A Multi-Layer System and Its Features: Reconceptualizing the Monetary Regime of Late Qing and Modern China

This essay aims to reconceptualize the monetary regime of late Qing and modern China as a multilayer system of currencies and examine the features and logics of its operation from the 16th century to early 20th century. We argue that this system consists of a variety of silver and copper currencies, each occupying a particular layer in the structure and each satisfying a specific market demand. Analyzing the production and circulation of copper and silver currencies, we first trace their evolution from the Qing to the Republican era and demonstrate the multi-layer currency structure persisted in China across the modernizing changes that took place at the end of the 19th century. Second, using data drawn from gazetteers, this essay adopts a quantitative approach to empirically examine the mechanism and speed of interactions between the different layers of the monetary market and reveal the operational mechanism of the multi-layer system. We suggest that this multi-layer system, while bringing some efficiency loss, also constituted an effective institutional arrangement that helped to ensure the stability of the Chinese economy in tumultuous times.     

导民善法，实业良伴——清末社会变革 前夕武汉地区自创公园倡议与实践

中国近代公园的产生和发展是一个不断将西方公园 理论与实践成果融入各地特殊的自然、经济、社会、文化情 境，并不懈改良与创新的本土化过程，由此形成近代公园鲜明 的本土特色。以清末社会变革前夕，洋务运动重镇武汉的公园 营建倡议及相关实践活动为研究对象，通过对其早期公园计划 与营建的背景、内容、成效、局限等的溯源考察，探讨晚清 公园理念与实践萌动之时的内容和特征，尝试对本土“公园” 概念的最初形成过程及影响因素进行分析，总结特殊历史情 境下中国近代公园的本土化路径。清末官方进行的公园建设相 关的探索、尝试，奠定了中国近代公园除娱乐属性以外的“教 育”“商贸”“科研”等一系列重要特征，并使得公园作为 “文明”“进步”象征的理念得以广泛传播。厘清这一历史过 程对深刻理解中国近代园林嬗变的内在动因具有积极意义。