Silver Capillaries: The 1567 Opening of Moon Harbor and the Monetization of Zhangzhou's Corvée System
Ever wonder how a peasant farmer in rural Zhangzhou ended up paying his taxes with silver that once sat in a Mexican mine? Sounds far-fetched. But in the second half of the 16th century, that’s exactly what happened. I’m Chuke. Today I want to crack open the Wanli Zhangzhou Prefecture Chronicle and trace how global silver flowed through the valve of Moon Harbor (Yuegang), seeped into every Lijia unit in Southern Fujian, and turned physical tax obligations into cold, hard numbers on a ledger. ...