Page 110 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

78 C. Wu

According to historical documents and archaeological discoveries, the foreign
silver products imported to southern China via Manila galleons in Ming and Qing
dynasties included two categories, the silver materials and silver coins, initiating the
change of silver handcraft industry and civil currency system in ancient China.
The importing of the American silver materials supplied a continually raw
substance for silver artifacts industry, promoting the progress and upgrading the
traditional silver handcrafts. As more and more silver materials imported to
Yuegang seaport, silver handcrafts industry developed greatly in southeast coast of
China in late Ming and Qing dynasties, specializing for meeting the demand of
European and American markets. Except for some traditional Chinese types and
patterns, most of the exported silver wares shared the same types, shapes and
decorations with those silver wares of European society. With the import of silver
materials from America by galleon navigation, and the export of European and
American ordering silver wares through new maritime silk road, the updated silver
industry of south coastal China of late Ming and Qing dynasties typically reflected
the new style and content of global maritime trade.
With the developing and expansion of galleon and Yuegang-Manila trade, many
Spanish colonial silver coins flowed into Yuegang and circulated in the coastal
regions in south China. The historical documents recorded that the Spanish silver
coins had been !rstly circulated in hinterland of Yuegang and then disseminated to
other places of southern China.
Y. Gu (#"") presented the Commentary on the Tariff System of Chronicle of
Zhangzhou Prefecture (!!!'!"of Ming Dynasty, in his book Tianxia Junguo
)
Libingshu (General Analysis on the Foreign Countries of the World, !!+$"
!%&"):

Luzon is located in East Ocean with no more special products. The foreigners charged the
exchange by the silver coins. The merchants of Zhangzhou also used these foreign silver
coins. (Gu 2012, pp. 3090–3097)
X. Zhang ('") recorded the same fact in the chapter of Luzon in Dongxiyang
Kao (General Survey on the East and West Oceans, !"!#""):
All of Luzon silver coins came from Ferangi ("%' including, Portuguese, Spanish)
(Zhang 1981, pp. 94)

After being imported to Yuegang and circulated in southern Fujian, Spanish
colonial silver coins disseminated and circulated to other provinces of south coastal
China such as Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangsu and Shanghai
(Referring to the !gure of Chap. 1 of this book, Fig. 1.12). The archaeological
discoveries and chronological analysis on these coins dating to 16–18th centuries
revealed the history of the circulation of Spanish colonial silver coins in China (Liu
2015; Liu and Wu 2017).
In the late Qing Dynasty, the imperial court carried out the important currency
reforming by which the traditional bronze coins with thousands of years history was
replaced by the new coin system of “Long Yin” (!!, dragon silver) made of silver