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The article discusses the value of bronze mirrors in China during the Han dynasty in relation to trading practices. Topics include rhetorical aspects of the valuation of mirrors, the costs of the bronze alloy that was used in casting mirrors, and the relation of bronze mirror valuation to the costs of other goods in relation to the notion of luxury.

This article is a survey and critique of recent endeavours to establish statistical foundations for a chronology for the great divergence based upon trends and levels in relative wages. Our reading of the bibliography in Chinese labour history, together with a preliminary investigation into other primary sources, suggests that the Kuznetsian paradigm for empirical economics may not be viable for the construction of analytical narratives for the Chinese and other premodern imperial economies in South and West Asia. Nevertheless, two datasets currently in print will continue to be quoted to lend support to numerically grounded speculations for levels and trends in real wages and welfare for the families of wage-dependent urban workers in China over the eighteenth century. Statistical evidence for the Ming and Qing dynasties calibrated for the purposes of comparing real wage levels for wage-dependent labour between China and western Europe can, however, be placed on a spectrum for accuracy and inferential analysis that runs from 'unfounded guess work' to 'plausible conjectures'. The unwelcome contention of this article is that the data published and potentially available for China (and probably for India and the Ottoman Empire) stand close to the unfounded guess work end of that spectrum. Meanwhile, and as a speculative conclusion, we offer a conjecture that the 'real wages' for Qing China's tiny proletariat, whose income included high proportions of wages in kind, have remained as elusive as they were when the real wage debate began a decade ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploration of the history of the houseboat in China joins three investigative approaches: the context of transport systems, the technological perspective and transformations in cultural preferences. In a long-durational survey, it follows the boat as a means of transport but rarely as a means of travel from antiquity to about the third century. In the following centuries, boats became increasingly common, but they held little prestige compared to the riding horse or the carriage. In the tenth century, houseboats appear as lavish and fashionable means of elite travel, and until the eve of industrialisation remained the preferred mode for all who could afford them. The analysis traces gradual processes in seemingly sudden events and finds that stability may result from upholding traditions across historical ruptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the Schumpeterian paradigm, this article explores the rise of the tax state in eleventh-century China and its further transition towards a fiscal state until the Mongol conquest in 1279. By the late eleventh century in the Song dynasty, two-thirds of state revenues came from taxing non-agricultural sectors, especially from the collection of excise. The Song state became the first sustainable tax state in global history, as manifested in three major aspects: monetization; indirect taxation; and centralization and professionalization in the tax administration. The boundary of the Song tax state was largely confined to urban settlements. In rural areas, the state gave up the collection of commercial taxes by farming out this right to local elites. In the twelfth century, as traditional tax revenues fell far short of supporting military defence, the Song administration utilized credit instruments. Around 1200, the amount of redeemable promissory notes first exceeded that of annual tax revenues. This shift from tax-based public finance to credit-based public finance completed the transition towards a fiscal state. Nonetheless, this development in the fiscal state was still at an early stage and proved to be unstable. Toward the end of the Southern Song, hyperinflation caused by the over-issuance of promissory notes seriously threatened the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that Western impressions of the Chinese pre-modern monetary experience might have been excessively colored by Marco Polo’s favorable commentary on the stability of the Mongol polity and its dissemination of paper money. Experiments with unconvertible paper money had ultimately been no more successful in late-imperial China than they were in the early-modern West. By 1430, in fact, the Ming dynasty was forced to abandon the issuance of paper money altogether. The genesis of paper money both in China and it the West had originally emanated from private institutions. However, royally chartered banks of issue were conspicuously absent from the Chinese setting until the late nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The abstract concept of “the Silk Road” linking east and west shapes many popular narrative histories, encouraging readers to think dreamily of dazzling silks carried as luxury trade items on the backs of camels over sun-scorched sand dunes, and conveniently skirting more complex issues such as political, military, religious and cultural barriers. The actual mechanics of how any trading and other financial or economic transactions took place are seldom addressed, and references to money are few and far between. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How did people in Tang dynasty China view textiles and how did they conceive of their value? Those involved in production could calculate the value in terms of the costs of raw materials, labour and the loom used to weave a particular textile. They might add to this the costs of workshop supervision and maintenance, distribution and marketing, and they might expect to see some benefit – a profit – in the process. However, most people would be end users, and would reckon the value of textiles by eye, if not also by hand, and what they considered to be the market value. Some might have expert knowledge, but many would not. The non-expert evaluation by eye and hand would likely include aspects such as colour, pattern, level of workmanship and intricacy but would probably also reflect some awareness of status and fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Throughout the Ming dynasty the government monopolized the salt trade. In return for delivering grain to border garrisons, merchants received salt certificates, which they then could use to draw salt from government salterns. The salt certificate system, known as the grain-salt exchange, or kaizhong, functioned as a public debt for the Ming government. Against the backdrop of a fiscal apparatus that still largely relied on tax-in-kind and labor service, the grain-salt exchange provided an unusual and efficient financial tool for the government. Buying and selling of the Lianghuai salt certificates, beginning in the sixteenth century, gave birth to a speculative market of the salt certificate in the early seventeenth century. However, since the speculation blocked the redemption of the salt certificates and paralyzed the operation of the salt monopoly, in 1617, the government turned the speculative market into a more restictive syndicate. This paper ends with a discussion on the possible impact the syndicate system had on the development of public credit market in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Song-dynasty Kaifeng, empire and emporia existed in a relationship of mutual dependence and mutual competition. The imperial government depended on merchants for the shipment of grain and goods to supply its massive armies and to pay the salaries of its officials; the merchants derived their income directly or indirectly from these government expenditures. The concentration of wealth and goods in the capital generated in turn a culture of sumptuary competition. The contests over space in the streets of the capital, and the competition for the goods that circulated through them, reveal configurations of power that rarely find direct expression in writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines evidence that silver imports into China increased rather than decreased during the last years of the Ming dynasty in 1635-1644. Conclusions about the level of silver imports into China are believed to be either incorrect or greatly overstated. There are evidences which suggest that the amount of silver in circulation in late Ming China had been reduced, or that copper coins or varying but increasingly poor quality had become more plentiful, or both. It is also likely that silver was being withdrawn from circulation at this time because of the increased hoarding of precious metals that traditionally accompanied economic and political instability in premodern China.

The article discusses trends in researching Ming history in Mainland China. The traditional research field regarding Ming history that historians in Mainland China focused beginning in the 1950s involves political history, social history and economic history. New contributions made by Ming scholars are discussed, including the use of new materials for traditional topics, the utilization of new methods and theories such as quantitative analysis and psychological analysis, and new focuses into the traditional topics.

The article discusses academic studies related to the economic history of the Ming Dynasty in China. The article describes how historical understandings of the production relationships in early 18th century China are changing due to historiographical developments in the study of Ming Dynasty economic history. Studies of early Chinese feudalism contrasted to the rise of capitalism are discussed, including studies on early cases of land debt, agricultural productivity, and the rise of the merchant class.