People forgot that China had a silver standard.

China's silver standard was a monetary system where silver, primarily in the form of taels (ingots) or later silver dollars, served as the primary currency for trade, taxes, and savings for centuries, notably during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, until its abandonment in 1935 for a fiat currency, making China a unique large nation sticking to silver long after the gold standard took hold globally.

This system linked China's monetary value to the fluctuating global price of silver, attracting vast amounts of the metal but also creating economic vulnerabilities, especially with rising global silver prices impacting its economy.

https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/component/content/article/silver-hits-80-per-ounce-in-shanghai?catid=17&Itemid=101