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China grew in wealth from tax reform and international trade with silver that boosted its economy, but as the 19th century approached, the British Empire rose to be a challenger. The sun is setting on the Chinese Empire as the balance of power shifts between China and Great Britain. But China is once again the world's biggest importer of silver, thanks to new high-tech industries.
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00:13It's here, in a tiny settlement high in the Andes mountain range of South America, that global trade begins.
00:21And that's because of what is discovered deep inside this mountain.
00:32The purest silver the world has ever seen.
00:38It is 1581, and a buyer appears for this silver.
00:4411,000 miles away, the emperor of China, the most powerful man on earth, has decided that his people must
00:51now pay their tax in silver.
00:54This series explores how the world is transformed when the king of Spain's silver meets the tax demands of the
01:02emperor of China.
01:03It's a remarkable story that witnesses how China came to dominate at the dawn of world trade over 400 years
01:12ago.
01:12The first time the whole world was linked into one global network, and the most important element of this is
01:20silver.
01:21Silver allows China's emperors to become the most powerful men on earth.
01:27It's their demands for silver that are a catalyst for extraordinary wealth across the world.
01:34The impact on the world economy was amazing.
01:40Chinese craftsmen go on to create silverware of unparalleled skill and beauty that are coveted across the world.
01:48Already in the 18th century, people were admiring this fantastic work because the wire is so thin, it's like hair.
01:58China's silver trade drives the growth of some of the world's greatest cities, Boston, Hong Kong, Seville and Shanghai.
02:07But it also sows the seeds of China's near destruction and leads to war with Western powers.
02:13The British were determined to get a war. They got the war.
02:21It's the time when China enters what's become nicknamed the century of humiliation.
02:27The period when China was not in control of its own external affairs.
02:32But China struggles to let go of its obsession with this precious metal.
02:37Only trust silver. It is almost like religion in Chinese history.
02:42Silver is our gold in Chinese history.
02:46This series reveals how silver changes China's history and the history of the world.
02:54It's like holding a piece of history on your head.
03:14It is 1842. China is a battlefield.
03:18A war is being waged between China and Britain.
03:22Its cause? The illegal trade in British opium for Chinese tea.
03:26It becomes known as the Opium War.
03:30But the root cause of the war is conflict over silver.
03:33China needs nothing from the outside world apart from this precious metal.
03:38And that's become a major problem for the nations desperate for Chinese products, particularly Britain.
03:44Lots and lots of products being made in China were very popular with people in Britain.
03:49Tea is one obvious example.
03:50And large amounts of silver was going to have to go back to China to pay for all this.
03:56So the British were rather keen to find some other commodity, perhaps rather less scarce than silver, to try and
04:02fill that gap.
04:03And it turned out that opium, if produced in mass quantities, would fill that gap extremely well.
04:11The illegal trade in opium creates millions of attics in China.
04:18And sparks a social crisis.
04:23China reacts by seizing and destroying over a thousand tons of opium.
04:29Millions and millions of pounds worth in today's money of this precious drug is flushed into the Pearl River estuary.
04:38China's destruction of British opium is made the trigger for war.
04:43China is vanquished and forced to hand over the port of Hong Kong to British control, as well as open
04:50five more ports to Western merchants.
04:52So China found itself forced by violence to sign treaties which essentially said that foreigners would have significant control from
05:01that moment onwards in terms of how China's trade and government would operate.
05:10Hard to believe today, but Hong Kong is dismissed at the time by Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston as a barren
05:17piece of rock.
05:18However, British merchants see this deep water port as an invaluable base where they can trade freely without Chinese interference.
05:27This is a Chinese export picture of Hong Kong Island, and it's looking across the harbour, which was really the
05:34chief reason why the British wanted to have Hong Kong.
05:39The merchants were optimistic. I think they felt that once they could establish themselves beyond the reach of the Chinese
05:47authorities, which is what Hong Kong represented, then trade would be unrestricted and that many of the problems which they'd
05:56suffered would go away.
06:03Hong Kong becomes British territory, and they begin to stamp their culture on this former piece of mainland China.
06:10The hallmarks of British colonial life become evident throughout the port.
06:15In return, many British who now live there become fascinated by all things Chinese, including fine Chinese silverware.
06:24Their mementos can still be seen today in London's leading dealers of Chinese export silver.
06:32Everyone wanted to come back from China with the tea set.
06:35But in Chinese silver, you could buy a tea set that told a story.
06:41Maybe a story of the Three Kingdoms.
06:43Maybe stories of battles, court scenes.
06:47But in Chinese silver, almost everything that's got an inscription, it can be traced back to the original owner.
