Chinese-Mexican Relations through the trade of Silver in the Nineteenth Century
Although most people today believe that global integration such as China’s predominance in global trade is a new phenomenon, it is actually not a recent development. Destined for China, heightened profit opportunities resulted in an unprecedented surge in silver production in Mexico. Silver demand grew along with China’s population, which consequently led to a “fifty percent silver price premium in China” (Giraldez, Flynn, 1945, 392). “No one disputes the existence of a world market for silver: The issue is how to model it” (Flynn in Tracy 1991, 337). Therefore, I will discuss how trade of silver between China and Mexico affected both countries’ economic development.
