Ancient Family Economic History: Purchasing Power of One Silver or Two Silver (2)

The high salary of the upper and middle class in society

In ancient times, officials were well-deserved high-income classes. The salaries of Qing officials included silver and rice, of which one or two were civilian silver 180, and 92 were 33. After Yongzheng, officials have a statutory allowance of "yanglianyin", which is usually several times or even dozens of times the salary.

Take the so-called "Qipin County" as an example. Their annual salary is 45 taels of silver and 22.5 taels of rice, which is about 90 taels of silver. And a magistrate of a county has 600-2000 A Liang years. According to Zhang Zhongli's book "The Income of Gentlemen", plus the additional tax "fire consumption", the annual income of a magistrate of a county is more than 32,000 silver. However, many of these incomes depend on bribes from superiors, and there is not much left.

A scholar can't be an official, but he has been a teacher with a good salary. A scholar who goes to an academy to be a "mountain leader" (principal) usually earns several hundred taels a year. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was pacified by Zeng Guofan, the Nanjing Zhongshan Academy was rebuilt, and the treatment given to the mountain leader was 984 taels of silver per year, including official salary, food allowance and festival expenses.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Dapeng, a gentry in Shaanxi, had a very good employer, who gave him a generous reward of 100 and a servant as a teacher. However, Liu Dapeng didn't think it was an ideal job. He said it was just a living. In fact, Liu Dapeng is much luckier than another friend. That friend teaches five or six students a year, and one person hands in 1600 papers. Together, it is about 12 silver, and one or two silver is used to support the family every month.

Zhan Yuanxiang, a student in Huizhou in Qing Dynasty, mainly invested in local landlords besides teaching. For example, in the forty-fourth year of Kangxi, Zhan Yuanxiang "paid four hundred and twenty-five yuan to buy six scales and one scale for farmland downstairs", and the following year he rented out "five scales for farmland in Zhuangjishan" and got one hundred and twenty-nine yuan and five cents for silver. Zhan Yuanxiang owns at least 1 1 piece of land. The so-called "one-scale field" is the land that can produce one scale (9 to 15 kg) of grain. Zhan Yuanxiang's land can earn dozens of taels in name, but it is difficult to get it in full in fact. Tenants often resist renting and often have to go to court to collect money.

The hard-earned money of ordinary people

So how much can the tenant farmers who cultivate Zhan Yuanxiang's land get in return after a busy year? The land in the south of the Yangtze River is scattered and there are no big landlords. It is common to rent three or five acres of land for self-cultivation. Tenants and landlords usually share production income equally. In a few cases, some tenants can get 80% of the total harvest, while others can only get 15%, which is determined by the number of production tools owned by tenants. If the tenant borrows farm tools, oxen and seeds from the landlord, how can he have the face to share more rice at the end of the year?

Zhan Yuanxiang's "Zhuangjishan Tianpi" not only charges rent of 1.95 taels of silver, but also the lessee's income. This tenant obviously won't only plant such a small piece of land a year. Zhang Lvxiang's "Book of Supplementing Agriculture" says that "one farmer only manages ten acres", while Huizhou produces 328 Jin of grain per mu, and a farmer produces 3280 Jin a year, which is half of its own, about 17 stone, or 25 taels of silver. This is not the "extra money" that women at home get through sideline businesses such as weaving.

This kind of cash crop works quickly, and the ancients also understood it. Qiu Shuang, from Nanjing County, Fujian Province, rented a piece of sugarcane land at an annual rent of 2.4 taels. The harvested sugarcane was later sold to 17 yuan, about RMB 14 yuan. According to this calculation, the land rent in Qiu Shuang is only 17% of the harvest. On average, one or two taels of silver is Qiu Shuang's monthly income.

In addition to gentlemen and yeomen, there were short-term workers with daily and monthly wages and long-term workers for one year in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty 19 provinces, the three eastern provinces banned immigrants from the mainland, with a small population and the highest labor cost. Usually they need 9-65,438+05 silver a year. The highest wages in the Mainland are in the economically developed areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with an average of 6-8 years in A Liang, and around 4-6 years in most areas such as Shaanxi, Shandong and Hubei. The worst salaries are in Gansu, Guangxi and Guizhou. A long-term worker can only get 65,438+0-3 A Liang years. In other words, a long-term worker in the Qing Dynasty had to earn one or two taels of silver, at least one month, and almost one year at most.