06:53Because there are records that these pieces were given as trophies.
06:58This goblet, for instance, which was one given as a prize in 1850 for a Canton regatta.
07:07One of the names mentioned is Augustin Heard Jr.
07:12He was the nephew of somebody who was in partnership actually in an opium business.
07:19The loss of the opium wall and loss of sovereignty are a major shock to the Chinese.
07:26But there is also a sense that the war has also been driven by a profound clash of world views.
07:33On the one hand, you had the view of what you might call the traditional Chinese court.
07:38The idea that China was at the centre of the universe of ethics and behaviour,
07:43and that foreigners coming to China would have to adapt to the norms of China itself.
07:48On the other hand, you have another very important force.
07:52The rising force of British capitalism and imperialism.
07:56Britain was becoming this big, outward-looking, buccaneering nation that was looking for new markets.
08:02And China, with, of course, its millions and millions of inhabitants and its unopened markets,
08:07became a place where it wanted to trade.
08:12But in the wake of the war, sales of British goods in China remain poor.
08:17The British see no fault in their Yorkshire woollens and Sheffield cutlery,
08:21and lay the blame squarely with Chinese obstruction.
08:26They want even more ports opened and even fewer restrictions.
08:32They have five ports, but why not seven? Why not ten?
08:37They have ports along the coast and to Shanghai, but what about the Yangtze River?
08:41How can they get closer to the markets?
08:44What about Wuhan, Hankou, along the Yangtze River?
08:47What about the north?
08:48Why should they still suffer restriction?
08:52The British look for an excuse to bring back their gunships to China and press their claims.
08:59In 1856, they find one in Canton when Chinese officials bought a British cargo ship
09:05and accused the crew of being pirates.
09:10They have attached to China and stopped own ships.
09:12In 20、、、 the British are responsible for the Solicum version of the plane.
09:25They have sent the Sea of the Security Request.
09:26They have sent the Sea of the Alicum.
09:28They have sent the Sea to the Consulary.
09:29They were arrested by one in Cantonese.
09:29They have sent the Sea of the Union,
09:29and left the Sea of the Air and then left the Republic.
09:32They have sent the Sea of the Sea of the irrational ships.
09:32At the Sea of the East, they move to the lift.
09:52This time, it's not just the British fighting the Chinese.
09:56Other Western powers see an opportunity for gain and join the assault on China.
10:03You see the gathering together of different imperial powers, all seeking a slice of China.
10:11So if the British come in, the French also come in too, because they want to get more territory.
10:15The Russians, who are beginning to expand their empire, feel they can't be left out.
10:19And this means that during that time, you might say that the Second Opium War marks the moving into high
10:26gear of the European and Western powers
10:29in terms of trying to conquer parts of China.
10:37When a joint Anglo-French force captures Beijing in 1860, it commits a shocking act of cultural vandalism.
10:47They first loot, then set alight the Emperor's Summer Palace,
10:51a magnificent complex of buildings full of priceless artefacts.
10:57It takes three and a half thousand British troops to set the entire palace ablaze,
11:03and the massive fire lasts for three days.
11:10The palace is destroyed by order of the commander of the British military force, Lord Elgin.
11:18The destruction of the Summer Palace was very much an act of punishment.
11:22It was designed absolutely to humiliate and lower the standing of the Qing court at the time.
11:28Lord Elgin thought quite carefully about what gesture it was that they wanted to make,
11:33and in this particular case, they thought that something that really showed the Chinese elite,
11:37the court, that the civilisation which they had built up so carefully and so thoughtfully
11:43could be destroyed so quickly would be a salutary lesson.
11:47China is also forced to pay war damages to the British,
11:50with the very silver they've been determined to import.
11:54Ten million silver teals in war damages,
11:56in addition to 21 million silver dollars from the first opium war.
12:01More than half of China's annual revenue.
12:04The treaties China is forced to sign, fully legalise the opium trade,
12:09as well as opening 11 more ports to foreign trade,
12:13allowing merchants access deep into the country's interior.
12:17The British National Archives in London hold copies of the key peace treaties,
12:22but it also holds a letter from the younger brother of the emperor,
12:26Prince Gong, to Lord Elgin, which mournfully acknowledges Chinese defeat.
12:32This essentially is a letter which, you might almost say,
12:36is the opening up of China to the wider Western world.
12:40I do wonder how Prince Gong, as a noble and high official of the Qing dynasty,
12:45must have felt authorising this letter.
