On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 7:03 AM, Srini RamaKrishnan <che...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In fact historically speaking money wasn't always the dominant > currency - in the times of the Ming Emperor, it was respect. In > ancient India, it was one's nobleness and profession. > > Its interesting you mention the ming dynasty in this context. Sometime back i finished reading Charles Mann's 1493 ( http://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-Columbus-Created-ebook/dp/B004G606EY ). there is a really interesting part of the book about the silver trade with the spanish colonies in the americas and its huge impact on the chinese economy. they would become so dependent on spanish silver that it became the de-facto currency in china ... and all this eventually led to the ming empires decline and fall. -- > > "If things went according to the death notices, man would be > absolutely perfect. There you find only first-class fathers, > immaculate husbands, model children, unselfish, self-sacrificing > mothers, grandparents mourned by all, businessmen in contrast with > whom Francis of Assisi would seem an infinite egoist, generals > dripping with kindness, humane prosecuting attorneys, almost holy > munitions makers – in short, the earth seems to have been populated by > a horde of wingless angels without one's having been aware of it." > > (Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970) in The Black Obelisk, 1956) >