The wages of short-term workers are much higher than those of long-term workers. During the Wanli period, wanping county county magistrate Shen Bang's Miscellaneous Notes of Wan Department recorded the income and expenditure of the county government. He said that the daily salary for hiring unskilled handyman, such as cleaner and handyman, is 0.03-0.04 silver; Skilled people, such as painters and nail nails, can earn 0.05-0.07 a day.

As for the doctor, the Ximen Qing family asked the doctor to see a doctor, ranging from two taels of silver to three or five taels. Being a doctor seems to be a high-income group at any time.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the average monthly salary of ordinary workers was about one or two taels of silver, but due to the change of actual purchasing power of silver, the living standard of workers in the Qing Dynasty was lower than that in the Ming Dynasty.

Food, clothing, housing and transportation are really not expensive.

Money is earned. What can a penny or two do?

Spending a lifetime is nothing more than food, clothing, housing and transportation. Hou Hui collected many examples in the book Jin Ping Mei, which showed the life of the late Ming society.

Let's talk about clothes first. When the Long History Festival of Jin Ping Mei was down and out, Ximen Qing sponsored a sum of money. Chang Zhijie bought his wife "a blue silk blouse, a green silk skirt, a moon white silk blouse, a HongLing coat and a white silk skirt" and bought himself "a goose yellow silk coat and a lavender silk straight body". These seven personal tailor clothes, plus "several linen clothes", cost a total of "625 yuan".

For this consumption, Chang Zhijie's wife said: "Although it is not cheap, it is money well spent." Therefore, a better dress costs about 1 2 silver, which is today's 500 yuan. The really expensive clothes are Li Pinger's mink coats, which cost 60 taels of silver or 30,000 RMB.

"Eat", recorded in the miscellaneous notes of Wanbu, pork is 0.02 taels per catty, beef and mutton is 0.0 15 taels per catty, live chicken 1 only 0.04 taels, big carp of 5 catties is 0.05 taels per bottle. At that time 1 kg was equivalent to about 600 grams. Under this price standard, the restaurants in Jin Ping Mei are extremely cheap. Hou Liner and Chen Jingji ordered "four dishes, four dishes, two pots of olive wine" and "three bowls of warm noodles" in the pub, and spent a total of "one money, three cents and a half silver", that is, 0.35 taels of silver, 100 RMB.

Houses hurt the hearts of contemporary people, but they were not called things in ancient times. There is a joke circulating on the Internet that Wu Dalang, a vendor selling baked wheat cakes, can afford to live in a two-story building. The truth is that Pan Jinlian sold the hairpin for more than a dozen taels of silver, and "Dian" listed "there are four rooms up and down in front of the county gate, the second floor is a building, and the two small courtyards are very clean". The so-called "code" means that Wu Dalang obtains the right to use from the owner, who retains the property right and can redeem the property within a certain period of time. Although I don't want to buy it, I can live in a small independent building in the county for thousands of dollars almost indefinitely, which is quite cost-effective.

At that time, the "commercial housing" would not make the working class daunting. Ximen Qing bought the "four rooms before and after" for the Long History Festival, and only spent 35 taels of silver. According to the average monthly wage of workers in Ming dynasty 1 2, you can buy a house in full in a few years by saving money. Of course, Yanggu is only a small county in Shandong, and the house price is definitely much cheaper than that of a metropolis like Beijing.

Having said that, let's take a look at the expenses of ancient people's travel. Sedan chair is a necessary outfit for a gentleman to travel. Grandma Pan went to Ximen Qing's house to celebrate Pan Jinlian's birthday and rented a sedan chair. Grandma Pan came in and asked her daughter for six cents of silver and paid for the sedan chair. When Pan Jinlian heard this, he said angrily, "How can I have money? Why don't you take the sedan chair money when someone else comes! " After quarreling for a long time, Meng Yulou finally "took out a penny from his sleeve" and sent the bearers away. Pan Jinlian refused to give up and scolded my mother: "You don't have sedan chair money. Who taught you to come?" Let others look down on the taxi drivers. "In fact, six cents of silver is only 0.06, that is, 30 yuan, which was really not expensive in the Ming Dynasty.

