The Beiyang government gave Puyi four million two silver dollars a year, what could it do? First of all, it is impossible for Puyi to use this money to recruit soldiers and buy horses, because he is very closely monitored, but he uses this money to buy people's hearts, how much purchasing power does this money have? Listen to JAL Jun's breakdown below.
I. Preferential Conditions for Clearing the Room
We have to start with the "Preferential Conditions for Clearing the House".
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Nanjing Provisional Government and the Qing government negotiated and agreed on the conditions for the abdication of the Qing Emperor. After consultations between the North and the South and the deputies, the Provisional Government of Nanjing sent an amendment to the Qing government on February 9, 1912, on the preferential conditions for the abdication of the Qing Emperor. On the 12th, Empress Longyu approved this condition on behalf of the Qing court, and announced it the next day, announcing the abdication of the Qing Emperor.
That is to say, at that time, in order to let Puyi abdicate at ease, this "Preferential Conditions for Clearing the Room" was introduced. After his abdication, Puyi could not only live in the Forbidden City, but also enjoy a large number of grants given to him by the Republic of China government, which were four million taels. There is a provision in it as follows:
"The Qing Emperor's annual expenditure of 4 million taels was allocated by the government of the Republic of China."
Through this clause, Puyi spent four million a year. So how many four million two silver dollars are there? Let's take a look at the purchasing power of this silver dollar during the Republic of China.
Second, what is the average wage level in the Republic of China?
First of all, we need to clarify what the silver dollar refers to here. I speculate that what should be said is "Yuan Datou".
In 1914, Yuan Shikai promulgated the "National Currency Regulations" and the "Implementation Rules of the National Currency Regulations" in the name of the President in Beijing, stipulating that the "circle" was a price unit, and each silver dollar weighed six dollars and four quarters and eight cents of pure silver in Kuping.
In December of the same year, the Tianjin Mint began minting silver dollars engraved with the head of Yuan Shikai. After 1915, the provinces imitated casting, and by 1923, a total of 75 million pieces had been cast.
Therefore, I think that during this period, Puyi can receive "4 million Yuan Datou" a year. So how valuable is this "Yuan Datou"?
When Yuan Datou was first issued, a silver dollar could be exchanged for 180 copper plates, and since then, due to exchange rate fluctuations, one Yuan Datou can be exchanged for more than 300 copper plates. We look at the purchasing power of silver dollars in combination with some of the living materials of people at that time. In the "History of Life in the Silver Dollar Age", it is recorded:
"In the third year of the Republic of China, I received a private school education, and one of the teachers I invited was Xiucai, with a monthly salary of twelve yuan." "In the third year of the Republic of China, my father went to a large silk shop to work as a general ledger room, with a monthly salary of ten yuan."
That is to say, occupations such as school teachers and general ledgers were medium occupations at that time, and the monthly salary was about a dozen silver dollars, and it was only more than a hundred silver dollars a year. This belonged to the medium occupation, which can be said to belong to the higher income type of occupation at that time, and it was only more than a hundred silver dollars a year.
Since then, in the early years of the Republic of China, Tsinghua professor Didenmai has investigated the income of ordinary residents in Beijing, of which the income of the lowest level of Beijing residents is 1.66 silver dollars per month; the income of servants in Beijing Duan Mansions, workers on construction sites, and partners in hotels is about 2 silver dollars per month.
This is the salary level of the people at the bottom of society, which hovers around 2 silver dollars per month.
After that, Chen Duxiu invited Hu Shi to teach at Peking University, and the salary offered to him was 300 silver yuan per month, and the salary of university professors at that time was basically 200-300 silver yuan per month. This is the income of the upper echelons of society.
Therefore, we can see that at that time, the bottom of the society earned 2 silver dollars a month and 24 silver dollars a year; the middle-class people in the society earned 10 silver dollars a month and 120 silver dollars a year; and the upper-class people in society earned 200 silver dollars a month and 2400 silver dollars a year. Mr. Puyi earned 333,000 silver dollars in January and 4 million silver dollars a year.
That is to say, Puyi's annual salary is at the top of 167,000 people at the bottom of society; the annual salary of 33,000 middle-level people in society; and the salary of 1,667 people in the upper class of society.
To tell the truth, this preferential treatment regulation is really good and kind to Puyi.
How much can a silver dollar do?
As we said above, the bottom of society at that time was 2 silver dollars a month, that is to say, 1 silver dollar was their living expenses for half a month. According to the "Economic History of the Republic of China", in Beijing in 1919, 1 silver dollar could buy 20 kilograms of rice and 8 kilograms of pork, which is equivalent to about 336 yuan - 749 yuan if calculated according to our current purchasing power.
From this point of view, the monthly income of the bottom of the society is 600-1400 hundred yuan, the monthly income of the middle-level personnel is 3500-7400 yuan, and the monthly income of the upper social personnel is 60000-140000 yuan.
Puyi's monthly income is 9 million yuan - 21 million yuan.
At that time, it cost about 2 silver dollars to buy a waiting party, and about 400 silver dollars to buy a good house. You can make up your own brain.
Text: JAL Tongjian Map: From the Network and The Site, Invasion and Deletion