledges Chinese defeat this essentially is a letter which you might almost say is the opening up of China to the wider Western World I do wonder how Prince Gong as a noble and high official of the Ching Dynasty must have felt authorizing this letter he was sending it not just to anyone but to Lord Elgen the British official who represented a country which had essentially brought China to a position of submission and along the way had of course destroyed the Summer Palace I think Prince Gong would have sent this letter out with a pretty heavy [Music] heart Prince Gung is just 27 when he's thrust into the negotiations with the British he is Highborn and influential but new to this world of international diplomacy Crystal was is a very interesting guy he was considered the most westernized and enlightened Manchurian Royal in his age the first time the westerners the British saw him on his right hand it was a glass of conach on his left hand side was a sear Prince Gung knows his country is close to collapse foreign troops are in Beijing and China is in a bloody Revolt it has never been so vulnerable the truth was cool China lost and China had to play a catchup game for the whole 20th century Prince G sets about a mission to transform China from victim to Victor it is called the self-strengthening movement although sophisticated in terms of its high culture and its Artisan crafts China in the middle of the 19th centur country must make up vast ground lost to its industrial Rivals Trina to lack behind in steam power talking in terms of the Industrial Revolution we had no idea that a steam engine ran on Steam if you think about it you haven't seen you haven't seen how a Steam Boat Works how do you know it ran on Steam you thought it ran on fire which was exactly what they did Prince grung immediately focuses on modernizing China's defenses that were so easily crushed during the Opium Wars we have the creation of a new armed divisions uh which are armed with Western weapons uh you have the building of Naval dockyards there are moves towards establishing mines as well as bringing steam vessels to replace old Chinese sailing junks so all this is happening actually quite quickly and quite successfully goong and his self-strengthening movement need silver to finance their reforms taxing China's foreign trade will supply him with vital funds that leads him to one extraordinary institution the Imperial Maritime Customs Service was one of the oddest but most interesting organ organizations to exist in China through the mid 19th to Mid 20th century it served the Chinese government bringing in tax revenue from tariffs Goods charged on uh Goods being imported into China but it wasn't run by the Chinese it was run by the British throughout almost all of that time the British introduced a system of uniform custom tariffs for the first time in Chinese history which has immediate benefits for international trade the B custom provided China with the very standard at National service what does that mean so any foreign Merchant can can ship their products to Shanghai or any other custom house and they could speak English to talk to the local officials to local Commissioners so there was a very reliable tariff protocol and a totally modern Harbor management for them to do their business then in 1863 it is Prince goon who makes the maritime Customs Services most significant appointment a man that shares his Ambitions to modernize China his name is Robert Hart a brilliant young Irishman who has been in China working as an interpreter and Diplomat since 1854 har has quickly formed a deep empathy for China that becomes a feature throughout the 77 volumes of his diaries that he keeps Faithfully for 40 years they are now kept in Queens University Belfast I am on the Chinese side and I will help them to the best of my abilities and I don't care who knows what I do or what I say but I think that sympathy he had for China that comes through his diary so very clearly he loved to learn Chinese that's one very important thing and then he forced all his subordinates to learn Chinese as well he was interested in all sorts of different topics of um Chinese medicine Music Arts all sorts of things in heart Prince G has now added a vital foreign partner to his circle of modernizers all of them determined to rest strengthen China Prince D call him our heart means he Prince dong saw him as a real friend for Prince go the maritine Customs under Heart Is providing far more than just Revenue it would create a a translators College which was really meant as the office that would train China's diplomats it would also light China's Coast all the lighthouses all this facilitating of navigation it had a huge role in that it would build about 26 custom houses and my two favorite ones other one in urumi uh which is really in Central Asia uh and it must be the maritime custom house furthest away from any bit of sea anywhere in the world and it must and the other one is the Yon custom house which is in Tibet which again must be the custom house highest in the world and again very far away and for the Ching Dynasty by having these custom houses in urumchi and in Tibet these were markers of Ching territory how clever it would end up collecting about 30 40 50% of taxes available to the Chinese State huge significance under heart stewardship the maritime Customs Revenue increases from 8 million silver teals in 1865 to over 14 million teals 20 years later well over a billion dollars in today's money by 1893 Maritime Customs are providing a fifth of government income uh it became the biggest um the maybe the most important Financial pillar of the Chinese government because it was very very it has very very little corruption much more efficient and effective foreign trade increases through the recently opened treaty ports and exports surge silver flows into China once more but China with its dependence on Silver is