12:48He was sending it, not just to anyone, but to Lord Elgin,
12:52the British official who represented a country
12:54which had essentially brought China to a position of submission,
12:58and along the way had, of course, destroyed the Summer Palace,
13:01I think Prince Gong would have sent this letter out with a pretty heavy heart.
13:15Prince Gong is just 27,
13:18when he's thrust into the negotiations with the British.
13:21He is high-born and influential,
13:23but new to this world of international diplomacy.
13:27Prince Gong was a very interesting guy.
13:30He was considered the most westernized and enlightened Manchurian royal in his age.
13:38The first time the Westerners, the British, saw him,
13:41on his right hand, it was a glass of cognac.
13:45On his left-hand side was a cigar.
13:48Prince Gong knows his country is close to collapse.
13:51Foreign troops are in Beijing and China is in a bloody revolt.
13:57It has never been so vulnerable.
14:00The truth was poor.
14:01China lost.
14:02And China had to play a catch-up game for the whole 20th century.
14:11Prince Gong sets about a mission to transform China from victim to victor.
14:19It is called the self-strengthening movement.
14:37The self-strengthening movement.
14:53of its high culture and its artisan crafts China in the middle of the 19th
14:58century must make up vast ground lost to its industrial rivals trying to lack
15:05behind in steam power talking in terms of the industrial revolution we had no
15:11idea that a steam engine ran on steam if you think about it you haven't seen
15:19you haven't seen how a steamboat works how do you know he ran on steam you thought
15:25it ran on fire which was exactly what they did
15:33Prince Kong immediately focuses on modernizing China's defenses that were so
15:38easily crushed during the opium walls we have the creation of a new armed
15:44divisions which are armed with Western weapons you have the building of naval
15:52dockyards there are moves towards establishing mines as well as bring in
15:58steam vessels to replace all Chinese sailing junks so all this is happening
16:03actually quite quickly and quite successfully
16:08gung and his self-strengthening movement needs silver to finance their reforms
16:13taxing China's foreign trade will supply him with vital funds that leads him to one
16:20extraordinary institution the Imperial Maritime Customs Service was one of the
16:26oddest but most interesting organizations to exist in China through the mid 19th to
16:32mid 20th century it served the Chinese government bringing in tax revenue from
16:36tariffs goods charged on goods being imported into China but it wasn't run by
16:40the Chinese it was run by the British throughout almost all of that time the
16:46British introduce a system of uniform custom tariffs for the first time in
16:50Chinese history which has immediate benefits for international trade the
16:56modern custom pre provided China with the very standard and national serve
17:02what does that mean so any foreign merchant can can ship their products to
17:10Shanghai or any other custom house and they could speak English to talk to the
17:16local officials to local commissioners so there was a very reliable tariff protocol
17:23and totally modern harbour management for them to do their business
17:31then in 1863 it is Prince Gung who makes the Maritime Customs Services most
17:37significant appointment a man that shares his ambitions to modernize China his name
17:45is Robert Hart a brilliant young Irishman who has been in China working as an
17:50interpreter and diplomat since 1854 heart is quickly formed a deep empathy for China
17:58that becomes a feature throughout the 77 volumes of his diaries that he keeps
18:04faithfully for 40 years they are now kept in Queens University Belfast I am on the
18:15Chinese side and I will help them to the best of my abilities and I don't care who
18:21knows what I do or what I say but I think that sympathy had for China that comes
18:27through his diaries so very clearly he loved to learn Chinese that's one very
18:34important thing and then he forced all his subordinates to learn Chinese as well he
18:41was interested in all sorts of different topics of Chinese medicine music arts all sorts of things
18:53in heart Prince Gung has now added a vital foreign partner to his circle of modernizers all of them
19:00and determined to restrengthen China Chris don't call him our heart means he Chris don't saw him as a real
19:10friend
19:12for Prince Gung the Maritime Customs under heart is providing far more than just revenue
19:21it would create a translator's college which was really meant as the office that would train China's
19:29diplomats it would also light China's coast all the lighthouses all this facilitating of navigation it
19:37had a huge role in that it would build about 26 custom houses and my two favorite ones other one
19:44in
19:44Urumqi which is really in Central Asia it must be the maritime custom house furthest away from any
19:54bit of sea anywhere in the world and it must and the other one is the Yadong custom house which
20:00is in
20:00Tibet which again must be the custom house highest in the world and again very far away and for the
20:08Qing dynasty by having these custom houses in Urumqi and in Tibet these were markers of Qing
20:14territory how clever it would end up collecting about 30 40 50 percent of taxes available to the
20:23Chinese state huge significance under heart stewardship the maritime customs revenue increases
