First, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government signed many unequal treaties and paid a lot of silver to foreign countries.

Although there was a lot of silver in ancient times, in the late Qing Dynasty, due to the incompetence of the Qing government, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, so a large number of unequal treaties were signed, and each treaty had to compensate hundreds of millions of silver, so the silver in the national treasury was basically compensated to foreign powers, making the domestic silver stock basically gone.

Moreover, when Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, it basically looted a lot of silver in Yuanmingyuan. Later, in order to pay reparations, not only the national treasury was hollowed out, but also the silver in the hands of the people was basically expropriated. Therefore, the existing amount of silver in China is not much, and it is basically in the hands of foreigners.

Second: After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek also took a lot of silver.

In fact, during the civil war, because silver was no longer in circulation, Chiang Kai-shek hoarded a lot of silver in order to increase his economic strength. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek knew that there was no place for himself, so he retreated to Taiwan Province Province, and all the money in his hand was taken away.

Third: the tomb also put a lot of money.

Ancient people paid great attention to the luxury of tombs, especially the imperial home, and placed a lot of gold and silver jewelry in the tombs, hoping to show their wealth and nobility after death. Therefore, in the process of historical development, a large amount of silver has become a funerary object, but now the tombs that have been discovered and excavated are limited, so there is still a large amount of silver buried underground and not found. Some of them are gradually corroded because of the long oxidation time, so the number is getting less and less.