We aim at setting up a lasting network among Chinese and European (affiliated with Dutch universities) researchers, with the primary goal of quantitatively analyzing the position of China in the world economy. During the first three years of the proposed research collaboration, the primary focus is the role of silver in the monetary system of the pre-20th century China. In much of current literature China is viewed as a core actor in the world flows of silver up to the 20th century and the use of this metal in its economy touches upon many questions related to monetization of the Chinese economy and the Great Divergence (why Europe and China grew apart economically). This analysis is done using new historical data, which has been lacking in much of the current research in this field. The research cooperation is expected to grow both in terms of the number of participant and the range of topics. We plan three workshops and two volume and at least two joint journal articles, followed by future grant applications.