20:30from 8 million silver teals in 1865 to over 14 million teals 20 years later well over a billion
20:39dollars in today's money by 1893 maritime customs are providing a fifth of government income it became
20:49the biggest the maybe the most important financial pillar of the Chinese government because it was very very it
21:00has very very little corruption much more efficient and effective foreign trade increases through the
21:13recently open treaty ports and exports surge silver flows into China once more but China with its dependence on
21:24silver is falling out of sync with the global economy after massive discoveries in America and in
21:33Australia most of the world's leading nations have left silver behind and are now basing their economies on
21:40gold Chinese adherence to silver standard for long time was considered something of a backward phenomenon any country that was
21:53respectable should join the gold standard China was very backward was so disorganized it was not able to join the
22:01gold standard
22:02but the very idea of reform itself is challenged within the imperial court by a deeply conservative ruthless and powerful
22:12woman
22:14a woman who effectively runs China in the last decades of the 19th century through her influence over the boy
22:21emperor guang sure the dowager empress to she is one of the most intriguing characters in modern Chinese history she
22:32was literally a power behind the throne she believed in the
22:35restoration of the restoration of the restoration of a very strong imperial rule and she persecuted and even had executed
22:41some of the most important reformers in late 19th century China who argued that actually China really needed to rethink
22:49rework its system of government to cope with the modern world she also had had a lot of money spent
22:55on the redecoration of the imperial palace which some people argued could have been spent in a different way
23:02instead instead for the fortification of the Chinese army instead for the fortification of the Chinese armed and naval forces
23:10Empress Sershi's dominance at court and her resistance to Prince Guung is undermining China's fledgling reforms
23:19just across the East China Sea another empire is under threat from the west
23:24but Japan's response could not be more different to China's
23:30rather than trying to make do and mend Japan actually overthrew its ruling class and instead undertook one of the
23:36fastest and most complete modernizations ever in history
23:40the Japanese modernized their law their army their constitution their education system all within about 20 years or so and
23:48as a result became a powerful imperialist power in its own right and quickly would become every bit as rapacious
23:56as greedy as the western powers in terms of seeking rights and territory in China itself
24:05war breaks out in 1895 China's much heralded new navy is outgunned and outsmarted by the Japanese
24:15all of China is appalled to lose so easily to their once weak and subordinate neighbor
24:22China loses even more territory as it is forced to cede control over Korea and Taiwan to Japan
24:28but it must also pay war damages of 200 million teals of silver almost four times the annual revenue of
24:36Japan itself
24:39this is an enormous boost Japan who suddenly have the financial reserves to join the leading nations of the world
24:46and base their economy on gold
24:49it is utter humiliation for China
24:53this amount of money that the Chinese government has to pay to foreign powers is a substantial part of its
25:02budget
25:04enormous indemnities of the sort that one can never pay off from the Chinese from the Chinese government
25:16in order to pay its mounting war debts China must borrow massive amounts of money but its financial institutions are
25:24not able to meet the huge sums required
25:28the Chinese did not evolve the kind of formal banking arrangements that you had in Europe
25:37Chinese emperors did not think of owing debts
25:42if they demanded it you paid it
25:45they don't owe you a debt
25:47so there's no such thing as a public debt in China
25:50and if you didn't have public debts
25:53you didn't have powerful banks
25:55so Chinese banking was always weak
26:01in raising enough funds to pay for its war debts
26:04China helps fuel the rise to power of foreign banks
26:09I would definitely say after 1895
26:13the foreign banks power came into China
26:17the easiest reason was that
26:19because the Chinese government had to borrow money for its indemnities to Japan
26:26so the Chinese government talked to HSBC and their banks to borrow enough money to pay back to Japan
26:36then the HSBC became very important
26:39because every year the Chinese government had to pay back to the HSBC
26:46increasing foreign influence over China is fueling more than just anger across China
26:51it fuels rebellion
26:54just two years after the war with Japan
26:57China erupts in revolt
26:59an anti-western movement that began in northern China is spreading like wildfire
27:04the rebels call themselves the Boxers
27:08they call themselves boxers because of the martial arts they train with
27:14they believe themselves to be invulnerable to foreign bullets
27:20who believe that the world has been turned upside down
27:23by the eruption into China of foreign ideas and foreign things and foreign buildings
27:29the Boxer's slogan is revive the Qing destroy the foreign and it's a sentiment that finds sympathy in the imperial
27:38court