falling out of sync with the global economy after massive discoveries in America and in Australia most of the world's leading Nations have left silver behind and are now basing their economies on gold Chinese adherence to Silver standard uh for a long time was considered something of a backward uh phenomenon any country that was respectable should join the Gold Standard China was very backward was so disorganized it was not able to join the goost standard but the very idea of Reform itself is challenged within the Imperial Court by a deeply conservative ruthless and powerful woman a woman who effectively runs China in the last Decades of the 19th century through her influence over the boy Emperor Guang shur the daa empress tushi is one of the of the most intriguing characters in modern Chinese history she was literally a power behind the throne she believed in the restoration of a very strong Imperial Rule and she persecuted and even had executed some of the most important reformers in late 19th century China who argued that actually China really needed to rethink rework its system of government to cope with the modern world she also had had a lot of money spent on the U redecoration of the Imperial Palace which some people argued could have been spent in a different way instead for the fortification of the Chinese armed and Naval forces Empress cersi's dominance at court and her resistance to Prince go is undermining China's fledgling reforms just across the East China Sea another Empire is under threat from the west but Japan's response could not be more different to China's rather than trying to make do and mend Japan actually overthrew its ruling class and instead undertook one of the fastest and most complete modernizations ever in history the Japanese modernized their law their army their constitution their education system all within about 20 years or so and as a result became a powerful imperialist power in its own right and quickly would become every bit as rapacious as greedy as the Western powers in terms of seeking rights and territory in China [Music] itself War breaks out in 1895 China's much heralded new Navy is outgunned and outsmarted by the Japanese all of China is appalled to lose so easily to their once weak and subordinate neighbor China loses even more territory as it is forced to seed control over Korea and Taiwan to Japan but it must also pay War damages of 200 million teals of silver almost four times the annual revenue of Japan itself this is an enormous boost to Japan who suddenly have the financial reserves to join the leading nations of the world and base their economy on gold it is utter humiliation for China this uh amount of money that the Chinese government has to pay to foreign powers uh is a substantial part of its budget enormous indemnities of the sort that one can never pay off uh from the Chinese uh from the Chinese government in order to pay its mounting War debts China must borrow massive amounts of money but its financial institutions are not able to meet the huge sums required the Chinese did not evolve the kind of formal uh banking Arrangements that you had in Europe Chinese Emperors did not think of owing debts if they if they demanded it you paid it they they they don't owe you a debt so there's no such thing as a public debt in China and if you didn't have public debts you didn't have powerful Banks so Chinese banking was always [Music] weak in raising enough funds to pay for its War debts China helps fuel the rise to power of foreign Banks I would definitely say after 1895 the the foreign Banks power came into China the easiest reason was that because the Chinese government had to borrow money for its emities to Japan so uh so the Chinese government T to HSBC and dur spent to borrow enough money to to pay pay back to Japan then the HSBC became very important because every year the Chinese government had to pay back to the HSBC increasing foreign influence over China is fueling more than just anger across China it fuels Rebellion just 2 years after the war with Japan China erupts in Revolt an anti-western movement that began in northern China is spreading like wildfire the rebels call themselves The Boxers they call themselves boxers because of the martial arts they they train with uh they believe themselves to be uh invulnerable to foreign bullets who believe that the world has been turned upside down by the eruption into China of foreign ideas and foreign things and foreign buildings the box of slogan is revive the Ching destroy the foreign and it's a sentiment that finds sympathy in the Imperial Court in June 1900 the daer empress takes a decision that will result in the near destruction of the Chinese Empire this was a sort of anti-foreign feeling that in some ways spread through all levels of society Sushi reflected that in many ways for much of her life she was someone who was very skeptical indeed hostile about the foreign presence in China seizing the chance to drive all westerners from China in 1900 cersi comes out in support of the boxers and declares war on all foreign powers but in less than 2 months a military Alliance that includes British French German American and Japanese forces reaches occupied Beijing and crushes the boxer Rebellion piled on top of its previous war damages with Japan China is immediately ordered to pay a colossal and punitive 450 million silver teals one teal for each of China's 450 million people equivalent to $300 billion today the Ching treasuries contain nothing like this amount China now has to face the gravest threat in its 2,000 year history many Chinese officials and observers think that in fact China faces National Extinction they talk about this the threat of Extinction they know that the British had conquered India they fear the same will happen in China during the tense negotiations the Chinese are keenly aware of what is at stake for their country China could