Why did ancient silver disappear? Archaeological experts solve mysteries
From ancient times to modern times, silver production in China has never stopped. However, over time, the silver has now disappeared without a trace. In this regard, archaeological experts gave a detailed explanation.
Why, then, did the ancient silver disappear? Let's explore this mystery together.
In the pre-Qin period, the use of silver was extremely limited, mainly as decorations, and it was difficult for ordinary people to access. However, as silver gradually entered the market, its value soared, and the value of one tael of silver was equivalent to four or five thousand yuan today.
Even if it is a wealthy family, it is difficult to easily come up with a tael of silver, after all, this tael of silver was enough for a family's expenses for a year in ancient times.
Although silver already existed, it was not widely used in the trading process due to its high value. In contrast, people are more inclined to use copper coins, but copper coins have always weighed a few catties, and it takes dozens of copper coins to trade a ploughing ox or horse, and people who do small business can still accept it, but people who do big business need to pull up several cars each time to complete the transaction.
In ancient times, merchants were easy targets for bandits because they carried large amounts of cash, such as copper coins, which could lead to serious property damage. Soon after, the ancients realized the inconvenience of copper coins and invented Jiaozi, a currency that represents copper coins and silver.
With the gradual promotion of the use of silver, the circulation of silver and jiaozi in the market became more frequent.
The Song dynasty was not the only one of them that struggled to keep silver in circulation, especially during its defeat. In order to solve the problem, the ruler chose to pay a large amount of indemnity, paying more than 100,000 ** per year to the Liao State.
In addition, the Great Song Dynasty also needed to send hundreds of thousands of horses of silk to the Liao State, which were valuable and consumed a lot of **.
In the long river of history, the problem is always unavoidable, whether it is in the Song Dynasty or other dynasties, there will be **will** swallowed. Especially during the Qing Dynasty, the number of Heshen ** was amazing, and it could even be comparable to the treasury revenue of the Qing Dynasty for several years.
What is even more distressing is that due to the signing of unequal treaties with foreign countries, the Qing Dynasty was forced to pay at least 1.3 billion taels of compensation to foreigners.
China's compensation to Japan is equivalent to Japan's tax revenue for several years. In addition, in China and abroad, foreigners use improper means to cause a large loss of China's wealth.
The reason is that foreigners found that the Chinese generally used silver for trading, and in order to better conduct ** with China, they made their own silver, and when buying goods, they gave this silver to Chinese merchants.
Although in appearance, foreign-made silver coins are similar to Chinese silver coins, their purity is much lower than that of Chinese silver coins. As a result, with the increasing frequency of Sino-foreign transactions, China has unwittingly lost a large amount of silver.
At the same time, when foreigners exchanged silver coins, they found that there was a difference in price between broken silver and whole silver.
In the course of the transaction, foreigners deliberately use broken silver to shop, and when they ** goods to the Chinese, they demand payment of the full silver. Eventually, the foreigners transported the collected Chinese silver away in a unified manner, transforming China's wealth into theirs.
Originally, when opium began to flow into China, it was affordable for ordinary people, but with the popularity of opium, foreigners began to improve their **. It wasn't long before they obtained a large amount of silver in China in this way.
However, a large part of this silver was minted by foreigners, which led to a gradual depreciation of the silver of the Chinese due to its lower purity.
In the process of communicating with the outside world, China not only lost a large amount of silver taels because of the purchase of foreign goods, but also lost a lot of precious ** in the turbulent years.
This loss is not just a recent thing, but a long-term process.
During the Ming Dynasty, the entry of the Qing Dynasty sparked the anger of the people, and some local forces took the opportunity to raise forces and prepare to fight against the Qing Dynasty. However, over time, although they amassed a great deal of wealth, they were defeated when it came to a real battle with the Qing Dynasty.
The wealth they had accumulated was either lost in the process of transferring, or sank directly to the bottom of the river in order to lighten the burden during the retreat.
When studying why the ancients disappeared, modern people put forward a variety of theories, one of which is that the ancients were forced to sink the ** into the river during the war. After in-depth research, archaeological experts have found traces of ancient ** in the county chronicle records in some areas.
In addition, when experts went to a large number of ancient times, they also put forward another possibility, that is, the total amount of ancient times was not so high.
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a farming family and knew the importance of agriculture to the country. He believed that only when the people could meet their basic living needs could society be stable and the dynasty last.
Therefore, he attached great importance to the development of the country's agriculture. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also believes that commercial development will lead to a reduction in agricultural labor, which may pose a threat to the stability of the country.
Therefore, he tried his best to prevent the development of commerce. However, the essence of commerce is the pursuit of profit, and for the sake of silver, people may engage in commercial activities. Zhu Yuanzhang understood this, so he ordered to limit the amount of silver in circulation in the market.
Due to the high degree of difficulty in silver mining, the private sector lacks sufficient strength to carry out silver mining, so that more silver flows into the market. At the same time, silver was often melted and cast into ornaments, resulting in a gradual decrease in the amount of silver circulating in the market.
As a result, in some dynasties, the total amount of silver was quite limited. It was not until Ming Yingzong lifted the ban on silver that silver began to circulate in the market again. However, during the Ming Dynasty at this time, the technology of silver mining was still relatively backward, resulting in a very long mining time.
The behavior of mining has led to a reduction in wages for absenteeism, making many people reluctant to participate in silver mining. In this case, the official silver mining work has been at a standstill for a long time, and even the mined ore will be ***
Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty officially encouraged the mining of silver mines, in fact no substantial progress was made, and the silver on the market was insufficient.