27:38in June 1900 the Dowager Empress takes a decision that will result in the near destruction of the Chinese Empire
27:47this was a sort of anti-foreign feeling that in some ways spread through all levels of society
27:53Tsuxi reflected that in many ways
27:55for much of her life she was someone who was very sceptical
27:59indeed hostile about the foreign presence in China
28:03seizing the chance to drive all Westerners from China
28:06in 1900 Tsuxi comes out in support of the Boxers
28:10and declares war on all foreign powers
28:14but in less than two months a military alliance that includes British, French, German, American and Japanese forces reaches occupied
28:23Beijing
28:24and crushes the Boxer Rebellion
28:28filed on top of its previous war damages with Japan
28:31China is immediately ordered to pay a colossal and punitive 450 million silver teals
28:39one teal for each of China's 450 million people
28:44equivalent to 300 billion dollars today
28:47the Qing treasuries contain nothing like this amount
28:51China now has to face the gravest threat in its 2,000 year history
28:57many Chinese officials and observers think that in fact China faces national extinction
29:04they talk about this the threat of extinction
29:06they know that the British had conquered India
29:10they fear the same will happen in China
29:14during the tense negotiations
29:16the Chinese are keenly aware of what is at stake for their country
29:22China could not risk her international reputation again
29:28because China had to rebuild her international image
29:32as a trustworthy friend to the foreign states
29:37Behind the scenes the Chinese turn to one man
29:41a Westerner ironically
29:42who has the insight into foreign affairs and finance
29:45that can help rescue China from being carved up
29:49first of all Robert Hart tried to convince the foreign powers that
29:55never ever tried to separate China into several pieces
29:59because China should be refunctional in order to pay up her debt
30:04no one wanted to kill that opportunity to get more money from China
30:09Robert Hart is able to bring all these people together
30:13and he very cleverly said yes okay we're going to pay this huge indemnity
30:19450 million ounces of silver
30:22450 million ounces of silver
30:23but we do it is structured as a single bond between the Qing dynasty
30:27and all the eight nations that had invaded China
30:30so the interests of those eight nations are focused on that one bond
30:39and on the Qing dynasty paying
30:44China has avoided partition but almost all the revenues of the Chinese state
30:49are placed under foreign control to pay the war reparations
30:55The boxer indemnity is a devastating burden
30:59China has no choice but to borrow again from foreign banks
31:03debt piles on debt
31:07The Chinese government hands responsibility for this huge operation
31:12to the organization run by Robert Hart
31:15The Chinese government wanted to be as simple as possible
31:18so they decided to delegate that to the modern custom service
31:23and it was rather easier because the custom service imposed the tarot tax
31:30and store the money to HSBC
31:38China has been reduced from an economic superpower to subordinate in less than a century
31:45I think by the 1850s 1860s China's GDP was still about 30% of world GDP
31:53and by the end of the century it's 6%
31:56so it's a relative it is a it's an absolute decline really
32:00it's an absolute decline also in living standards
32:06from once sitting at the peak of world trade
32:09China is now struggling to function as a state
32:12and its institutions are chronically weak
32:19desperate last gasp attempts to modernize
32:22fail in the face of rising discontent
32:26China's people begin to lose faith in their rulers
32:29and in 1911 the Emperor is overthrown by revolutionaries led by Sun Yat-sen
32:37The silver that helped make China the richest nation in the world
32:41is also responsible for bringing two dynasties to its knees
32:45The fall of the Qing dynasty
32:47and the fall of the Ming dynasty 250 years before it
32:51can both be traced back to the kingdom's complex relationship with this white metal
33:10silver continues to be a problem in the turmoil that follows the revolution
33:15warlords take control of individual provinces and civil war breaks out
33:21Taxation paid in silver the lifeblood of China's economy cannot be collected
33:26China can barely function
33:30Each warlord controls one of several provinces
33:34and you can imagine that when warlords control provinces
33:37they issue their own silver as a way to memorize the warlords
33:42like George Washington in the US quarter
33:46so same way
33:47so there are different kinds of silver coins
33:50so it was very confusing
33:51because people have to recognize
33:53whether these silver coins were real or not
33:58were authentic or not
34:03China's silver currency is becoming even more chaotic
34:07but there is one city on the Chinese coast
34:09that is a beacon of economic stability
34:13Shanghai, storied seaport of the fabled Orient
34:16commercial metropolis of China
34:18and one of the world's greatest seaports
34:44Shanghai was a trading city
34:46it's existed for many hundreds of years
34:48But until the British presence, it didn't become the entrepot, the big cosmopolitan melting pot of trade and commerce that
34:56it is today.
35:00You've got a boulevard, a thoroughfare. It's there today. It's called Nanjing Road.
35:05And along it, there were shops, businesses.
