The value of one or two pieces of silver in the Qing Dynasty, calculated according to the price, is equivalent to how much money it is now.

What can a penny do? I believe most readers know nothing about this. Even if there is a concept, I read Kong Yiji written by Lu Xun, and arranged nine pence on the curved counter of Chengheng Hotel, saying: Warm two bowls of wine and ask for a plate of fennel. What can that penny do? Buying half a bowl of wine or half a plate of fennel beans is not enough. However, please don't underestimate a penny in the Kangxi era, which can really save the poor. According to The History of Modern Handicraft Industry in China published by Zhonghua Book Company, in the period of Kangxi, a penny can buy a bowl of sauce, vinegar, oil and wine, which is called "four bowls for a penny". What is the price? The corresponding is almost free, which is the price of rice in the Kangxi era. At the lowest price, two pence can buy a liter. One liter of rice, one and a half kilograms. This is enough for the king to set fire.

Of course, the Kangxi era was not all such low prices. Many natural disasters occurred during the Kangxi period. When natural disasters occur, prices will go up. The occurrence and development of natural disasters are related to social functions. Poor social function leads to many natural disasters. The social function of the Yuan Dynasty was extremely poor, so there were many natural disasters in the Yuan Dynasty, one after another, and similar in the late Ming Dynasty. Even without the uprisings of Li Zicheng and Zhang, natural disasters and plagues in the northern region, Emperor Chongzhen was overwhelmed and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse.

In the early years of Kangxi, it was not optimistic. Floods, successive disasters, diarrhea in the south of the Yangtze River, ten diseases and nine diseases, and folk deification paper to send ghosts and gods, one after another. The epidemic situation in Songjiang prefecture is extremely serious, and the coffin shop is out of stock. Some people died for six or seven days and could not buy coffins for burial.

Until the eighth year of Kangxi, the situation improved and the harvest was good. The price of rice has dropped back to one seventh of a stone (150 Jin), which is about sixpence a liter, which is quite low. Compared with the average of one or two pieces of silver and one stone meter in Yongzheng and Qianlong years, it is absolutely low. In the reign of Kangxi for 6 1 year, seven pieces of silver and one stone of rice were the average rice price during his reign.

During the reign of Kangxi, besides natural disasters and epidemics, there were other political reasons that affected prices, which was inevitable in the early days of the Qing Dynasty. For example, the battle to pacify Li Bai's remnants in the early years of Kangxi, and the battle between Nanming and the small court were still small expenses. The war to pacify San Francisco, which began in the 12th year of Kangxi, lasted for eight years. Then we used troops in Taiwan Province, Hongkong and Northwest China, which was a big expense and cost a lot of money. The "San Francisco" chaos is reflected in the national finance. Silver is very expensive and money is very cheap. According to the normal currency exchange rate, one or two pieces of silver will be exchanged for 1000 copper coins. Due to the fluctuation of market price, it is normal to fluctuate up and down. There was a war, and it was a war of regime change. Social psychology has been subverted. 65,438+0,000 copper coins can only be exchanged for five silver coins, four silver coins and even San Qian. The common people hid the money and watched the situation change. Kangxi Bao Tong in the market has become worthless and the price has gone up.

However, this time is not long. In the following forty years, Emperor Kangxi expressed and maintained a political ideal of relatively relaxed political environment and advocating frugality in social consumption. In the early years of Kangxi, a Jesuit missionary named Lu Riman was born in Belgium and preached in Changshu, Suzhou, Songjiang and Shanghai. He is a very careful person, and left an account book from Kangxi 13 to Kangxi 15, which is very interesting. From many details of life, tell us the living standards and humanistic customs in Suzhou.

Mr. Luzhman kept the account in pounds: "Buy 3 Jin of beef: 130. Buy a pound of sugar: 80p. Buy a catty of flour: 13. Buy a catty of mutton: 55 articles. " For the convenience of reading and comparison, I converted the pound into the weight of China according to the ratio of "one pound and twelve ounces". The result of the conversion is as follows:

Beef: 58 inscriptions; Sugar: 100 avenjin, flour: 18 avenjin; Mutton: 73 yuan is a catty.

But we still don't know whether it is cheap or expensive. Fortunately, he also recorded the price of high-quality rice, so that we can work out the real price in Kangxi period. Once, the missionary bought five buckets of high-quality rice as relief, which cost him 0.45 taels of silver. This year, one or two pieces of silver can be exchanged for 177 1 when it is high, and 1637 when it is low. The author takes the average of a group of seven exchange rates, namely 1680. So the missionary bought five barrels of high-quality rice, 75 Jin, which was equivalent to spending 756 pence, with an average rice per Jin 10 pence.