not risk the her International reputation again because China had to rebuke her International image as a trustworthy friend to the foreign States behind the scenes the Chinese turned to one man a Westerner ironically who has the insight into Foreign Affairs and finance that can help rescue China from being carved up first of all Robert Hart tried to convince the foreign powers that never ever ever tried to separate China into several pieces because China should be ref functional in order to pay up her debt no one wanted to to kill that opportunity to get more money from China Robert Hart is able to bring all these people together and he very cleverly said yes okay we're going to pay this huge Indemnity 450 million ounces of silver but we do it it is structured as a single bond between the Ching Dynasty and all the eight Nations that had invaded China so the the interests of those eight nations are uh are are are focused on that one Bond and on the Ching Dynasty paying China has avoided partition but almost all the revenues of the Chinese state are placed under foreign control to pay the war reparations the Box Indemnity is a devastating burden China has no choice but to borrow again from foreign Banks debt piles on debt the Chinese government hands responsibility for this huge operation to the organization run by Robert Hart the Chinese government wanted to be as simple as possible so they decided to delegate that to the maritime custom service and it was rather easier because the custom service impose the Tariff tax and store the money to HSBC China has been reduced from an economic superpower to subordinate in less than a century I think by the 1850s 1860s China's GDP was still about 30% uh of world GDP and by the end of the century it's 6% so it's a Rel it is a yeah it's it's an absolute decline really it's an absolute decline also in living standards from Once sitting at the peak of World Trade China is now struggling to function as a state and its institutions are chronically weak desperate Las gasp attempts to modernize fail in the face of rising discontent China's people begin to lose faith in their rulers and in 1911 the emperor is overthrown by revolutionaries led by sunat senen the silver that helped make China the richest nation in the world is also responsible for bringing two dynasties to its knees the fall of the Ching Dynasty and the fall of the Ming Dynasty 250 years before it can both be traced back to the Kingdom's complex relationship with this white [Music] metal Silva continues to be a problem in the turmoil that follows the revolution Warlords take control of individual provinces and Civil War breaks out taxation paid in silver the lifeblood of China's economy cannot be collected China can barely function each warlord controls one or several provinces and you can imagine when Warlords control provinces they issue their own silver as a way to memorize the the Warlords right like in the what George Washington in the US Quarter right so same way so there are different kinds of silver coins so it was very confusing because people have to recognize whether this super coins were were were were real or not were authentic or not China's silver currency is becoming even more chaotic but there is one city on the Chinese Coast that is a beacon of economic stability Shanghai stored sea port of the fabled Orient commercial Metropolis of China and one of the world's greatest sea ports say Shanghai was a trading City it existed for many hundreds of years but until the British presence it didn't become the ento the big Cosmopolitan Melting Pot of trade and commerce that it is today we've got a Boulevard a thoroughfare it's there today it's called nanging Road and along it there were shops businesses there were a whole variety of things that said that this city is not Washington it's New York in other words it's a place where people come to do business and to trade in the 1920s Shanghai becomes China's wealthiest port and this international trade is good for the maritime custom service which during this time of conflict accounts for nearly 90% of government revenue and all this government revenue in silver is deposited in a british-owned foreign Bank some of whose Founders have grown Rich from the opium trade the Hong Kong and Shanghai banking corporation HSBC every penny of the custom Revenue was stored in the HS speci after 1911 so Atri speci had a extremely big vast cash flow that was basically the reason why it could become the biggest bank in the Far East in the 20th [Music] century this allows the bank to build lavish new headquarters on the Bund shanghai's famous Waterfront the elegance and Grandeur of its interior is described as unsurpassed by any Financial or commercial house in Asia and the Far East from Suz to the Bearing Sea China's demand for good from abroad grows in leaps and bonds as Imports exceed $300 million a year there is movement everywhere no standing still in the 1920s Shanghai is one of the biggest cities in the world here is the ocidental quality of Shanghai with its skyscrapers trolley cars and semi- forign atmosphere Shanghai is known as the Paris of the East and the Chinese embrace the spirit of the age the silver Smiths of Shanghai are producing silver cocktail shakers in bulk all the elite Chinese went to these fabulous cabar and nightclubs and and ballrooms and this neighborhood was really the epicenter of That Jazz Age nightlife in the city in the 1920s and 30s so you can just imagine that at night this neighborhood was just this fantastic Wonderland of neon light Ablaze and jazz music blaring from these ballrooms and nightclubs there is one significant reason why Shanghai can Thrive beyond the chaos of post-revolution China it is a Chinese city that is under foreign control it is also deeply divided made up of separate zones for foreigners called the international settlement and the French concession all of the 