自哥伦布发现新大陆后，殖民者便大量开采南美银矿，世界绝大部分白银产自该地区。老殖民主义者在鸦片战争前和中国做生意时，中国的瓷器、丝绸和茶叶成了抢手货，他们又没有合适的商品打开中国市场，只好从南美运来白银和中国交易。这 Since the discovery of the New World in Columbus, colonists have exploited a large amount of South American silver mines, producing the vast majority of silver in the world. When the old colonialists did business with China before the Opium War, China became a hot commodity for porcelain, silk and tea, and they did not have the right goods to open up the Chinese market and shipped silver and Chinese from South America. This