Page 109 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

4 A Historical Review on the Social-Cultural Impact … 77

The chapter of Taxation of Haicheng Xianzhi (Chronicle of Haicheng County,
!"""!" of late Ming Dynasty listed different kinds of exotic products
)
imported to Yuegang then:
The imported exotic artifacts to Fujian in Ming Dynasty include “Suofu (#&, clothes
made of feather), Jiaozhi (Vietnam) silk, European cloth, Ceiba (#", kapok) cotton,
European silver coins, rhinoceros horns, ivory, agate, amber, tortoise shells, tortoise tubes
King!sher feather, crane heads, glasses, phoebe nees fragrance, eaglewood fragrance,
Suxiang (#!) fragrance, sandalwood, styrax benzoin, musk, frankincense, sweet scent
wood, clove, Borneol wood, rose water, storax oil, lead, antelope horns, white horns, black
horns, antlers, otter furs, horse tails, peacock tails, yellow waxes, white waxes, rose wood,
black phoebe nees wood, brazilwood, brown bamboo, rattans, gamboge, ferula sinkian-
gensis, commiphora myrrha Engl, Daemonorops draco, aloe, bronze drums, striking clocks,
Japanese screens, Japanese knives, glass mirrors, color decoration mats, bamboo mats,
glasses, engineering drills, egg shape cups, cubilose, sago, pepper, acacia catechu, crab
meat, jackfruit, coconut.” (Liang and Cai 1992, pp. 369)

A group of these exotic artifacts which had been transferred to eastern Asia by
Manila galleons originated from America and European, such as European cloth,
European silver coins, clocks, mirrors, glasses and engineering drills. These
imported artifacts from western world deeply promoted the renewal and progress of
Chinese traditional handcraft industry and commercial system.

4.2.1 Silver Materials and Silver Coin of New Spain

Before the introduction of modern silver mining technique in the late 19th century,
the reservation and consumption of silver materials in ancient China were very
limited and expensive. After the European discovery of America, the silver mines in
Peru and other places of America were extensively exploited in 16–18th centuries,
providing more than half of the consumption of silver materials in the world.
During this time, the regional maritime trade system of the eastern Asia changed
gradually to be the global and new maritime silk road. China exported a great
amount of silk, ceramic, tea to European and America and seriously increased trade
surplus, resulting a large amount of silver currency import, which mostly were
shipped from America by Manila galleons (Quan 1969, 1979, 1989; Zhang 1993).
The historical narrations also recorded the transportation of American silver to
Fujian and Guangdong via Luzon of the Philippines in Ming and Qing dynasties.
The Local Products of Guangdong Xinyu (A New Introduction to Guangdong,
!$"$"", Vol. 15th) of early Qing Dynasty recorded:
Most of foreign silver coins circulated in Fujian and Guangdong came from foreign
shipping. Luzon, located to the southern ocean of Fujian, was the most important supply of
foreign silver coins. The silver coins of Luzon had the same function of currencies as
Chinese bronze coins in southeast coast of China, so the European and American silver
transferred in the maritime trade to eastern Asia. The foreign silver were mostly imported
by Hokkiens and Cantonese merchants from Luzon to Guangzhou. (Qu 1985, pp. 406)