Foreign Silver Dollars Circulating in Guangdong in Early and Middle Qing Dynasty:With Comments on Qing Officials'Monetary Concepts and Their Limitations
After the lifting of maritime ban during Kangxi reign in the Qing Dynasty,silver dollars from such countries as Spain and the Netherlands began to circulate as currency in Guangdong.At first,foreign silver coins were circulated in the area from Guangzhou to Macau,and yet,by the beginning time of"one port trade",they already became very popular in the main ports and the eastern regions of Guangdong.During Qianlong and Jiaqing periods,the Spanish silver dollar coins turned to be a major medium of exchange and measure of value in Guangdong market,widely used in such fields of social life as Sino-foreign trade,real estate transactions,civil con-struction,and financial activities,thus greatly squeezing sycee silver out of circulation.During the reign of Jiaqing and Daoguang,officials regarded the prevalence of the silver dollar as one of the reasons for the outflow of sycee silver,and their proposed countermeasures were of two kinds:respecting people's convenience and prohibiting silver dollars.These proposals were quite radical,each with its own drawbacks,reflecting officials'inability to regulate the circula-tion of silver dollars.At the same time,officials generally believed that because silver dollars were from overseas,they did no harm to the people's wealth when flowing out of China.So,they did nothing to stop the outflow of silver dollars from this country.During Daoguang period,a plenty of silver dollars flowed out of Guangzhou without much hindrance,exacerbating silver shortages in China,and this crisis made clear the limitations of the Qing Dynasty's monetary concepts.
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