The Awkwardness of Silver Mining and the Realities on Site

• In Event: 247. A New Perspective on Silver Flows in China and Southeast Asia, 15th to 19th Centuries

Abstract

Hundreds of sites were exploited for silver in the Southwest of Ming and Qing China. Most of these were located in Yunnan province, while mines were also numerous in Guizhou and Sichuan, as well as in the borderlands of China, Vietnam and Burma. This paper presents 43 identified important silver mines in Yunnan and in the borderlands, which left slag dumps that covered mountain sides as clear evidence of large-scale exploitation.
The presentation begins by discussing factors in Neo-Confucian mentality and in the administrative structures of the dynastic state that contributed to make silver mining a topic that writers preferred to avoid. The close scrutiny of the few specific records for certain mines and moments in time, and instances of conflicting evidence can indicate the gap between official representations and realities on site.
The main part of the paper discusses a reassessment of the 43 identified sites based on fieldwork, oral histories and material remains to gather information on the scale of historic mines and to approach a relative assessment of the known sites. The new perspective on the history of mining in the region uses geographical information systems for localization, the mapping of sites, and for the analysis of regional networks and patterns. The result is a changed perspective on economic networks, migration, and urban centres of the region.

Author

• Nanny Kim, Heidelberg University