What could a piece of ocean buy during the Republic of China?

The people of the Republic of China have seen much more money than we modern people have seen.

To say that people in the Republic of China saw a lot of money does not mean that they were rich, but that they saw many types of money.

As a modern person, in addition to the RMB, you can also see the US dollar, the pound, the euro, the Hong Kong dollar, the mark, the ruble, the New Taiwan dollar, and the Vietnamese dong. But seeing modern people who are well-informed, at best they can only see A dozen or dozens of kinds of money. In the Republic of China, you could see hundreds of kinds of money without even going abroad.

Take the Beijingers during the May 4th Movement as an example. They could see the silver dollar "Yuan Datou" with the image of Yuan Shikai printed on it. They could see the silver dollar "Sun Datou" with the image of Sun Yat-sen printed on it. The Mexican silver dollar "Eagle Ocean" is printed with an eagle and a snake, the British silver dollar "Zhan Yang" is printed with the goddess of Britain, and the late Qing Dynasty silver dollar "Long Yang" with the words "Guangxu Yuanbao" written on it. You can even see those cast in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas. In addition to the "Haoyang" silver coins with a face value of two cents or one dime, and the "Changyang" silver coins with a face value of one yuan minted by the Sichuan military government, these silver coins, which are bright and jingling, can also be used in large transactions such as real estate transactions. You can see ingots of fifty liang or ten taels, and you can see a large number of copper coins in small transactions such as daily necessities. There are many kinds of copper coins, including Kangxi Tongbao, Qianlong Tongbao, Jiaqing Tongbao and Tongzhi Tongbao. , there are coins with a face value of one cent, and there are also "big coins" with a face value of ten cents and fifty cents. Silver coins, ingots and copper coins are all metal currencies. In addition to these metal currencies, paper currencies can also be seen, such as in major banks. Money notes issued by major banks, "Haoyang Vouchers" issued by the National Government in the south, "Dayang Vouchers" issued by the Beiyang Government in the north, "China Communications Vouchers" issued by the Bank of Communications, "Haoyang Vouchers" issued by the Agricultural Bank of China "New Banknotes", "Zhengjin Banknotes" issued by Japan's Zhengjin Bank, and "HSBC Banknotes" issued by Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. In addition, at that time, warlords were divided and there were many princes. Almost every province had its own set of currency. There are dozens of types of banknotes flowing into Beijing from all over the country.

This shows that the monetary system in the Republic of China was too confusing, and the types of currencies at that time were too complicated, no matter how confusing and complicated they were. , the four types of silver coins, such as "Yuan Datou", "Sun Datou", "Long Yang" and "Ying Yang", can still stand out among various currencies and can be recognized by residents all over the country and even overseas, and regardless of the subsequent circulation of banknotes However large, their purchasing power has not changed drastically. They have always been very "valuable" currencies and have always been welcomed by buyers and sellers.

In the Republic of China, this was a very "valuable" currency. The four kinds of silver coins are affectionately called "Dayang".

The types of Dayang are different and have different shapes, but they all weigh about 0.72 taels (two in the late Qing Dynasty, 37 grams per tael) and contain silver. The amount is around 0.65 taels, so the purchasing power is roughly the same. At the same time and in the same place, buying something with a "Yuan Datou" is not as good as using a "Long Yang" or a "Ying Yang" There is no difference in what you can buy.

So, what kind of things could a piece of ocean buy during the Republic of China?

In Beijing in 1912, a piece of ocean could buy 60 kilograms of ordinary food. Rice (Meng Tianpei and Gan Bo's "Prices, Wages and Living Standards in Beijing in the Past Twenty-Five Years", Peking University Press, 1926 edition) can also feed 6 people to eat a mutton hotpot in Donglaishun (according to the second volume of "Wu Yu's Diary" , Sichuan People's Publishing House, 1986 edition).

In Shanghai in 1914, a piece of ocean could buy 44 kilograms of rice, which could also feed 5 people to have a Western meal at a mid-range Western restaurant (according to the memoirs of Chen Cunren, a famous Hong Kong doctor). Life History in the Silver Dollar Era").

In the spring of 1931, in the suburbs of Guangzhou, a piece of ocean could buy 25 kilograms of rice or 20 kilograms of beans (Yu Kun's "Life in the Suburbs of Guangzhou," included in "Rural Life Series", 1937 edition of the Shenpai Museum).

In the summer of 1937 in Chengdu, a piece of ocean could buy 16 kilograms of rice, or 17 kilograms of flour, or 5 kilograms of pork, or 40 eggs, or 45 kilograms of green onions, or 47 kilograms of cabbage, or 5 pounds of white sugar (Table 1 "Chengdu City Sales Price List in June and July of the Year 27" under Wei Shudong's "Research on Land Prices and House Rent in Chengdu", included in Volume 77 of "Mainland China Land Issues in the 1920s" , photocopied version of Taiwan Chengwen Publishing House in 1977).

From a geographical point of view, food prices in cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou are relatively high, while the purchasing power of the ocean is relatively low. For example, when Lu Xun settled in Beijing, a piece of ocean could buy fifty or sixty kilograms of rice. After arriving in Shanghai, a piece of ocean could only buy 20 kilograms of rice (according to Lu Xun's diary).

From a time point of view, the price of food becomes more and more expensive as time goes by, and the purchasing power of Da Yang becomes lower and lower. For example, in Beijing, a piece of ocean could buy 20 kilograms of flour in 1915, but in 1925, it could only buy 12 kilograms of flour (according to the survey report "Prices, Wages and Living Standards in Beijing in the Past Twenty-Five Years" by Meng Tianpei and Gambo ).

Although the purchasing power of Dayang changes with the change of region and time, it is still a "valuable" hard currency. No matter when, no matter where, no matter who, as long as a few dozen dollars of Dayang are spent. , you can definitely buy a lot of good stuff. Take Wu Yu, an anti-ethical fighter who was as famous as Lu Xun during the May Fourth Movement, for example. He had a wife, concubines, several daughters, four servants and an old woman, and a family of more than ten people. They lived a well-off life in urban Chengdu. In one month, the whole family only spent 22 yuan on meat and vegetables (according to Wu Yu's diary on June 20, 1914). Later, he came to Beijing and worked as a professor at Peking University. He invited Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi, Zhou Zuoren, Gu Jiegang, Qian Daosun and other colleagues to dinner. He held a grand banquet at Donghua Hotel on Wangfujing Street, including shark's fin, abalone and other expensive dishes. The meal only cost 25 yuan (according to Wu Yu’s diary on February 26, 1922). Later, Wu Yu traveled to Shanghai and stayed at the most luxurious hotel in the British Concession, the Far East Hotel, for a night. He asked for a high-end suite and the daily room rate was only 5 yuan (according to Wu Yu's diary on June 24, 1924).

In the early days of the Republic of China, professors at Peking University lived a comfortable life. Every family hired servants, nannies, and even cooks and coachmen. All in all, it only cost 30 oceans a month in wages (still According to Wu Yu’s diary). After Lu Xun bought his second courtyard house in Xisantiao Hutong, Fuchengmen, Beijing, he took his mother and his first wife, Zhu An, to live there, and hired three old ladies to serve them. The monthly wages only cost two oceans (for details, see Chapter 3 of my book "The Real Estate War of the Republic of China", Shanghai Joint Publishing Company, 2012 edition). This shows that Dayang’s purchasing power is indeed very strong, and it also shows that my mother’s income was indeed very low at that time.

(Source: Internet).