Money in Asia

Money is not hypostatic – it does not fully exist in its own right – but clearly it is one of the greatest of “contingent human creations”. And yet, (we might debate the reasons why) not nearly enough scholarly work is being done on numismatic and monetary history, that is research into money and how it functions (or has failed to function) in different social and political contexts. Financial and economic histories are, of course, closely related, but they often fail to sufficiently grasp the “moneyness” of monetary matters, or elucidate the monetary spaces/dimensions of socio-economic events. Likewise, in the social sciences, economic science and sociology have struggled with definitions of money and useful analysis of its inter-related functions. Moreover, the recent (post 2008) Japanese, European and American experiences of “experimental” monetary policies have made the study of monetary theory seem obtusely philosophical in its leanings. So readers then will be grateful for Money in Asia, a large and ambitious edited volume written by eighteen distinguished international scholars, seriously intent on clarifying the historical importance of money in East Asia.

In the Acknowlegements of Money in Asia the editors state that their volume presents case studies on the fundamental problems of small monies, with the main emphasis being on issues related to China’s copper coinage. Exemplary comparative investigations into small monies from (most noticeably) Japan, India, the Dutch East Indies, and Ancient Greece are also provided. As something of a bonus, readers of Money in Asia are also provided with “important quantitative data” set alongside qualitative analysis to aid further research into the various histories discussed (pp. XL, XLI). The editors also talk of having “narrowed down [the focus of the volume] to the subject of ‘small money’” (p. XL), but thankfully they seem to have only partly succeeded. The volume has a delightfully large and eclectic array of academic interests and concerns, with many quite loosely related to the fundamental problems of small monies. Eighteen contributors provide eighteen chapters with a Preface and Introduction that are not to be missed, and may be treated as chapters in their own right. Most chapters meet highly rigorous academic standards; as exemplified by the Introduction which has 144 carefully prepared footnotes and over four pages of references.

Money in Asia is programmatically divided into four parts (three parts China, one part Japan), with a total of eighteen separate chapters. The Preface provides Mark Elvin’s valuable “thoughts on the nature of money” (pp. IX-XXXIX), and the Introduction does all the things conventional introductions do, while also providing Ulrich Theobald’s concise and brilliant introduction to the history of “copper cash in China” (pp. 9-23). The first (official) chapter, by Dennis Flynn, then starts out by challenging conventional macroeconomic views on money, and later invites us to conceptualize the price of money in his unified theory (p. 69). Peter Bernholz compares and contrasts ancient Greek coins with those of their Chinese contemporaries in Chapter Two. In the very detailed and distinguished Chapter Three, Najaf Haider provides an overview of “fractional and non-metallic monies in medieval India” (p. 104). The fascinating Chapter Four, by Willem Wolters, discusses such things as arbitrage (p. 114) and how an inadequate supply of copper coins (doits) became responsible for widespread poverty in the Dutch East Indies (Java) in the last decades of the 19th century (p. 135).

The second part of Money in Asia starts with Werner Burger’s Chapter Five, which provides a concise and convincing explanation of the reasons behind the debasement of copper currencies in 19th century China (pp. 151-2). Against this, Man-houng Lin intriguingly argues in the succeeding chapter (at length and with force) that the “demand and supply of copper coin was under the sway of the [increasingly global] silver sector” (pp. 183-4). Hans Ulrich Vogel and Cao Jin introduce the largest known case of coin counterfeiting operations in Qing China in Chapter Seven. Astonishingly, the re-minted and debased coinage often exceeded provincial mint standards, but as they infringed on the Emperor’s most august monopoly, they were strictly punished (pp. 210-17). In Chapter Eight, Werner Burger very briefly discusses how copper currencies form Vietnam and Japan were used throughout China to help ameliorate market demands (pp. 220-3). Shan Kunqin then (in Chapter Nine) looks at short stories written in the early 17th century to highlight the importance (and scarcity) of copper currencies in the daily life of everyday Chinese. Building on these studies, Roger Greatex’s Chapter Ten addresses the incidence of “cash crimes” in the late Qing period, explaining why they matter and what they teach us. In Chapter Eleven, Christine Moll- Murata assesses “quantitative data on wage disputes”, which concludes with a 28 page Appendix. Werner Burger then provides a richly illustrated (27 pages of colour plates) overview of the non-monetary uses of Chinese, and East Asian, copper currencies in the last chapter of Part Two.

