Page 35 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

One question remains: what could Europe offer to settle the huge bill for
approximately 185 million pieces of porcelain? The answer at first sight is quite
simple: not much except Spanish silver coins from Mexico and Bolivia. Most of the
attempts to pay Chinese merchants with European products failed. The letter of the
Chinese Emperor Qianlong sent to King George III in 1793 summarizes the Chinese
view on that: “Hitherto, all European nations, including your own country's barbarian
merchants, have carried on their trade with our Celestial Empire at Canton. Such has
been the procedure for many years, although our Celestial Empire possesses all things
in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its own borders. There was
therefore no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for
our own produce. But as the tea, silk and porcelain which the Celestial Empire
produces, are absolute necessities to European nations and to yourselves, we have
permitted, as a signal mark of favour, that foreign hongs [merchant firms] should be
established at Canton, so that your wants might be supplied and your country thus
participate in our beneficence.”

Pic. 17: Global legal tender: Silver from Latin America, minted in Europe and
paid in Asia. Spanish silver dollar with Chinese counter chops, diameter 38 mm,
27.5 g of 93% pure silver 53

Thus, the Spanish silver dollar (see pic. 17) minted with silver from the Spanish
colonies in North and South America was the primary form of payment for Chinese
goods: for silk, gold and porcelain in the 17th century, and for tea, silk and porcelain
in the 18th and 19th century. After the Spanish conquest of the Americas and soon
after the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535, silver was
discovered in Zacatecas. Potosi in nowadays Bolivia was the second place where
silver had already been exploited during the Incan Empire. It is estimated that the
silver production in these two areas together with some other mines in Mexico and
Peru was 17,000 tons in the 16th century; the production rose to 42,000 tons in the
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17th century and 74,000 tons in the 18th century . Much has been written about the
miserable conditions for the Indian and African slaves working as silver miners in
Mexico and Bolivia. The production of mercury in Huancavelica necessary for
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extracting silver from ore might have been the only thing worse . About 25-30% of
the American silver production ended up in Asia – mostly in China to finance the
huge European trade deficit. The silver went either from Veracruz and Portobello
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