Copper, silver, and tea

Chinese historian Quan Hansheng used the term “price revolution” to describe the Chinese economy in the eighteenth century. He postulated that, as had happened in sixteenth-century Europe, a kind of hyperinflation followed the massive quantities of silver that came into the country from the tea trade (Quan Hansheng 1956: 475–508). ¹ While Quan’s theory is still highly influential among China historians, ² recent findings suggest modifications to his views.