35:08There were a whole variety of things that said that this city is not Washington, it's New York.
35:13In other words, it's a place where people come to do business and to trade.
35:17In the 1920s, Shanghai becomes China's wealthiest port.
35:22And this international trade is good for the Maritime Customs Service, which, during this time of conflict, accounts for nearly
35:2990% of government revenue.
35:32And all this government revenue in silver is deposited in a British-owned foreign bank,
35:38some of whose founders have grown rich from the opium trade, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
35:47HSBC.
35:49Every penny of the custom revenue was stored in the HSBC after 1911.
35:58So HSBC had an extremely big, vast cash flow that was basically the reason why it could become the biggest
36:08bank in the Far East in the 20th century.
36:16This allows the bank to build lavish new headquarters on the Bund, Shanghai's famous waterfront.
36:23The elegance and grandeur of its interior is described as unsurpassed by any financial or commercial house in Asia and
36:31the Far East from Suez to the Bering Sea.
36:34China's demand for goods from abroad grows in leaps and bounds as imports exceed $300 million a year.
36:41There is movement everywhere, no standing still.
36:47In the 1920s, Shanghai is one of the biggest cities in the world.
36:53Here is the Occidental quality of Shanghai with its skyscrapers, trolley cars and semi-foreign atmosphere.
37:03Shanghai is known as the Paris of the East and the Chinese embrace the spirit of the age.
37:09The silversmiths of Shanghai are producing silver cocktail shakers in bulk.
37:15All the elite Chinese went to these fabulous cabarets and nightclubs and ballrooms and this neighborhood was really the epicenter
37:26of that jazz age nightlife in the city in the 1920s and 30s.
37:31So you can just imagine that at night, this neighborhood was this fantastic wonderland of neon lights ablaze and jazz
37:43music blaring from these ballrooms and nightclubs.
37:49There is one significant reason why Shanghai can thrive beyond the chaos of post-revolutionary China.
37:57It is a Chinese city that is under foreign control.
38:02It is also deeply divided, made up of separate zones for foreigners called the International Settlement and the French Concession.
38:11All of the 35,000 Europeans who lead a privileged life in prosperous Shanghai are exempt from the laws of
38:19China.
38:21Western residents will only observe Western law, which means they want in what's still Chinese territory practice Western legal system
38:33and legal rules.
38:35And those things all in the end have enormous consequence on China as a whole.
38:43One of those enormous consequences is that business in Shanghai, foreign and Chinese, is conducted according to Western laws and
38:52that provides Shanghai with the stability to become the biggest holder of silver in China.
39:00Shanghai was unique. It was certainly becoming, it was expanding much more quickly than Hong Kong and the population several
39:06times larger.
39:08And Shanghai was also become, to a certain degree, after the 20th century, the haven of Chinese business and industry
39:15and banking.
39:18But even within booming Shanghai, China's currency remains a problem.
39:24Nothing exemplifies this more than its adherence to antiquated silver ingots.
39:30When you have a piece of silver ingots, what do you do when you carry it into the market?
39:35You have to literally weigh them, measure them, test them, whether they are genuine silver or not.
39:41They are not currencies by count, you cannot count them, you have to measure them.
39:47The system of weighing and assessing the quality of silver, and measuring it in teals, not only stretches back to
39:54medieval times, but it's also far from uniform.
39:58Across China, there are as many as 170 different measures of teal.
40:03We all know that the price of silver and silver are at the same time.
40:07We all know that the price of silver and silver are at the same time.
40:10The price of silver is at the same time.
40:11It's too expensive.
40:12It's too easy.
40:13It's not possible to keep it in.
40:16But change in China in the 1930s does not come easily.
40:21Just as Prince Guong had tried before him, one man emerges who has the vision and determination to try and
40:27reform his country's archaic institutions.
40:29In particular, China's centuries-old silver currency.
40:35His name is T.V. Sun.
40:38He is a Harvard student.
40:40He is a very modern citizen.
40:41He is a very modern citizen.
40:45He is a very modern citizen.
40:46He is a modern citizen.
40:50T.V. Sun stands at the peak of Shanghai society.
40:55He is from the most famous family in Republican China.
41:00His sisters are all society beauties and his brother-in-law is China's leader.
41:16And his brother-in-law is China's leader.
41:23He is a very modern citizen.
41:24He is a very modern citizen.
41:25As finance minister to the New Republic, in April 1933, he calls a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce in
41:32Shanghai, in which he sets out to radically alter China's currency.
41:37Sun's daring proposal is to abolish the silver teal, the unit of Chinese currency which has been used for centuries,
41:45and replace it with one standard minted silver coin.
