We often see in costume dramas that in ancient times, rich families were all enslaved and lived luxuriously. Slaves were divided into three, six, and nine grades, with the highest status of serving the master, the second place of the janitor and running errands, and the lowest status of miscellaneous labor. Slaves are usually bought by the master, so how much did it cost to buy a servant during the Qing Dynasty?
According to the Qing Dynasty's "Law of Escape", in February of the forty-eighth year of Qianlong (1783), a merchant used 25 taels of silver to buy Zheng Rong, a native of Daxing County, his wife Liu Shi, his son-in-law Gao Shou'er, and his daughter Eryu as slaves, with an average of only 6.25 taels of silver per person. According to the purchasing power conversion at that time, 1 two silver is roughly equivalent to 200 yuan now, 25 two silver is 5000 yuan, which is equivalent to only 1250 yuan to buy a servant.
In February of the forty-eighth year of Qianlong, with Chen Heizi as a guarantee, with a body value of twenty-five taels of silver, Bai Qi bought Zheng Rong, a citizen of Daxing County, his wife Liu Shi, his son-in-law Gao Shou'er, and his daughter-in-law and four daughters as slaves--- Qing's "Law of Escape"
In the forty-eighth year of Qianlong, when the national strength of the Qing Dynasty was at its peak, the price of servants was still like this, and it is conceivable that in the period when the people were not happy, the price would naturally be even lower. In ancient times, the sale of slaves was a common thing, there were special trading markets everywhere, and slave trading needed to be signed by intermediaries (commonly known as human teeth) to sign a deed of sale, which was divided into white deeds and red deeds. A white deed is a contract that has no legal effect and is guaranteed by relatives and friends. A red deed is a contract that is recognized by the government with a seal and has legal effect, but the red deed needs to pay deed tax.
There is a story recorded in the "Awakening Marriage Record" that the tailor Shen Shanle needed to compensate the patron for 7 taels of silver because he had broken his clothes. Shen Tailor, because there was no silver to compensate, was forced to sell his 11-year-old daughter Xi Jie as a slave, and as a result, he took several families, the highest was only 4 taels, and finally the female good lady Chao bought Xi Jie with 5 taels of silver. It can be seen that in the Qing Dynasty, the price of ordinary slaves was roughly below 10 taels of silver.
In the face of famine years, poor families with no food can only sell their children and sell their daughters, not only to rely on the children's selling money to survive, but also for the sake of their children's livelihood. In the year of the great catastrophe, the exchange of a few burnt cakes for a slave can be seen everywhere. Of course, slaves are also divided into categories, and there are postures and beards, usually the price will be higher, dozens of pairs or even hundreds of pairs. Strong male servants are also more expensive than skinny and weak.
In ancient times, slaves were like commodities, they had no personal freedom, and their masters could punish or scold them at will, and if they were disliked by their masters, they would even be resold. In the Yongzheng Dynasty, Cui'er, Dog'er and Kan'er were all slaves who were sold from childhood, and later sold by the fourth master and brought to the capital. The dog and Cui'er violated the family rules and were privately engaged for life, and the fourth master heard the anger and prepared to send the two to miyun Zhuangzi to work as coolies. Fortunately, Wu Sidao helped him and persuaded the fourth master not to take this as an opportunity to send them to Sichuan with Nian Tangyao, which not only gave them grace, but also did not break the family rules, and could also be used as eyes and ears, which can be described as a strategy of killing three birds with one stone.
However, such a good thing is encounterable and unattainable, and most slaves live a dark life. Even if you want to redeem yourself, you must also get the consent of the owner, spend a lot of money, not to mention, after the redemption will still be pointed out, it is difficult to raise your head and be a person for a lifetime.