35,000 Europeans who lead a privileged life in prosperous Shanghai are exempt from the laws of China Western residents will only observe Western Law which which which means they want in what's you know still Chinese territory practice Western legal uh system and legal rules and those things all in the end have enormous consequence uh on the on the you know China as a whole one of those enormous consequences is that business in Shanghai foreign and Chinese is conducted according to Western laws and that provides Shanghai with the stability to become the biggest holder of silver in [Music] China shahai was was unique it was certainly becoming it was expanding much more quickly than Hong Kong and the population several times larger and shahai was also become to a certain degree after the 20th century The Haven of Chinese business and industry and banking but even within booming Shanghai China's currency remains a problem nothing exemplifies this more than its adherence to Antiquated silver ingots where you have a piece of silver ingots in a w you do when you carry it into the market you have to literally weigh them measure them test them whether they are genuine Sil or not they are not currencies by count you cannot condom you have to measure them the system of weighing and assessing the quality of silver and measuring it in teals not only stretches back to Medieval Times but it's also far from uniform across China there are as many as 170 different measures of teal but change in China in the 1930s does not come easily just as Prince G had tried before him one man emerges who has the vision and determination to try and reform his country's archaic institutions in particular China's centuries old silver currency his name is TV [Music] soon TVs stands at the peak of Shanghai Society he is from the most famous family in Republican China his sisters are all Society Beauties and his brother-in-law is China's leader [Music] as finance minister to the new Republic in April 1933 he calls a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai in which he sets out to radically alter China's currency Sun's daring proposal is to abolish the silver teal the unit of Chinese currency which has been used for centuries and replace it with one standard minted silver coin but he has a formidable obstacle to overcome set against tvs's reforming Zeal are the native Bankers who meet here every day at their power base the inner Garden by the city God temple in the heart of Old Shanghai the native Banks profit directly from China's complex and inefficient currency the despite the opposition of the Native Banks TV has the full support of China's modern and foreign Banks on the 5th of April 1933 the silver teal is abolished and becomes an instant and now illegal relic of the past the new silver dollar is issued featuring sunat sen China's first president and on the reverse is a Sailing Boat a symbol of centuries of trade and prosperity [Music] the reforms of TVs are celebrated across the world he makes the cover of Fortune and time magazines he is pronounced a financial genius comparable to Alexander Hamilton The Man Behind the creation of America's First National Bank he's even invited to address the American Nation in a radio broadcast on NBC during the broadcast he stresses the special relationship between America and China some of your most distinguished families were engaged in the China trade millions of dollars change hands without one word being put down in writing it was a superb example of trust and mutual respect TVs has achieved one of the great reforms in China's history at long last the country has a simple Unified silver [Music] currency the tremendous crowds which you see gathered outside the stock exchange are due to the greatest crash in the history of the New York Stock Exchange and market prices but almost immediately a global financial crisis will finally bring an end to China's entanglement with silver the Great Depression but but surprisingly during this profound shock to global capitalism China's use of silver initially gives the country an unexpected benefit the world was in recession in the early 1930s because of the stock market crash of 1929 right and also Germany was in trouble in trouble right because of this China was effectively under Nation government was using one currency which is silver which was losing value against most other other currencies so Chinese money was cheap was cheap other people's money was expensive so Chinese Goods appeared to be cheap because Chinese goods were denominated in in silver partially right so Chinese Goods became cheap therefore China was able to export to foreign countries with relative ease but this Advantage does not last long China is about to suffer at the hands of the very country that just 2 years previously had been applauding the financial reforms of TVs an American Senator key Pitman demands action the silver producing states including his own state of Nevada are suffering because the global price of silver is so low the president bows to pressure and enacts the Silver Purchase Act which results in America going on a silver buying spree [Music] the Silver Purchase Act in the US which was largely driven by small mining you know States a few mining states in the US ended up driving up the global uh prices for silver with the price of silver Rising because of American demand there is now an Unstoppable flow of silver out of China it's a catastrophe Banks go under businesses are starved of loans industry and agriculture suffer a collapse in prices the financial crisis becomes an economic crisis and then a social crisis so the Chinese government is forced to uh entertain the idea of a major currency reform uh and to remove this dependence on Silver unable to control its currency China is forced now finally after centuries to abandon silver us was forcing China say you don't use silver the US was telling China