美洲白银与早期中国经济的发展

殖民地时期西属美洲生产了大约 1 0万至 1 3万吨的白银 ;其中向美洲以外地区输出了大约 80 %以上 ,这些白银的近一半流入了中国 ;白银之所以流入中国因为当时中国存在巨大的贸易顺差 ,白银作为货币可以平衡贸易 ,同时 ,从白银与黄金的世界比价看 ,白银的价格在中国大大高于欧洲 ,作为特殊商品的白银可以被从欧洲贱买而到中国贵卖 ,从中套利 ;白银大量流入中国对早期近代中国经济产生了巨大的积极影响 ,但明朝的灭亡和鸦片战争后中国的衰落也同当时中国白银输入的减少甚至外流有直接的关系。可以说 ,美洲的白银生产与中国早期近代的经济发展是密切联系在一起的。

Latin American Silver and the Economic Development of Early-modern China

America during the Spanish Colony produced about one hundred thousand to one hundred thirty thousand tons of silver, 80 percent of which were exported to the countries outside of America, about half of that flew into China for balancing trade and arbitrage. Those silver,though, played a very active part in the economic development of early-modern China, the decrease in China's silver import also directly accelerated the death of the Ming Dynasty and the decline of the Qing Dynasty after the Opium War. Therefore, the production of silver in Spanish and Portuguese America closely integrated with the economic development of early-modern China.