How much RMB does Empress Dowager Cixi need to maintain for an ordinary day?

According to the novel of the last inspector general of the Qing Dynasty, the daily expenses of Empress Dowager Cixi are about 42,000 silver, so how much is this 42,000 silver equivalent to the current RMB? I looked up the information. In the Qing dynasty, one or two pieces of silver were equivalent to the current 100 ~ 200 RMB, so 42,000 pieces of silver were between 4 million and 8 million.

silver

However, there is a problem here. In the late Qing Dynasty, especially in Cixi's later years, due to the influx of foreign silver, the Qing government's economy nearly collapsed, inflation, and the purchasing power of silver was greatly reduced. So considering this, the 42,000 silver at that time was equivalent to the current 1 10,000 to 2 million RMB.

What can Cixi do with so much money?

First, what is the daily expenditure of12 million?

1 10,000 ~ 2 million, many people will say that there are many rich people worth over 100 million now,12 million is not much, but you can think about it carefully. This is the daily expenses of Empress Dowager Cixi, not a special case. Travel, invite a guest, build a small building and so on. So the cost is already a huge sum. Now the salary of an ordinary person is only several thousand yuan.

the Queen

Second, eat and drink.

Anyone who has seen the richest tomato can feel that it is good to spend money when there is no money, but it is not easy to spend so much at once. So how did Empress Dowager Cixi spend the money?

This is mainly related to the ostentation and extravagance of Empress Dowager Cixi. Let's talk about the eating of Empress Dowager Cixi. Everyone has heard of a kind of ostentation and extravagance called Man-Han banquet, but in fact, few people have eaten it, that is, 108 dishes, and they are all extremely exquisite dishes. I'll tell you two dishes: bird's nest chicken soup, stewed pork knuckle with sea cucumber, rice rotten scarlet lips, pig brain, fake leopard fetus, steamed hump, steamed civet pear slices, and so on.

Think about 108 food, how big a table can be put down. 108, I said one of them. The favorite dish of Lafayette Cixi is duck tongue soup. To put it bluntly, I like duck tongue. Think about how many ducks have been fried with this duck tongue. Except this duck tongue, many other dishes are like this. Even Cixi needs servants to eat, and some eunuchs give her food. But this is not the fault of Empress Dowager Cixi. After all, is there much food?

Third, housing and transportation.

the Queen

The place where Empress Dowager Cixi lived may not be particularly luxurious in appearance, but it can't stand the exquisite decoration. Let's just say that whoever gets a small piece is equivalent to making a fortune. As a Lafayette, Cixi can't be small every day. There are dozens of ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs waiting beside her. Think about it. There are dozens of servants waiting around you every day. How much will it cost you? Having said that, I'm talking about the bath of Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi is a clean person. Taking a bath every day is not only a simple bath, but also a petal bath like a little girl. It's just that this petal has to be shipped from other places to choose from. In the end, more than half of it was lost, leaving only a little essence.

How much money is really not enough for such extravagance and waste? Think about the late Qing Dynasty, which is the most critical moment for the Chinese nation. The peasant uprising and the invasion of foreign forces led to poor livelihood of the people, and countless Li people did not have enough to eat, and their livelihood was difficult to discuss. The Empress Dowager Cixi still went her own way and had nothing to do with comparison. It is really too difficult for her to live her own free life. After his death, he was buried with a lot of gold, silver and jewels, but he was also remembered by grave robbers. So the jewels were robbed and the body was destroyed, which is the retribution of Empress Dowager Cixi!