How extravagant the ancient people spent.

Of course, the ancients also had an entertainment life. Lu Wenheng, a minister at the end of the Ming Dynasty, said in Essays on Sian that artists only performed one performance in Wanli, and later "gradually increased to three, four, five and six performances." On one occasion, Lv Wenheng invited someone to sing on stage, which was already "twelve taels at most". If there are female artists participating in the performance, there will be additional "head binding fees". Converted into RMB, 6000 yuan can invite a few small stars to have a concert at home.

If hiring someone to sing is not enough, you can buy it directly and listen to it whenever you want. When Pan Jinlian was nine years old, he was sold to the palace. At the age of 12 or 13, you can "draw eyebrows and eyes" and "play bamboo silk, and female workers can read". It's only 30 taels to buy such a talented girl. At present, tens of thousands of Vietnamese daughter-in-law are in short supply, but in the Ming Dynasty, 15000 yuan can bring a beautiful girl of Pan Jinlian level home.

Among all the consumption of the ancients, buying an official is probably the most expensive. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion wanted to "donate a future" to his son Jia Rong, bribed the eunuch Dai Quan with 1000 and bought a "five-pin dragon forbidden captain". Father-in-law Dai and Jia family have always had a good relationship, which is the price of friendship. It took "Brother of Hou of Xiangyang" 1500 to become an official. According to the book, this "Dragon Commandant" has a total of "three hundred officers", which is a nominal job. Ordinary people with a monthly salary of one or two want to buy it, so they have to scrimp and save for a hundred years.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties when silver was in circulation, ordinary people in a city could earn about one or two ounces of silver every month, and buy about 65,438+000 kilograms of rice or 30 kilograms of pork, or a personal tailor's fashion. In an ordinary city, if you save money for ten or eight years, you can buy a house and live a passionate life with your wife and children.

Ancient family economic history: the purchasing power of one or two ounces of silver 2 In the familiar Water Margin, we can often see such a scene: heroes go to pubs and shout at the bartender: "The bartender cut two pounds of good beef and another bottle of good wine!" ! ! "Then he will drop a few silver dollars, and Xiao Er will prepare tables and drinks for the heroes.

Lu Da added, "Come on, old man!" I'll give you some money. How about going back to Tokyo tomorrow? "Father and daughter pleaded," If we can return to our hometown, we will be reborn as parents and have our parents again. It's just that the owner's family is willing to let go. "Master Zheng must ask him for money." "This is not a problem," Luti said. "I have my own reasons." He went to the side, took out five taels of silver, put it on the table, looked at Shi Jin and said, "Cudgel didn't bring much today;" If you have some money, lend it to me and I will pay it back to you tomorrow. " Shi Jin said, "Why do you want my brother to give it back to me? "Take out a ingot of twelve taels of silver from the parcel and put it on the table. Lu Da looked at Jong Li and said, "You can lend some to your family. Jong Li walked around and took out two pieces of silver. "。 Rutihai looked at it and said, "He is also a bad man! Lu Da only gave the fifteen taels of silver to Jin Lao, saying, "You father and daughter should pack your bags and do travelling expenses." . "You two get up early tomorrow morning to see if the shopkeeper dares to keep you!" Lao Jin and his daughter went to thank humbly. Lu Da returned 100,000 taels of silver to Jong Li.

The above is the content of punching in Kansai Town. Lu asked his father and daughter for relief money, only twenty taels of silver, and was laughed at. Is Li Zhong really stingy? In fact, Lu was wrong about his good brothers. Shi Jin is a rich second generation, so he is naturally not short of money. Lu is a middle-ranking officer with a monthly salary of only five taels. Jong Li is a tramp. He bought one and sleeps in the street every day. Maybe these two pieces of silver have worked hard to save money for more than half a year. This time, it can be said that they are generous. There are many scenes of using silver in Water Margin. It seems that from the emperor to the people, silver seems to be used in daily life. Silver seems to be a widely circulated currency in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Ancient silver ingot

Before the Song Dynasty, silver was a rarity.