Elisabeth Kaske opens Part Three with a monumental survey of monetary policy and the practice of “office selling” in China during the time of the Taiping Rebellion. At 47 pages, with 194 footnotes and five pages of references, Kaske’s Chapter Thirteen is a tour de force. Ulrich Theobald then elucidates “monetary and non-monetary rewards in the early and high-Qing period”. While in Chapter Fifteen, the final chapter of Part Three, Jane Kate Leonard investigates the role of the “fixers”, the Zhili grain brokers, in the “1826 Sea Transport Experiment”. Interestingly, both the editors’ contributions in Part Three seem tangential to the basic thrust of the book, and in particular the question of small currencies. Part Four, focuses on Japan, and starts with Ryuto Shimada’s quantitative analysis of precious metal imports from 1760 to 1850, and argues that they contributed to Japan’s economic growth after 1820. In Chapter Seventeen, Keiko Nagase-Reimer presents an interesting investigation into the subject of copper transportation in Tokugawa Japan which suggests that the nation-wide transportation of copper was hampered by unrealistic price mechanism for its shipping. The eighteenth and final chapter, by Reinier H. Hesselink, completes the volume with a fascinating and brilliant investigation into the life and voyages of one Nishi Seijiro (aka Luis Melo) an important metal dealer, a brazen smuggler, and perhaps a most valuable “spy” that plied the Nagasaki-Manila route in the last years before Japan restricted its own role in international trade (1639-1859). Finally, it must be said that although the chapters are best read together as presented in their four editorial sections, most individual chapters also present very well as “stand-alone” articles or essays.

There are valid reasons why some criticism may be levelled at the volume. Colour plates and maps (where provided) are very welcome (pp. 75-7, 193-4, 468-76), but all contributors might have been provided with the opportunity of, or encouraged to think about, providing colour or monochrome plates to help explain or illustrate aspects of their own studies (e.g. Chapter Fourteen). In terms of continuity and readability, some chapters are too short (Chapter Eight) and some are probably too long (Chapter Thirteen), and accordingly, the chapters vary greatly in the aims and depth of their scholarship (although the overall standard is very high). There are some slightly awkward translations, for example in Chapter Twelve the author correctly reads a coin’s Chinese characters as “吾, 唯, 足, 知” apparently not realizing that the slogan (and word order) is Japanese in origin and is, in fact, associated with Kyoto’s Ryōanji Buddhist Temple (established c.1470). It literally translates as “I only sufficiency know” (ware, tada taru (wo) shiru), not “I am only satisfied” (p. 313), but more correctly, and in line with Buddhist teachings, as “I know only enough (satisfaction – and need nothing more)” (see www.ryoanji.jp and related websites). As a general comment, it seems that a number of the non-native English language contributors could have benefited from more attentive and sensitive editorial advice. But these are hardly serious concerns. East Asian monetary, currency terminology is notoriously difficult to translate into functional English, and the volume is always readily comprehensible (which is no small triumph in itself).

Perhaps my greatest concern is outlined/heralded in Mark Elvin’s Preface where he states, “…what is needed is a way of fitting these findings into a coherent and consistent conceptual framework”. For example, on examination of Parts Three and Four (the areas closest to my own research), links between the monetary histories of China, Japan and Vietnam (discussed individually as isolated “national” histories) need to be considered more deeply. For example, the “Xianfeng Inflation” and “disappearance” of copper currencies in China during the time of the Taiping Rebellion investigated in Chapter Thirteen (pp. 358-9), is experienced almost simultaneously as the “Great Inflation” in bakumatsu Japan. Moreover, Japanese copper, and most famously gold specie, are being exported in huge volumes to China’s burgeoning treaty ports at this time to realize enormous profits: there are important connections to be made. In Chapter Sixteen, Shimada’s sensible finding that owing to precious metal imports and subsequent unique silver to gold parity “Japan…realized the economic growth with modest inflation during the period after 1820” (p. 458, and amplified on pp. XXXVII, 7) is not incorrect, but does seem somewhat premature given the currency chaos, ruinous inflation, and regime change that this policy caused in the 1850s when Japan was forcibly opened to large-scale international trade. Undoubtedly, a final chapter – a conclusion – that attempted to make the kind of connections Elvin alludes to (written by a brilliant, experienced, and knowledgeable historian of East Asian money and finance that matches the academic heights reached by the preface and the introduction) would have perfected this very accomplished volume.

That said, no book can be all things to all people. Money in Asiais a pioneering study that is sure to have the longest of shelf lives, a volume that by its very design encourages further research, reflection, and discussion. Money in Asia is thus a highly recommended addition to every library that considers money and monetary history to be worthy of study.

Simon James Bytheway, Nihon University (jsimon@nihon-u.ac.jp)

Citation: Bytheway, S.J. 2016. Review of Leonard, J.K. & U. Theobald (eds.) 2015. Money in Asia (1200-1900): Small Currencies in Social and Political Contexts. Posted to New Asia Books on 23 Feb 2016; newbooks.asia/review/money-asia