1493_ Uncovering the New World Columbus Created - Charles C. Mann [253]
10 “them to leave”: Chang 1983:242.
11 More than twenty thousand died: Chang 1983:246.
12 “hilly ruins”: Luo 1983:vol. 2, n.p. (“Records of Eastern Barbarians: Japan”).
13 “to the town”: Zhuge 1976:n.p. (“Sea Pirates”).
14 Twenty-four Generals and end of piracy in Yuegang: Li 2006c (Wu Island, 50); Chang 1983:200–17 (hiring smugglers), 230–34 (officials in smuggling families), 251–58 (battles with Yuegang pirates); So 1975:151–53; Deng et al. eds. 1968:vol. 18, “Bandit Incursions”; vol. 21, “Writings” (“itself moaned”). Li (2001:16) says that Shao actually beheaded Hong.
15 Motives for rescinding ban: One Fujianese official argued that after legalizing international trade the “good people” from Yuegang who were now “scattered abroad” would “return permanently to their homeland and live amongst the rebels. Should any unlawful behavior begin to sprout up, the public will learn of it first and report it to local officials, who could then make a concerted effort to wipe them out” (Li, Y. 1563. Request to Establish a County. In Deng et al. eds. 1968:vol. 21, “Writings”).
16 Chinese coins and paper money: Von Glahn 2010 (export coins, 467–68); 2005 (“short-string,” 66; huizi value, 75); 1996:51–55; Ederer 1964:91–92; Tullock 1957.
17 First European banknotes: Mackenzie 1953:2. They were issued in Sweden, which previously had used heavy copper coins. Very heavy—weighing about forty-three pounds—the Swedish ten-dollar coin is said to be the heaviest ever made. England first tried paper money in 1694.
18 Cowry shells: Johnson 1970. Commodity money like gold is also problematic because if inflation occurs the government has to worry about the ostensible value of the coin becoming less than the actual value of the gold it is made of, which leads to people melting down their change and selling the metal. To forestall this possibility, governments can debase their coins by mixing in less valuable materials. But that creates, in effect, two parallel currencies: a valuable old currency and a less valuable new currency.
19 Cycles of paper and silver: Von Glahn 1996:43–47, 56–82 (“economic realities,” 72); Chen et al. 1995; Tullock 1957. Silver use varied widely by location (Pomeranz, pers. comm.).
20 “ring out”: Gao Gong, quoted in Quan 1991b.
21 “It never ends”: Runan Gazetteer (1608), quoted in Quan 1991b:598; see also, Von Glahn 1996:168.
22 Zhangpu County and Jiajing coins: Von Glahn 1996:86–88, 96–102, 143–57 (Wanli coins not accepted); 220–22 (Gu’s economic ideas); Quan 1991b:597 (Gu quote).
23 Kanyinshi: Interviews, Li Jinming, Lin Renchuan, Dai Yefeng.
24 Silver in one-tenth: Quan 1991b:573–74. The writer was Jin Xueyan in 1570.
25 Tax reform: Von Glahn details the slow change from a paper-money to a coin to an uncoined silver tax system (1996:75–161 passim). See also, Flynn and Giráldez 2001:262–65; Huang 1981:61–63; Atwell 1982:84–85; Quan 1972b.
26 Decline of silver mining: Von Glahn 1996:114–15; Quan 1991c, 1972b. See also, Atwell 1982:76–79.
27 China seeks silver overseas to finance government: Guo 2002; Qian 1986:69–70; see also, Von Glahn 1996:113–25.
28 Trade-driven diaspora: Guo (2002) says more than 100,000 may have gone out.
29 Chinese in Philippines: Anon. Relation of the Conquest of the Island of Luzon, 20 Apr. 1572. In B&R 3:141–72, at 167–68 (150 in Manila). A lower number—eighty couples, plus, one assumes, children—occurs in Anon. (Martín de Goiti?). Relation of the Voyage to Luzon, 1570. In B&R 3:73–104, at 101. The Ming Shi claims that before Legazpi Fujianese “traders of abundant means, several tens of thousand in number,” lived in the Philippines. They “took up a long residence there, and did not return home until their sons and grandsons had grown up” (MS 323.211.8370). “Tens of thousand” should be understood figuratively, as “a great number, perhaps as many as ten thousand.” My thanks to Devin Fitzgerald for this translation.
30 Discovery of Potosí: Arzáns 1965:vol.