In A Dream of Red Mansions, Granny Liu saw the Jia family eat crabs for 24 taels of silver and lamented that the small family could live for one year. You know, Granny Liu's family was also middle class at that time. She has a house and land, and can afford to hire a worker's maid. The first time I went to Jiafu for a windfall, I got twenty taels of silver, which I am very grateful for. "Ming History" also mentioned that the legal salary (basic salary) of Qipin County for one year is only 45 taels of silver. In the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, the circulation of silver was lower than that of Ming and Qing Dynasties, and its value could only be higher. This 19 double meal, however rare, seems too much.
Due to the different monetary value of silver in different dynasties, the common equivalent exchange method is generally used to calculate the value of ancient coins. For China people, rice is an eternal commodity for people's livelihood. Based on the record of rice price in Taiping years, we can roughly calculate the monetary value of silver.
According to historical records, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, one tael of silver could buy two taels of rice of average quality. At that time, one or two ounces of rice was about 94.4 kilograms, and one or two ounces of silver could buy 188.8 kilograms of rice, which was 377.6 kilograms. At present, the rice eaten by ordinary families in China is between 5 yuan and 2 yuan per catty1. Based on the median price 1.75 yuan, it can be calculated that one or two pieces of silver in the Ming Dynasty = 660.8 yuan. Because the story of A Dream of Red Mansions is set in the Qing Dynasty, but the living conditions are set in the Ming Dynasty, let's calculate the silver value of the Ming Dynasty. Granny Liu is of course very happy to get more than 13 thousand yuan in the New Year. Guo Jing, on the other hand, spent more than 12,000 yuan for a meal, still in a small place like Zhangjiakou, which is too exaggerated. Even if Guo Jing is stupid again, he was born in poverty, so it is impossible for him not to know the value of money, and it is even more impossible for Huang Rong to be killed by the store.
If these two pieces of silver were obtained in the Tang Dynasty, the purchasing power would be higher. During the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong, material civilization was extremely rich. A barrel of rice costs only 5p. Usually, one or two pieces of silver can be converted into 1 0,000 copper coins (also called consistency), and you can buy 200 buckets of rice, and 10 bucket is 20 stones. A stone in the Tang Dynasty was about 59 kilograms. At today's average rice price 1.75 yuan a catty, one stone. During the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the price of rice rose to 10, which was also one or two pieces of silver = 2065 yuan.
The biggest problem lies in the Song Dynasty, mainly because the coin system in the Song Dynasty was extremely chaotic and its records were full of contradictions. In the Song Dynasty, "money" was the currency in circulation. Due to the rapid social and economic development in the Song Dynasty, the industry and commerce were unprecedentedly developed, the demand for money was unprecedentedly strong, and the output and import of silver were not high. At that time, there was no government macro-control organization like the central bank, which caused a very chaotic situation. We know that in general dynasties, 1000 yuan was the same, which was equal to one or two pieces of silver, but this was not the case in the Song Dynasty. Both the History of Grain and Goods in Song Dynasty and Zi Zhi Tong Jian mentioned that since Zhenzong, the stock of silver was too small to keep up with the economic development, and the price of silver kept rising. Basically, more than 2,000 copper coins were used as one or two pieces of silver. Moreover, the "money law" in the Song Dynasty was very chaotic. At that time, copper coins, iron coins and lead-tin coins were in circulation at the same time, and each state had the right to make its own coins. There are also cases of private money casting. The money varies in size, composition is inappropriate, value is changeable, and it is "made at any time", which is very chaotic. Sichuan and Shaanxi use iron coins, and ten coins are exchanged for a copper coin. The money circulating in Jiangnan and Jiangbei is different. I'm not sure how much money there is. There are 800 or 850 and 480. I have to send a letter to 770, and the States are "doing their own things for their own use", which is a complete mess.
According to the Records of Foodstuffs in the History of Song Dynasty, "Before Feng, there were only 600 to 700 taels of rice and stones" and the Records of Officials in the History of Song Dynasty, "30 yuan for each bucket (meter)", let's just take 2000 copper coins as one tael of silver. The price of rice in Taiping period 1 stone, 600 to 300 yuan (from before and after the Jingkang Rebellion to the early Southern Song Dynasty) 1 two can basically buy 4-8 stone rice. Calculated by 66 kg, 1 2 is equivalent to nearly 924- 1848 yuan. (Turquoise weighs 96 Jin, equivalent to RMB 1 two silver 672- 1344 yuan). Assuming that the price of silver in the Southern Song Dynasty is similar to that in the Northern Song Dynasty, Guo Jing invited Huang Rong to dinner for at least 13,000 yuan. No wonder the little girl was moved at once.
What needs to be added is that before the Song Dynasty, the total amount of silver was too small and its value was too high, and it had not yet become a currency in circulation (think about it, take a banknote with a face value of more than 2,000 yuan to buy things in the market ...), and it only existed in court awards and accounting settlement, such as taxes and state payments (such as the amount of silver and silk given to Jin and Xixia). In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, copper coins were used in the market circulation (paper money appeared in some areas of the Northern Song Dynasty) only after the foreign trade was active in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and foreign silver poured in. But why do many people always think that silver is a traditional currency in circulation? I think it's mainly because novels in Ming and Qing dynasties are popular, and they all describe the former dynasties according to the living conditions at that time, such as Water Margin, Jin Ping Mei, San Yan Er Pai and so on. The silver value in these works is based on the silver price in Ming Dynasty, which is different from the original currencies such as Wen, Guan, Jin and Zhu. But after all, modern people are farther away than Ming and Qing dynasties, and they know less about the previous monetary system and the actual purchasing power of silver coins, which often leads to sky-high steamed buns and sky-high dining tables. Serious readers or viewers should have a clearer understanding of the value of silver coins out of curiosity about the ancient economic situation.