How much was one or two pieces of silver worth in ancient times?
In ancient times, how much one or two pieces of silver were worth, many people now have no concept. Especially in the extreme of contemporary TV dramas, there are actually two steamed buns and a bowl of soup 5 two silver, a young grandmother gambling and losing ten million two silver, and so on, which are ridiculous plots, showing the current ignorance and insanity of China's creators to what extent, to know that the annual income of the national treasury during the Wanli calendar year only reached 2 million taels, and it is also a figure that the national treasury income is rich after Zhang Juzheng's reform.
Even masters such as Jin Yong do not seem to have conducted in-depth research on the monetary value of silver and silver. Everyone should remember that Guo Jing first met Huang Rong, was slaughtered by her, and the result was "a checkout, a total of nineteen hundred and twenty-seven dollars and four cents."
Looking at some ancient books, you can find that the monetary value of one or two pieces of silver is actually quite high.
In "Dream of the Red Chamber", Grandma Liu saw a meal of crabs in Jia Province for 24 taels of silver, and sighed that small households can live for a year. You must know that Liu Grandma's family was also middle-class at that time, had a house and land, and could afford to hire workers, and the first time she went to Jia Province to fight the autumn wind, she got 20 taels of silver, and she was very grateful.
In the "History of Ming", it is mentioned that the seven pinzhi county's one-year legitimate salary (basic salary) is only 45 taels of silver. In the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, the circulation of silver was still lower than that of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and its value could only be higher, and these 19 two more meals, no matter how rare the delicacies seemed to be too much.
Because the monetary value of silver and silver of each dynasty is different, then the general calculation of the value of ancient coins is now calculated by general equivalent exchange, and for Chinese, the people's livelihood commodity that has remained unchanged for thousands of years is rice. The following is based on the rice price record of the Taiping Period, and a rough calculation is made, which can roughly lead to the answer to the monetary value of silver and silver.
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History records that one or two silver in the Ming Dynasty can buy rice and two stones of general quality, one stone at that time was about 94.4 kilograms, and one or two silver could buy 188.8 kilograms of rice, that is, 377.6 kilograms. At present, the rice eaten by ordinary families in the mainland is between 1.5 yuan and 2 yuan per kilogram, calculated at the median price of 1.75 yuan, which can be calculated: one or two silver in the Ming Dynasty = 660.8 yuan.
Because the story of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is based on the Qing Dynasty, the living conditions are modeled on the Ming Dynasty, let alone the silver value of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Grandma got a New Year's fee of more than 13,000 yuan, of course, she was very happy; and Guo Jing paid more than 12,000 yuan for a meal, or in a small place like Zhangjiakou, too exaggerated. Even if Guo Jing is stupid, but he comes from a poor background, it is impossible not to know the value of money, and Huang Rong is even more unlikely to be slaughtered by the shopkeeper.
If this silver or two were to be obtained from the Tang Dynasty, it would be even more frighteningly high in terms of purchasing power. Tang Taizong Zhenguan period of material civilization is greatly enriched, a bucket of rice only sells 5 yuan, usually one or two silver folded 1000 yuan copper coin (also known as consistent), you can buy 200 buckets of rice, 10 buckets for a stone, that is, 20 stones, a stone in the Tang Dynasty is about 59 kilograms, to today's general rice price of 1.75 yuan a pound calculation, one or two silver equivalent to 4130 yuan of purchasing power.
During the first year of Tang Xuanzong's new year, the price of rice rose to 10 yuan and one bucket, which was also one or two pieces of silver = 2065 yuan.
According to the "Song History Food Goods Chronicle" mentioned that "before Xi and Feng, the rice stone was only 6700" and the "Song Shi Guan zhi" "each bucket (meter) folded money for thirty texts", let's take 2,000 copper coins to fold silver into one or two, the price of rice in the Taiping period was 1 stone 600-300 yuan (before and after the Jing Kang Rebellion to the early Southern Song Dynasty, there were one or two silver and one stone rice, which was not in the normal calculation range).
1 two can basically buy 4-8 stones of rice, calculated by 66 kilograms of Song Shi, 1 pair of silver is equivalent to nearly 924-1848 yuan; (a song stone is 96 kg, it is equivalent to 1 pair of silver 672-1344 yuan). Assuming that the silver price of the Southern Song Dynasty was similar to that of the Northern Song Dynasty, then Guo Jing invited Huang Rong to eat as little as 13,000 yuan or more than 30,000 yuan for a meal, and it was no wonder that the little girl was suddenly moved to a mess.
The purchase value of silver in the early Qing Dynasty was slightly lower than that of the Ming Dynasty, but in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, due to the influx of a large number of foreign silver two into China, according to statistics, before the Opium War, more than 70 hundredths of the world's silver production was used to buy porcelain, silk, tea and other products produced in China, and the monetary value of silver two fell to less than one-third of the Ming Dynasty, that is, one or two silver = about 200 yuan. At that time, in addition to the traditional Chinese "silver two", silver coins from Western countries also appeared on the market circulation, which was called "silver ocean".
In summary, on the question of "how much is one or two pieces of silver worth in rmb", it can basically be concluded that:
One or two pieces of silver are worth RMB——
Middle and late Qing Dynasty around 150-220 yuan;
Middle Ming Dynasty 600-800 yuan;
The middle of the Northern Song Dynasty 600 yuan - 1300 yuan (or 1000 - 1800 yuan);
During the Tang Dynasty, 2000-4000 yuan.
It should be added that before the Song Dynasty, the total amount of silver was too small and too high, and it had not yet become a circulating currency (think about it, take a paper currency with a denomination of more than 2,000 yuan to the market to buy things... ), only existed in the court rewards and accounting settlement, such as taxes, state payments (such as the amount of "silver money" sent to Jin, Western Xia, etc.), in fact, before the Ming Dynasty, the market circulation used copper coins (paper money appeared in parts of the Northern Song Dynasty).
Silver became the circulating currency only after the Ming and Qing dynasties were active in foreign trade and the influx of foreign silver.
But why in the minds of many people have always thought that silver two is the historical circulation of money, the author believes that the main reason is because of the prevalence of Ming and Qing novels, according to the living conditions at that time as a common sense to describe the previous dynasty, such as "Water Margin", "Three Words and Two Beats", etc., and the value of silver in these works are based on the price of silver in the Ming Dynasty, mixed with the original currency units such as Wen, Guan, Zhen, Baht, etc., and have a great impact on future generations, so people write more historical novels and martial arts novels based on ancient China, martial arts novels such as "Shooting Eagle" And other books also follow the ancient circulating currency as "silver two".
But after all, modern people are farther away than the people of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and their understanding of the monetary system of the former dynasty and the actual purchasing power of silver and silver is even less insufficient, and there will often be sky-high-priced steamed buns and sky-high wine and vegetables, and serious readers or viewers should have a clearer understanding of the value of "silver two" out of curiosity about the ancient economic situation.