![]() ![]() ![]() However, the emperors also periodically minted coins. This silver flowed into the country and was also melted down and traded as bullion now known as sycee. The widespread circulation of the Spanish silver dollar not only affected the Ming but also became widespread across many countries in the Far east as a standard for trade and it remained embedded even till the Qing dynasty when banknotes started to be printed labeled as "Mexican Dollars" and later Western powers also later issued trade dollars, and colonial currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar, to the same specifications. The Spanish dollar coins were often stamped with Chinese characters known as " chop marks" which indicated that the particular coin had been assayed by a well-known merchant and determined to be genuine. ![]() Meanwhile, the return route also ensured constant supply of the Spanish silver dollar coins which were minted in New Spain (Mexico), and mined from Potosà in Bolivia or Peru. The flow of chinese trade goods like chinaware were exported towards the rest of the Spanish colonial empire in Spanish America and Europe through the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade between Manila in the Philippines to Acapulco in Mexico and Spanish treasure fleets from Veracruz in Mexico to Seville in Spain. For the most part, the country was starved for silver in the early part of the dynasty and much trade occurred via barter in later years, silver mostly came in through trade with either Manila in the Philippines as part of the Spanish East Indies within the Spanish colonial empire and Japan. From the founding of the Ming until 1450, the emperors attempted to use paper currency, but this experienced the same hyperinflation as its predecessors. Zhu Yuanzhang, better known as the Hongwu Emperor, proclaimed the Ming in 1368. A Ming dynasty era paper banknote on display at the Museo de Prehistoria de Valencia in Valencia. ![]()
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