But what is the actual situation? This kind of thing is absolutely impossible in the Song Dynasty. There is a simple reason. Due to the conditions of mining silver at that time, the annual output of silver in Song Dynasty was quite low. According to historical research, the annual output of silver in the whole Northern Song Dynasty was only about 1 075,000 to 2.055 million, and the population in the Northern Song Dynasty reached its peak, exceeding1100 million. If everyone uses silver for daily transactions, this amount of money is simply not enough for 100 million people. At the same time, for the sake of border security, the imperial court provides huge amounts of silver and silver to Liao, Jin, Xixia and Mongolia in the form of cash or cloth every year. It made it impossible for silver to be widely used by ordinary people in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the scattered silver in the hands of ordinary people was mostly used to preserve value. At that time, copper coins were widely used. Copper coins in the Song Dynasty were made of copper and processed into round square holes. A copper coin is a penny. If the amount is large, a thousand copper coins are usually put through the square hole with a rope, which is called consistent money. At the end of the Song Dynasty, money was always only equal to 770 articles. At that time, a word to describe the rich was called money, but it was impossible for a wealthy businessman to tie 10 thousand copper coins to his body when doing business. Although silver has the function of preserving value, it is not widely circulated and is only used for large transactions and payments. In other words, in the daily life of the Song Dynasty, silver did not have the function of circulation, and it had to be converted into copper coins. Only after taking silver to a local company and changing it into copper coins can daily transactions be carried out. By the end of the Song Dynasty, paper jiaozi was even invented to solve the transaction problem.

Consistent money

Silver in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was called a widely circulated currency.

So, were we cheated by Shi Naian who wrote Water Margin? That was not the case. Shi Naian, a native of the Ming Dynasty, naturally wrote novels in the currency of the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty, silver ushered in the most glorious period in China's history. During the Ming Dynasty, foreign silver mines developed greatly, and a large amount of silver flowed into China from overseas, which naturally became a currency more widely circulated than copper coins. According to historical statistics, in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty, almost half of the world's silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty. At that time, if people want to spend money, they have to have a priori fineness and weigh it again. When breaking the whole, they have to cut the silver with scissors and weigh it with a special nickname. This is the story of breaking the silver in the novel.

Broken silver

What is the purchasing power of that piece of silver in history?

In A Dream of Red Mansions, Granny Liu saw that a meal of crabs in Jia's family cost 24 taels of silver, and lamented that this 24 taels of silver was enough for a small family to live for a year. In "Water Margin", in order to seize the birth outline, Classical and Wu Yong invited Ruan Sanxiong to join in, and Wu Yong gave Ruan one or two pieces of silver, and Ruan bought an altar of wine, 20 Jin of raw and cooked beef and a pair of big chickens with this silver; In The Journey to the West, Pig Bajie saved five taels of silver on the way to fetch the scriptures. On the journey of Huang Shijiang, Huang Shijiang asked two little devils to buy pigs and sheep with 20 taels of silver, but the little devils wanted to end up secretly and bought a cotton-padded coat with 232 taels of silver. The description of the value of silver in famous works is really contradictory, and it is impossible to see how much one or two pieces of silver are worth. Even in some movies and TV plays today, it is even more outrageous. It seems that the ancients always spent dozens or even thousands of dollars.

What is the purchasing power of that piece of silver in history?

According to the current price of silver, one or two silver is probably 220 yuan RMB.

Some people say it's simple. According to the current market price of silver, as of July 2002 1 year, 1 gram of silver was equal to 5.42 yuan, while in ancient times1was about 40 grams now. After simple multiplication, we can conclude that one or two pieces of silver is approximately equal to 220 yuan RMB. But is this the right answer?

Obviously, this is not rigorous. Today, silver is no longer used as our daily currency. The value reflected by silver is only the value of precious metal gold and silver itself, and other factors such as supply and demand, price level and silver output are not considered.

How much did the ancients earn?

In fact, there should be an intermediate unit of measurement to directly convert ancient silver into RMB. In ancient times, both ordinary people and government officials had to exchange money for rice. Then let's look at the income of all classes at that time. Generally speaking, apart from Zhu Yuanzhang's anti-corruption, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were pitiful on the surface. Generally speaking, these civil servants belong to the high-income class.