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The Potos/Japan Cycle, which lasted from the 1540s to the 1640s, and the Mexican Cycle, which began in the first half of the 1700s, can be used to split the history of the silver flow from China to the rest of the world. The silver content difference between silver ingots from Ming-Qing China and New World silver dynasties further expanded the arbitrage of the global flow of silver. At the same time, China also makes significant arbitrage earnings in the markets for silks, ceramics, and other non-silver goods. The exchange of silver and commodities between China and other nations are fundamentally multiple arbitrages.

Time division of China-Global flow of silver
The history of the China-Global flow of silver can be divided into two periods: the Potos/Japan Cycle from the 1540s to 1640s and the Mexican Cycle in the first half of the 1700s.

The Potos/Japan cycle starts in the 1540s because of the decline of the paper money system in China during the Ming Dynasty due to inflation and the prevalence of counterfeit money. With the increase in silver accumulation in the Americas and Japan and the balancing of the Chinese silver supply and demand market due to the large amount of silver imports, the price of Chinese silver and world silver prices converge and the Potos/Japan Cycle comes to an end.

The Mexican Cycle refers to the first half of the 1700s. During this period, the introduction of new, easy-to-survive American crops, such as sweet potatoes, peanuts, and corn, led to a population boom in China. And thus growth in the silver market occurred, which in turn led to a significant increase in China's demand for silver. At the same time, the silver industry in Latin America, especially in Mexico, was booming and became the main source of silver exports to China.

Arbitrage activities
In the 16th-century, Chinese ingots were only worth about 50 percent as much as European silver, which meant that merchants mainly from Europe and Japan were able to take advantage of the price differential to make an arbitrage. The difference in silver content between silver ingots from Ming-Qing China and New World silver, ranging from 3% to 8%, further increased the scope for arbitrage in the global flow of silver. China typically exchanged popular goods like silk, porcelain, and other goods for silver throughout the silver circulation process. The second half of the 16th century saw a thriving trade between China, Japan, and Southeast Asian nations in both expensive goods like silk products and inexpensive ones like sugar. China could earn gross profits ranging from 100% to 300% in the trade of these commodities, and the lower the price of the commodity itself, the greater the profit as a percentage of the price. This process occurred at the same time as European and Japanese traders profited from the price difference between Chinese silver and the rest of the world. Silver-commodities trades between China and other countries are essentially multiple arbitrages.