The Impact of Sino-European Trade on Chinese Silk Production from the Mid-seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Century

In the early seventeenth century, the Spanish galleons traced the sea routeSilksilk routes and exported Mexican silver in the same way as Chinese silk. Silver from Mexico and JapanJapan was helping to achieve tax reform in ChinaChina. Farmers could thus choose the crops that suited them best. At the same time, maritime trade encouraged both the development of sericultureSericulture and traditional silk weavingSilksilk weaving. After the opening of maritime ports by the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the exportExport of raw silkRaw silk rose quickly, especially after the silkworm epidemic diseases Silksilkworm epidemic diseases ( and )broke out. The Manchu government encouraged the exportExport of silk to balance maritime trade deficits and replenish the imperial treasury. Unaware of the danger of the silkworm epidemic, Chinese sericultureSericulture was infected with the very contagious disease, the pébrine. In 1913 Japanese silk exportExport overtook ChinaChina to take the first place in the world. Nevertheless, the silk produced according to Chinese traditional processes did not meet the demands of the Western silk industrySilksilk industry. The latter tried to introduce mechanical reeling reeling in China and accelerated the specialization of silk processing. Several factors meant that the traditional Chinese silk industrySilksilk industry could not withstand the competition from mechanizationMechanization and had to import Jacquard loomsjacquard loom at the beginning of the twentieth century. This chapter deals with the impact of Sino-European trade on Chinese silk production, by considering the special historical background of ChinaChina, the controversy between the exportExport of raw silkRaw silk and local consumption, and the introduction of mechanical reelingreeling in the traditionalTreaty trade silk artisanal industry.