Zinc for coin and brass : : bureaucrats, merchants, artisans, and mining laborers in Qing China, circa 1680s-1830s / / by Hailian Chen.

• VerfasserIn: Chen, Hailian,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2018]
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Monies, Markets, and Finance in East Asia, 1600-1900 11.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (822 pages).
• Notes: Revision of author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Tübingen, 2018.

Hailian Chen’s pioneering study presents the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc—an essential base metal used to produce brass and coin and a global commodity—over the long eighteenth century. Zinc, she argues, played a far greater role in the Qing economy and in integrating China into an emerging global economy, than has previously been recognized. Using commodity chain analysis and exploring over 5,800 items of archival documents, Chen demonstrates how this metal was produced, transported, traded, and consumed by human agents. Situating the zinc story within the human-environment framework, this book covers a broad and interdisciplinary range of political economy, material culture, environment, technology, and society, which casts new light on our understanding of early modern China.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Foreword / Hans Ulrich Vogel and George Bryan Souza -- Acknowledgments -- Maps -- Tables -- Figures -- Spelling and Place Names -- Abbreviations Used in Texts and Notes -- Weights, Measures, and Currency -- Introduction -- Place, Space, and People -- Zinc: China’s Demand for a “Useless” Metal -- Entrepreneurs: The Qing State and Merchants -- Mining Policy, Law, and Practices -- Mining Communities -- Zinc Ores: Calamine and Blende -- Zinc Mines -- Technology -- Output: Guizhou’s Global Pre-eminence in Zinc Production -- Energy -- Transportation, and Commercialization and Consumption -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- Bibliography.