The Portuguese were the first of these explorers to approach China in 1513, though other European explorers like Marco Polo had been in contact before. Europeans were dazzled by the quality of Chinese porcelain, silk, and other goods, which became highly sought after, but the Chinese weren’t interested in buying European goods, which they considered inferior. However they eagerly accepted silver, which was money in China as well as in Europe, as payment. As we’ll cover later, China struggled for centuries with shortages of the precious metals it needed to have a sufficient supply of money.
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