get off silver and in 1935 they do exactly that they throw in the towel and take China off the Silver standard silver comes to an end the silver story in China really comes to an end in very abrupt fashion 1935 marks the end of six centuries of silver currency in China and before long silver silver artifacts will disappear as well when the Communists take control of China in 1949 silver is a distant memory that is until a chance Discovery 20 years later in this mansion on America's East [Music] Coast it was once the home of Robert Bennett Forbes a prominent 19th century China Trader who built his fine house with the profits he made from buying and selling tea and opium his great-grandson AJ Crosby fbes develops a keen interest in the family silver when he inherits the house Crosby was interested in so many different things but certainly one of his greatest passions was the subject of Chinese export silver this was a subject that really had been primarily forgotten um in the 20th century Crosby really um began looking at this subject critically decades before almost anyone else did in 1975 Crosby Forbes publishes Chinese export silver it is the first scholarly work on the subject the study of one silver artifact illustrates how neglected this unique Chinese craft has become this is an extraordinary teapot in England but by the 19th century it had been completely forgotten that this was made in China it was a celebrated piece of English silver published widely in in books on Old English silver and indeed even in the 19th century this um served as a model for silver Smiths who were becoming Masters then Crosby really um was the one who first reidentified this as being Chinese rather than English today more than 40 years after Crosby fb's work shed light on an Exquisite but forgotten Chinese craft export silver is now returning to modern China it's a window into the past and is a force for creativity in China today Alan Chan is an artist and one of Hong Kong's leading designers I collected because I find a certain kind of beauty that is beyond comparison because I think uh this export silver uh carry a a a bit of cultural history this has been used as a ey glass case so the entire compan inspire me as a graphic designer I think the way the bamboo leaves uh go together with the craphy this could be a cover design for a bowl this could be inspiration for manual cover this is wonderful it's amazing because this is a sort of pepper set you know you put a condiment here you can put your uh two pcks here it's a beautiful Conversation Piece to put on top while you're having dinner you know they used this as a business card holder over 100 years ago so that mean they already using business card over 100 years ago in China I find it always uh hard to believe how on Earth they can come up with such a intricate design and also clanship [Music] you see different kind of costume how people would dress over hundreds ago this is like a 3D movie showing you the story of a typical C how how people live and how their everyday lifestyle could be you know Chinese miror don't usually come in with a handle like this um so and to incorporate a dragon into such a um European shape you look at it the tail St from me and move around the circle and they end up like here I think this is just beautiful I look this me I was say wow who was the beauty in front of the mirror other than me 100 years ago in past centuries Sila demonstrated China's economic might and it still does today in the country's highest diplomatic courts in 2014 when China play play host to the leaders of the Asian and Pacific World it gives each one an Exquisite silver gift that spoke not only to craftsmanship but also an acknowledgement of China's historic relationship with [Music] Silvera today China is once more the biggest importer of silver in the world the industries producing the goods that help power our globalized world consumer electronics mobile phones electric cars all need silver and they are produced here in China on an enormous scale these workers are preparing to start the early shift at one of the biggest factories in China they are part of a 1200 strong Workforce who help harness the power of the sun with silver 70 million of these solar batteries are produced each month and inside every 6x6 in panel there is a film less than the width of a human hair of [Music] silver for [Music] the largest solar energy farms in in the world are in China they consume the world's silver to help power the country's Relentless Industries whose output seems to be unstoppable but in constant need of new markets the Chinese economy now is already the largest in terms of its production of real Goods Goods you can touch like like clothing like cameras like TV sets right it is already 27% bigger than the US economy in terms of producing real Goods in this regard the Chinese economy is no different from the British economy in early days in the early uh 19 century right so the Chinese businesses would want to expand the skylines of modern China testify to its economic dominance and its seemingly endless potential but China allows the world to once again see what this country has always been for most of human history China has represented the world's foremost economic power really if you look at it China had just napped for a little bit in the 19th century there's Napoleon's uh very famous phrase you know when China you know awakens the world will tremble China heralded globalization by throwing in its thought with silver in 1581 it triggered a new Epoch in world history with its need for this precious metal today money has many forms and most transactions are electronic but in the Chinese language the character for money says silver and the characters for Bank says silver shop pointed reminders of how Central silver was for centuries in shaping China's economy and how it shaped the rest of the world for [Music] w [Music]