Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t8.3.3

v1.c5.s2.t8.3.3

*Juan* 326 of the *History of the Ming Dynasty* mentions that tribute from Kulam included white cotton cloth, while tribute from Calicut included danbolan cloth and bi cloth. After the late Ming and the early Qing periods, the trade between India and China was increasingly controlled by the West, as India came under British colonial domination. From the 1780s, raw cotton from western India was increasingly exported to China, to pay for the rapidly escalating imports of Chinese tea by the British. The export of raw cotton played an important role in the growth and early development of the port of Bombay (now Mumbai), and in the development of the shipbuilding industry in this region. Later in the 19th century CE, with the growth of the modern Indian textile industry, cotton yarn began to be exported from India to China. At the end of the 19th century CE, Indian yarn dominated the import market for cotton yarn in China. By the second decade of the 20th century CE, the Chinese manufactured cotton yarn industry developed and the import of cotton yarn from India was greatly reduced. However, in this period, trade in raw cotton and cotton yarn, as well as in varieties of piece goods including unbleached cloth, coarse cloth, fine cloth, foreign standard cloth and twill cloth, etc. continued. It can be said that cotton and cotton cloth were historically India’s main exports to China and made an important contribution to India-China economic exchange.