Currency Reform in 1930s’ China and the American Silver Policy

Sino-US relation has become the most important bilateral tie in today’s world. With the rise of China as the 2nd largest economy and the largest US bond holder, this relation attracts unprecedented interest in academic and business communities especially considering current volatile global economic condition. However, such relation does not appear out of nowhere; as a matter of fact, it existed long before U.S. took over the role of Great Britain prior to WWII. At the same time, this tie is important from the beginning to China; as to U.S., it reflects a consistent American feature that foreign policy is influenced to a large extent by domestic policy. This work verifies this feature with a case of how American silver policy, a domestic issue, initiated a series of reaction, which at last resulted in China’s currency reform in 1930s. This feature is an important aspect of Sino-US relation and provides a helpful reference for today’s world.