During the Qing Dynasty, with the continuous improvement of silver mining technology by the ancients, the amount of silver circulating in the market continued to increase, and the problems that came with it also began to appear.
It turned out that with the increase in the circulation of silver, the purchasing power of silver inevitably declined, and one tael of silver during the Ming Dynasty may now be worth only ten taels of silver. Although the purchasing power of silver has declined, it is still able to meet people's daily needs, for example, a tael of silver can feed dozens of people for a month.
However, once someone discovers the value of silver, they may have the idea of being greedy and making counterfeit silver. This method is usually achieved by melting real silver and mixing it with other metals to achieve the effect of being realistic.
As time went on, the silver in people's hands became less and less valuable. Eventually, when people realized that silver was no longer valuable, their good opinion of silver disappeared with it.
After Yuan Shikai came to power, the silver dollar began to be implemented throughout the country, and it was loved by the people because of its hard, easy to identify and indestructible. Moreover, the purchasing power of silver dollars is also very strong, and a silver dollar is worth more than 600 yuan.
However, due to various reasons, the purchasing power of the silver dollar gradually weakened, especially during the ** period, and its value fell by more than ten times compared to before.
As the people's enthusiasm for the silver dollar waned, the opportunity for the silver dollar to circulate in the market gradually decreased, and finally disappeared from people's sight.
As for the reason for the disappearance of a large number of silver dollars in the Chinese market, there is a theory that silver was taken to the grave by the ancients as a funerary object. As a symbol of wealth, silver was regarded by those who could afford it as a necessity to enjoy glory and wealth after death, so they placed not only gold and jade objects in their tombs, but also a large amount of silver.
Due to the frequent wars and peasant uprisings in ancient times, silver was regarded by the ancients as a necessary resource for raising troops to fight. In order to survive and thrive, these armed forces often dig up the graves of their predecessors to obtain the gold and silver treasures they need.
This method of obtaining wealth by excavating the tombs of ancient people has continued into modern times. However, the gold and silver excavated by these armies were eventually consumed by the war, leaving not much trace.
Therefore, archaeologists spent a long time and did not notice the gold and silver in the tombs of the ancients. This did not change until they began to study the tomb of Cixi.
The number of treasures in Cixi's tomb is staggering, and 2 million taels were found at the same time, and the ** of this wealth is the treasury of the Qing Dynasty. Although the Qing Dynasty had an annual revenue of 70 million taels, barely keeping the country afloat, Cixi had already spent most of the Qing Dynasty's wealth for her luxurious life.
What is even more distressing is that at this time, China was suffering from the invasion of foreign powers, and the war required at least 1 million taels of military spending, which the Qing Dynasty could not afford.
Although the Empress Dowager Cixi rejected the request for funding from Li Hongzhang and others on the grounds of celebrating her birthday, she did not provide financial support to the army. Later, the Qing Dynasty was frequently defeated, and Cixi was not able to enjoy her old age in peace.
However, before she died, it was rare for her to be able to place 2 million taels ** in her cemetery. In addition, the disappearance of a large amount of silver in ancient times is also related to the fact that the gentry kept a large amount of silver at home for reasons such as collecting.
When Chiang Kai-shek was defeated in Taiwan, he carried a large amount of **, but these silver taels were eventually used for military spending. At the same time, although the gentry had stored silver, with their deaths, the disposition of the silver fell into the hands of their descendants, who could have lost sight of the silver if they were not strong-willed.
Since then, China's exchanges with the world have become more and more frequent, and China's silver standard has also been attacked by the world's gold standard.
In the process of China's development, the progress of silver mining technology has led to an increase in the amount of silver in the market and the price of silver. In contrast, people are more inclined to buy metals such as gold, which is more commonly used in medical and industrial instruments.
Although the ** of silver may be prohibitive, its properties such as sterilization and disinfection make it play an indispensable role in people's lives, whether in the form of jewelry or as a raw material.
In ancient times, rulers restricted the circulation of silver in order to control the economy. We should also respect the country's best rules and safeguard the healthy development of the country's economy. In the past, silver and other valuables could not be guaranteed due to war, but now we live in an era of peace, and the safety of our people and property can be guaranteed.
We should cherish the life we have now. In ancient times, people could not distinguish the purity of silver in the external world, but now we need to be vigilant in the external world to avoid personal and national losses.
In ancient times, it was believed that people would enter another world after death, so they would be buried with silver and other items. Today, we should believe in science and enjoy life in the moment more.
In the face of the wealth left by the ancients, we should look at it with an objective attitude, after all, it was created by themselves, and we should rely on our own efforts to create value for the society.
In the past, silver was valuable because it was scarce, but now we should strive to learn some useful skills in addition to work to increase our own value.
In the course of history, Ming Yingzong chose to abandon Zhu Yuanzhang's policy and open up the silver ban, which enlightens us to combine the reality of the situation in the face of traditional concepts to promote social progress.
With the deepening of exchanges between China and the world, the position of silver in China has been challenged, but we should continue to communicate with the world to keep up with the pace of global development.
With the progress of industry, the difficulty of mining silver has decreased, so that silver can be widely used in all walks of life. Therefore, we should intensify our efforts in industrial development so that more fields can benefit from industrial development.
Although the large amount of silver of the ancients has not been preserved, we should devote more time and energy to the present to promote the sustainable development of the country and society. ”
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