Horses, Silver, and Cowries: Yunnan in Global Perspective

Abstract

Through examination of the horse trade, silver exports, and cowry monetary system of Yunnan, currently a province in southwestern China, this paper seeks to place Yunnan in global perspective. Furthermore, by considering Yunnan's cross-regional trade networks as routes parallel to the overland Silk Roads and the maritime Silk Roads, the paper adds new dimensions to the understanding of Eurasian communications. Finally, consideration of world-system perspectives will shed some light on contemporary world-system debates.

Increased Market Integration, Value, and Ecological Knowledge of Tea Agroforests in the Akha Highlands of Southwest China

“…Tea developed as a key commodity by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 between Yunnan and Tibet on the Cha ma dao (Tea-Horse Road), a trade route part of the caravan network (Xi'nan sichouzhilu / Southwest Silk Road) connecting Southwest China, Tibet, Southeast Asia, and south Asia (Yang 2004 Resistance (1937-45) against the Japanese (Hill 1998). With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the state promoted tea production by developing tea factories, research institutes, and demarcation of tea districts.…”

“…Southern Yunnan is in a global biodiversity (Dijk et al 1999) and biocultural diversity (Stepp et al 2005) hotspot located between two Vavilov centers of crop domestication (Turrill 1926). It is notable as an ancient crossroads of migration and regional trade between Southeast Asia, India, and Tibet (Yang 2004). Yunnan is also part of the Southeast Asian region recently labeled as 'Zomia' (Schendel 2001) that is characterized by highland cultures that historically fled state organized societies and maintained deliberate stateless structures (Scott 2009).…”

Early Cambodian gold and silver from Prohear: composition, trace elements and gilding

“…There is some archaeological record of ancient gold mining from Sumatra, Laos and central Vietnam, the latter being the closest to Prohear (Bennett, 2009: 100;Lê, 1776Lê, /2007. Silver deposits are less frequent in Southeast Asia, but are known from the 'silver road' between southwestern China and northeastern Myanmar, which existed since the Han dynasty period (Yang, 2004;Fiskesjö, 2010) and was connected with southeast Cambodia by the Mekong River.…”

Commodity Flows, Diaspora Networking, and Contested Agency in the Eastern Indian Ocean c. 1000–1500

“…Adaptive cultural networking most often resulted from Southeast Asia's prominent intermediary position in the oceanic trade routes, as these ongoing contacts provided the double potential for cultural interactions between locals and the variety of international sojourners, and access to the assorted foreign goods, services, and ideas they provided (Hall 2013). There were alternative opportunities for overland communication, as for example the longstanding networking and transit of populations and commodities across the south China borderlands into what is today Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam that included the exchanges of horses, elephants, cowrie shells, silver bullion and coinage, and Buddhist theology and other knowledge exchanges (Heng 2006;Yang 2004Yang , 2011Sen 2014).…”