Shooting by Americans: What is the situation of Shanghai under the inflation of 1947?

In the thirty-sixth year of the Republic of China (1947), inflation and soaring prices made the boss unwilling to sell a bowl of noodles and a pile of paper money at the food stall. In the streets, I often hear such a sentence: this world! Carrying a bag of money, but not buying a bag of rice.

When I was a child, I often heard the older generation say that money in wartime was worthless. Sometimes, a bag of money can't replace rice for a family. We haven't experienced that era and don't know that kind of helplessness. But according to what people say now, that is inflation.

What is inflation! This estimate needs to be explained by experts. A veteran who is not an expert can only say that there is a superficial understanding that the government has printed too much money. For example, people in a country have 10,000 Jin of rice at home, and the currency in circulation is 10,000 yuan, so rice should be one yuan per Jin. But when the government opens a printing factory to print 10000 yuan, there will be 20000 yuan in circulation, while rice is still 10000 Jin. So the price per kilogram is 50 cents. On the other hand, 5000 kilograms of rice will become the government's.

So some economists say? Is inflation an open theft from the people by the government? Although the government has not levied a penny tax on bridge construction, inflation itself is a tax, which is the most vicious one. It affects everyone unequally.

Of course, every country that wants to make progress will control inflation, but at the same time, inflation can also bring pleasure to the government. Like opium, it gets out of hand when you touch it. At the end of World War I, Germany had to pay huge war compensation because of its defeat. The government has no money, so it has to start printing machines. For every dollar printed by the government, the wealth of ordinary people will be sucked away. In this vicious circle, we will not treat money as money. Money should be spent quickly. Without money, borrowing money will cost more than making money. So once on this track, the government has no time to take care of it. Therefore, when a German newspaper sells 70 million marks, it is terrible to think about it.

Many inflation is caused by war or inappropriate political changes. During the Republic of China, China also experienced painful inflation from 65438 to 0947. It is said that there were 20 million barrels of rice and 200,000 cigarettes! It costs a lot of money to buy a pack of cigarettes.

American life magazine war photographer Mark? Kaufman captured the inflation scene in Shanghai at that time.