In this way, it can be converted. In the fourteenth year of Kangxi, the price of beef was equivalent to 6 Jin of high-quality rice. According to the calculation of 2.0 yuan per catty of high-quality rice today, we can know that the beef consumed by Suzhou people in Kangxi era was per catty 12 yuan. Sugar: 20 yuan a catty; Flour: 3.6 yuan a catty, mutton: 15 yuan a catty.

It can be seen that in the fourteenth year of Kangxi, the most tense year to quell the "San Francisco" rebellion, the meat food in Changshu, Suzhou was really not cheap, even a little expensive, and some people could not afford it. Or because you can't bear to eat it. So Mr. Lu Riman, a missionary, left an observer's statement in his account book: The diet of ordinary China people only includes three kinds of food: tofu, coriander (and various vegetables) and rice. Because Mr. Lu Riman preached in Susong all the year round, what he saw was the diet of the people in the richest areas in the south of the Yangtze River, which was really poor and miserable.

The author thinks that Mr. Lu Riman's observation is basically correct, because it is obviously not just ordinary China people who can't afford meat. For example, Tang Bin, governor of Jiangsu Province, is famous for "soup tofu".

Tang Bin received this appointment in the 23rd year of Kangxi. At this time, the young Emperor Kangxi had just solved two major problems in political life: withdrawing the vassals and returning them to Taiwan Province Province, and he was in a good mood. Tang Bin was sent to Jiangsu, appointed by Kangxi. I think he has a good conduct and is an honest official.

How much income can a Jiangsu provincial governor earn? 130 beam. This is a year's income, and the monthly income is less than 1 1 two. According to the above 1680, the cost of one day is 600. According to this income, Mr. Tang Bin should learn many ways to save money, such as family planning, such as not supporting the elderly, such as his wife being an actress or going out to work, and so on. The wild shepherd's purse that Tang Bin ate was picked by his wife in the wild. Therefore, it is not a show for Tang Bin to eat wild shepherd's purse and burn tofu soup. Civil servants don't love money, so they should learn to eat tofu first. After Tang Bin's death, there were only eight taels of silver in his bag, which was less than a month's salary. Therefore, it is not easy to be an honest official.

There was a big debate in the imperial court about the low income of honest officials, which was recorded in Jiang's Donghua Record. Kangxi was an idealistic emperor. He pinned his hopes on ideology. He hopes to have a group of well-behaved officials to help him govern the country. He thinks that scholars always understand the truth and love them greatly. But the reality always tells him that literati are also human beings and have secular desires. Once a scholar is dirty, he is dirtier than the average person. The Taoism advocated by Kangxi later became an official joke: "Fake Taoism." His employment idea and policy were overthrown by Yongzheng after his death. Yongzheng is very pragmatic. He is the most economical of all the emperors in China. For the first time, he established a clean government system, which simply made the abnormal income organized by government agencies at all levels open and institutionalized. Another meaning of honesty is not to make money secretly. Like Tang Bin, the Governor of Jiangsu received 20,000 yuan for his incorruptibility during the Yongzheng period. Even an honest official is not that hard. How much can Suzhou civilians earn in Kangxi era? According to Zha Shen Xing's Diary of Nanzhai compiled by imperial academy during the Kangxi period, "four taels of paper and silver were paid to the bearers in July for work and food". There are four porters, so we know that the monthly salary of porters is one or two. However, bearers with loose copper coins often invite their hosts to dinner, and the host who treats them will keep the meal or pay for it as usual. It is in the same strain as the present society.

During the reign of Kangxi, a skilled weaver in Suzhou Weaving Yamen earned 124 yuan a month and four buckets of rice in kind every month, which was the highest income among the workers. Suzhou weaving yamen inevitably has to deal with eunuchs. The eunuch's income is the lowest two Liang, and the highest is eight Liang per month.

During the Kangxi period, a home textile worker in Suzhou earned about fifty or sixty pence a day, and about one or two pence a month. If it is home textiles, the income will be less, about twenty or thirty articles. If you can earn 50p by working at night, you'll have to stay up late. Fifty words a day can feed a family of four, of course, as the missionary Mr. Lu Riman saw.