In ancient times, most of the money used by people was gold, silver, copper or silver tickets, and in the modern Republic of China period, the most famous is the "ocean", that is, the silver dollar, and the silver dollar in different periods, its real purchasing power is different.
In addition to differences according to the time, the value of the ocean at that time will also vary according to its specific color, because there was more than one kind of ocean at that time, and many warlords would issue their own silver dollars, which should be specifically distinguished.
In the Beiyang period, according to the records of the time, in Shanghai in 1914, a piece of ocean could buy at least 22 kilograms of medium rice, and if it was converted according to the current price of rice, a piece of ocean was at least one hundred and fifty yuan.
At that time, the purchasing power of a piece of ocean was still very high, and the newly hired professors at Peking University in the early 20s ate the best package of the school every month, and the monthly cost did not exceed nine oceans, and six or seven people ate shabu lamb to eat support, and it was only one ocean.
During the Republic of China period, the monthly salary of a university professor was between three hundred and four hundred oceans, and the monthly salary of ordinary professors was between two hundred and three hundred oceans, and the first best-selling book of Mao Dun in 1918 brought him four hundred oceans.
At that time, scholars and other intellectuals were an absolute high-income group, and compared with their rich income, the price at that time was really very low, so the educated people usually had a very good life at that time.
In 1918, if you want to rent a house in the Dongcheng District of Beijing, the whole set of large-sized courtyards in the best location is only twenty or thirty yuan per month, and a full professor at that time spent less than two years of salary to buy a set of high-end courtyards in Beijing.
However, during the Republic of China, while the salaries of university teachers and professors were very high, the income of primary and secondary school teachers was generally more than ten oceans per month, and the income of other groups was far inferior to that of teachers as a high-income group.
During the Republic of China period, an ocean was equal to ten corners, and it was equal to one hundred points, which was equal to a thousand centimeters, and the so-called one piece of money was just a copper plate, usually speaking, it was a thousand dollars, which was exchanged for an ocean.
Although the "masters" and warlords of the Republic of China did not look at a piece of ocean at all, and the vast majority of the people at that time, a piece of ocean was money that could save lives, and the rickshaw drivers in Shanghai could often earn a dime of the ocean after a whole day's hard work.
Considering these aspects comprehensively, it is actually not easy to say how much money an ocean is equivalent to today during the Republic of China, and simply using the price of rice and other items to convert, it seems that an ocean is not as valuable as imagined.
However, the purchasing power of an ocean during the Republic of China period was quite strong, and the monthly expenditure of many poor families was only at the level of one or two oceans, which shows that the value of an ocean at that time was much higher than we imagined.
In many film and television works, people in the Republic of China period will blow it after getting the ocean, listen to the sound, and this is actually a way to identify the authenticity and color of the ocean at that time, the ocean with high silver content, blowing up will have a sound.
At that time, the ocean was divided into many kinds, the early silver dollar was the Spanish silver dollar, the Qing Dynasty had the local silver dollar, and the Republic of China period had the so-called "national currency", and various warlords also issued silver dollars within their own territory.
In the early days of the Republic of China, an ocean could buy more than twenty kilograms of rice or more than thirty kilograms of flour, but over time, the price of all items was rising, and the purchasing power of the ocean was constantly declining.
In Shanghai in the 1930s, a piece of ocean could only buy about 15 kilograms of rice, or four or five kilograms of pork, or six feet of cotton, and during this period, the value of an ocean had fallen to the equivalent of more than thirty yuan today.