What was the usage of RMB during the Republic of China?

In Beijing 19 12, one ocean can buy 60 Jin of ordinary rice (Meng Tianpei and Gambo's "Prices, Wages and Living Standards in Beijing in Twenty-five Years", Peking University Publishing Department 1926 edition), and it can also provide six people with a mutton hot pot in Donglaishun (according to the second volume of Wu Yu Diary)

60*3= 180 yuan

? 19 14 In Shanghai, one ocean can buy 44 kilograms of rice, and five people can eat western food in a mid-range western restaurant (according to the memoir of a famous Hong Kong doctor Chen Cunren, Life History of the Silver Dollar Age).

44*3= 132

? 193 1 In the suburbs of Guangzhou in spring, one ocean can buy 25 Jin of rice or 20 Jin of beans (Yu Kun's Life in the Suburbs of Guangzhou, included in the series of Rural Life, application hall 1937 edition).

25*3=75 yuan

? 1937 In the summer of Chengdu, an ocean can buy 16 kg of rice, or 17 kg of flour, or 5 kg of pork, or 40 eggs, or 45 kg of green onions, or 47 kg of Chinese cabbage, or 5 kg of sugar (Wei Shudong's Study on Land Price and Rent in Chengdu is compiled in table/kloc-0.

16*3=48 yuan

19 1 1 year is relatively stable, and the food price is not very high, which can be regarded as a reasonable purchase price of silver dollars. 14 years later, warlords fought in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and food prices have been rising, so 1 silver dollar is about 200 RMB now.

? * Geographically, food prices in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities are relatively high, and the purchasing power of the sea is relatively low. For example, when Lu Xun settled in Beijing, an ocean could buy 50 or 60 Jin of rice, and later went to Shanghai, an ocean could only buy 20 Jin of rice (according to Lu Xun's diary).

In terms of time, the higher the food price, the lower the purchasing power of the ocean. For example, in Beijing, 19 15, an ocean can buy 20 Jin of flour, and by 1925, only 12 Jin of flour can be bought (according to the survey report of Meng Tianpei and Gambo, Prices, Wages and Living Standards in Beijing in Twenty-five Years).

Although the purchasing power of the ocean changes with the change of region and time, it is still a "valuable" hard currency. Whenever, wherever, whoever, as long as they spend dozens of dollars, they will buy a lot of good things Take Wu Yu, an anti-propriety fighter who was as famous as Lu Xun during the May 4th Movement. He has a wife and a concubine, several daughters, four servants, an old maid and a family of more than ten people. He lives a well-off life in Chengdu, and the whole family only needs 22 yuan to buy meat and vegetables for one month (according to Wu Yu's DiaryNo.1965438+June 20, 2004). Later, he came to Beijing and became a professor in Peking University. He invited Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi, Zhou Zuoren, Gu Jiegang, Qian Daosun and other colleagues to dinner and gave a big banquet at Donghua Hotel in Wangfujing Street. There are all kinds of rare dishes such as shark's fin and abalone, and a meal is only 25 yuan (according to Wu Yu's Diary No.65438+February 26th, 0922). Later, Wu Yu went to Shanghai, stayed in the most luxurious Far East Hotel in the British Concession, and asked for a luxury suite. The room rate is only one day in 5 yuan (according to Wu Yu Diary No.65438+June 24th, 0924).

In the early Republic of China, professors in Peking University lived a comfortable life. Every family employs a page, a nanny, even a cook and a driver. All in all, it only costs 30 yuan a month (according to Wu Yu's diary). After Lu Xun bought the second quadrangle in Xisantiao Hutong, Fuchengmen, Beijing, he moved in with his mother and his original wife Juan, and hired three old ladies to wait on him. Every old lady spends only two yuan a month except for food and accommodation (see Chapter 3 of Real Estate War of the Republic of China, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, 20 12). This shows that the purchasing power of the ocean is really strong, and it also shows that the income of the old lady was really low at that time.