41:48But he has a formidable obstacle to overcome.
41:52Set against T.V. Sun's reforming zeal are the native bankers who meet here every day at their power base,
42:00the inner garden by the city god temple in the heart of old Shanghai.
42:16The native banks profit directly from China's complex and inefficient currency.
42:22Sun's arsenal of Chinese currency.
42:23Sun's labor is actually associated with the trading process.水
42:27Jesus is a very important investment and in the past. Sun's
42:35labor is actually on demand. Sun's
42:36labor is by the güç. The amount
42:39of goods are distributed in the country and their goods is by the bank. The bank
42:45is by the bank, it's all in the bank.
42:53banks on the fifth of April 1933 the silver teal is abolished and becomes an
42:59instant and now a legal relic of the past the new silver dollar is issued
43:06featuring Sun Yat-sen China's first president and on the reverse is a
43:12sailing boat a symbol of centuries of trade and prosperity
43:31the reforms of TV soon are celebrated across the world he makes the cover of
43:37fortune and time magazines he is pronounced a financial genius comparable to Alexander
43:43Hamilton the man behind the creation of America's first National Bank he's even
43:49invited to address the American nation in a radio broadcast on NBC during the
43:54broadcast he stresses the special relationship between America and China
43:59some of your most distinguished families were engaged in the China tree millions of
44:05dollars change hands without one word being put down in writing it was a superb
44:12example of trust a mutual respect TV soon has achieved one of the great reforms in
44:19China's history at long last the country has a simple unified silver currency
44:31the tremendous crowds which you see gathered outside the stock exchange are
44:36due to the greatest crash in the history of New York market prices but almost
44:44immediately a global financial crisis will finally bring an end to China's
44:49entanglement the silver the Great Depression but surprisingly during this
44:56profound shock to global capitalism China's use of silver initially gives the
45:01country an unexpected benefit the world was in recession in the early 1930s because of
45:08the stock market crash of 1929 right and also Germany was in trouble in trouble right
45:14because of the China was effectively on the national government was using one
45:20currency which is silver which was losing value against most other car other
45:23currencies so Chinese money was cheap was cheap other people's money was expensive so
45:32Chinese goods appeared to be cheap because Chinese schools were
45:36denominated in silver partially right so Chinese schools became cheap therefore
45:42China was able to export to foreign countries with relative ease but this
45:49advantage does not last long China is about to suffer at the hands of the very
45:54country that just two years previously had been applauding the financial
45:58reforms of TV soon
46:02an American senator key Pittman demands action the silver producing states
46:09including his own state of Nevada are suffering because the global price of
46:13silver is so low the president bows to pressure and enacts the silver purchase act which
46:21results in America going on a silver buying spree the silver purchase act in the US which
46:28was largely driven by small mining you know states a few mining states in the US ended up
46:34driving up the global prices for silver with the price of silver rising because of American
46:41demand there is now an unstoppable flow of silver out of China it's a
46:48catastrophe banks go under businesses are starved of loans industry and
46:53agriculture suffer a collapse in prices the financial crisis becomes an economic
46:58crisis and then a social crisis so the Chinese government is forced to entertain the idea of a major currency
47:10reform and to remove this dependence on silver unable to control its currency China is
47:19forced now finally after centuries to abandon silver US was forcing China to say you don't use silver the US
47:27was
47:27telling China get off silver and in 1935 they do exactly that they throw in the towel and take China
47:35off the
47:36silver standard silver comes to an end as the silver story in China really comes to an end in very
47:42abrupt fashion
47:471935 marks the end of six centuries of silver currency in China and before long silver artifacts will disappear as
47:55well when the communists take control of China in 1949 silver is a distant memory that is until the chance
48:06discovery 20 years later in this mansion on America's East Coast it was once the home of Robert Bennett Forbes
48:16a
48:17prominent 19th century China trader who built his fine house with the profits he made from buying and selling tea
48:23and opium
48:26his great-grandson H.A. Crosby Forbes develops a keen interest in the family silver when he inherits the house
48:34Crosby was interested in so many different things but certainly one of his greatest passions was the subject of
48:42Chinese export silver this was a subject that really had been primarily forgotten in the 20th century
48:51Crosby really began looking at this subject critically decades before almost anyone else did
49:00in 1975 Crosby Forbes publishes Chinese export silver it is the first scholarly work on the subject
49:10the study of one silver artifact illustrates how neglected this unique Chinese craft has become
49:18this is an extraordinary tea pot in England but by the 19th century it had been completely forgotten
49:26that this was made in China it was a celebrated piece of English silver published widely in in books on
49:35old
49:35English silver and indeed even in the 19th century this served as a model for silversmiths who were becoming
49:44masters then Crosby really was the one who first re-identified this as being Chinese rather than English
49:55today more than 40 years after Crosby Forbes work shed light on an exquisite but forgotten Chinese craft
50:01export silver is now returning to modern China it's a window into the past and is a force for creativity
50:10in China today
50:13Alan Chan is an artist and one of Hong Kong's leading designers
50:18I collected because I find a certain kind of beauty that is beyond comparison because I think this export silver
50:29carry a pit of cultural history this has been used as a glass case so the entire company inspired me
50:38as a graphic designer I think the way the bamboo leaves
50:41go together with the calligraphy this could be a cover design for both this could be a inspiration for manual
50:49cover
50:50this is wonderful it's amazing because this is a sort of paper set you know you put a condiment here
50:55you can put your
50:56toothpicks here it's a beautiful conversation piece to put on top while you're having dinner you know they use this
51:02as a business card holder over
51:07100 years old in China
51:10I find it always hard to believe how on earth they can come up with such a intricate design and
51:17also craftsmanship
51:27you see different kind of costume how people would dress over 100 years ago this is like a 3D movie
51:36showing you the story of a typical
51:39courtyard how how people live and how their everyday lifestyle could be you know Chinese mirror don't usually come in
51:46with a handle like this
51:48so to incorporate drag it into such a European shape you look at it the tail stuff I mean it
51:55move around the circle and they end up like it I think this is just beautiful
52:00I look at this mirror I would say wow who was the beauty in front of the mirror other than
52:04me 100 years ago
52:11in past centuries silver demonstrated China's economic might and it still does today in the country's highest diplomatic courts
52:20in 2014 when China plays host to the leaders of the Asian and Pacific world it gives each one an
52:28exquisite silver gift that spoke not only to
52:31craftsmanship but also an acknowledgment of China's historic relationship with silver
52:41today China is once more the biggest importer of silver in the world
52:48the industry is producing the goods that help power our globalized world consumer electronics mobile phones electric cars all need
52:58silver
52:59and they are produced here in China on an enormous scale
53:07these workers are preparing to start the early shift at one of the biggest factories in China
53:13they are part of a 1200 strong workforce who help harness the power of the Sun with silver
53:2170 million of these solar batteries are produced each month and inside every six by six inch panel there is
53:28a film
53:29less than the width of a human hair of silver
53:32well
53:33So for a month, we will use about 7吋,
53:377吋 of 2吋.
53:38Because this is a good source of導電性 and stability,
53:43so it's a light bulb,
53:46especially in the first-time light bulb,
53:48the first-time light bulb.
53:52It's mostly in the production process,
53:54we use this kind of technology,
53:57which is used to use the light bulb.
53:59So now we're going to create a new structure.
54:50The largest solar energy farms in the world are in China.
54:55They consume the world's silver to help power the energy of the world.
54:58Another country's relentless industries, whose output seems to be unstoppable, but in constant need of new markets.
55:06The Chinese economy now is already the largest in terms of its production of real goods.
55:15Goods you can touch, like clothing, like cameras, like TV sets, right?
55:22It is already 27% bigger than the U.S. economy in terms of producing real goods.
55:30In this regard, the Chinese economy is no different from the British economy in the early days, in the early
55:3819th century, right?
55:40So the Chinese businesses would want to expand.
55:45The skylines of modern China testify to its economic dominance and its seemingly endless potential.
55:53But modern China allows the world to once again see what this country has always been.
55:59For most of human history, China has represented the world's foremost economic power.
56:06Really, if you look at it, China had just napped for a little bit in the 19th century.
56:10There's Napoleon's very famous phrase, you know, when China awakens, a world will tremble.
56:20China heralded globalization by throwing in its lot with silver in 1581.
56:26It triggered a new epoch in world history with its need for this precious metal.
56:31Today, money has many forms, and most transactions are electronic.
56:36But in the Chinese language, the character for money says silver, and the characters for banks says silver shop.
56:44Pointed reminders of how central silver was for centuries in shaping China's economy, and how it shaped the rest of
56:52the world.
56:53The truth is not that we don't use it as a person.
56:55Even though our children are not using the meaning of the meaning of the meaning and instruction,
56:59even though our children are in our lives, just when we look at it.
57:03So I think that if anyone can't resist this point,
57:05if we don't use the meaning of the meaning of the meaning of the human life,
57:06if we don't receive the meaning of the meaning of the human life,
57:07we will give them a benefit.
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