As far as the wife is concerned, no matter how unpopular she and her husband are, he can't fool around and divorce her. And concubines can buy as long as they have money. The number of concubines mainly depends on a man's economic strength.
But with the economic strength of the poor in ancient times, it is a problem to eat and wear warm clothes. Can they afford concubines? In fact, in ancient times, concubinage was also strictly regulated. For example, in the Western Jin Dynasty, a prince could have eight concubines, and four concubines had one product and two products. The number of concubines decreased, and only one of the eight products could be accepted.
These rules are mainly aimed at officials, those rich people, and these legal constraints are very limited. The Ming dynasty also stipulated that men over 40 years old could have concubines without children, but in fact there were many violations, and concubinage was just like buying things.
In Hui Yuan, it is very direct: concubines are only for the handover of men and women. As long as your family agrees, sign a contract, write down the basic information, both parties sign, the price of buying a concubine, witnesses, and other information, and I can take it home. If a fierce wife in the family doesn't agree with your concubinage, a man can only have another concubine. This kind of woman is called concubine. In a word, nothing can stop a man from taking a concubine.
The exchange rate between copper coins, silver and gold is like the current foreign exchange price.
The same, always changing, not as clear as 1 yuan equals 100.
According to the following description:
"The price of gold and silver rose from 1600 to 1: 8 in the middle of the 20th century.
By the end of 18, it had doubled to 1: 20. "
It is known that 1 gold can be exchanged for about 8~ 1 1 silver. Then there is: "In the early years of Daoguang, one or two pieces of silver were exchanged for silver, that is, one thousand articles; By the time of the Opium War in the 20th year of Daoguang, one or two pieces of silver could be exchanged for sixteen thousand seven hundred pieces of silver. Since Xianfeng, the price of silver has soared, and one or two pieces of silver can be exchanged for as much as 22,300 pieces of silver. " It is known that under normal circumstances, 1 silver can be exchanged for about 1000~ 1500 copper. Ancient 1 penetration money or 1 hanging money was 1000 copper coins.
1, the price of gold is more stable than others, with emphasis on reference;
2. Now silver has been used as an industrial product, so the reference value of silver price is low;
3. Due to the rapid development of agricultural technology, the relative price of grain is much cheaper now than in ancient times;
4. Respect the ancient exchange ratio;
5. Round up the whole number to facilitate the transformation and establishment of perceptual knowledge. Therefore, the author suggests that it is convenient and wise to adopt the following conversion system when encountering ancient monetary units in the future:
1 two gold = 2000 yuan = 10 two silver.
1 two silver = RMB 200 yuan = 1000 = 1 customs (diao) money.
1 Qian Wen = RMB 0.2 yuan.
In addition: 1 stone rice = 1 two silver.
Generally speaking, the scarcer silver is, the more valuable it is. For thousands of years, the purchasing power of silver has gradually declined, and archaeological data give a rough comparison:
Tang dynasty: 1 silver is equivalent to 2000-4000 yuan now.
Mid-Northern Song Dynasty: 1 Silver is equivalent to 600 yuan-1.300 yuan now.
Mid-Ming Dynasty: 1 silver is equivalent to 600-800 yuan now.
Qing dynasty: 1 silver is equivalent to the present 150-220 yuan.
How much did it cost to buy a concubine in ancient times? In the Song Dynasty, my concubine's quotation was probably above 100 yuan, so how much RMB is this 100 yuan equivalent to? In the Song Dynasty, 1 was equivalent to 148 to 600 RMB. Take the 374 in the middle, and it will cost more than 37,000 RMB to buy concubines in the Song Dynasty.
The quotations of concubines in the Ming Dynasty ranged from 30 taels lower to thousands higher. Of course, the normal cost of a concubine is 100. The conversion of 1 silver in the Ming Dynasty was about 130 to 660 RMB. If you take the median, it will cost about 40 thousand yuan.
In Qing Dynasty, the average insured price was more than 100. Li Ciming recorded the expenses of buying concubines in detail in Yuemaotang Diary: the first time he spent 400 taels of silver, the second time he spent 130 taels, and the third time he spent 180 taels. According to one or two calculations, it is equivalent to 150-650 RMB, which is also more than 40,000 RMB.
Seeing how cheap it is, many people must think that ancient people are so happy that a Chery can take a concubine!
I think this can only show that the value of silver has become cheaper after it has withdrawn from circulation. How about changing the reference currency into gold?
Ancient gold and silver can be roughly converted according to the following proportions
1 two gold = 10 two silver = 10 copper coin = 10000 copper coin.
A detailed breakdown is as follows:
1 yuan ≈ 100 (80- 150 copper coins)
10 yuan = 1 two.
1 two silver =1000p.
1 two gold = 10 two silver
Consistent money = 1000 copper coins
The current prices of gold, silver and copper (RMB) are as follows:
Gold: 300 yuan/gram
Silver: 3 yuan/gram
Brass: 0.03 yuan/gram
The calculation results are as follows:
1 two gold: about 12000 yuan.
1 two silver: about 1200 yuan.
1 copper coin (1 paper money): about 0. 15 yuan.
If it is converted into gold according to the exchange rate of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the average price of concubinage is 200 taels of silver = 20 taels of gold (800g) ≈ the current 240,000 yuan, which is basically equal to the bride price of the second marriage in northern rural areas in 20 17 years.
According to this analysis, the purchasing power of silver has fallen sharply, and the purchasing power is about one tenth of the original; The value of gold, silver and copper coins ranged from 10 to 1 and now to 1.
The purchasing power of gold has not changed much, and the natural property of gold as a currency can stand the test of history. As the saying goes, the stronger the strong, the weaker the weak. The noble is always expensive, and the scarce is always scarce.
According to the weights and measures of the Tang Dynasty, a bucket in the Tang Dynasty was about six liters today, and the density of rice was about per liter 1. 5 kg, it is estimated that a small bag of 5 kg rice is a barrel. We calculate the price of ordinary rice in 30 yuan, that is, a Kaiyuan Bao Tong is equivalent to today's RMB 6 yuan (the calculation is inaccurate, with an error of 1~2 yuan).
Of course, this is converted from the rice price of Zhenguan for four years. If you want to buy a kitchen knife today in the Tang Dynasty, it will cost at least 10 thousand yuan ... because today's stainless steel kitchen knife is already a treasure knife in the Tang Dynasty. ...
Today's productivity is more than ten thousand times that of the Tang Dynasty. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the materials are extremely rich, and grain and cloth are in a state of relative surplus all the year round, so there is no scarcity. Therefore, the value of Kaiyuan Bao Tong in Tang Dynasty should be higher.
Only "women", a human resource, has little change compared with the number of men who need it, and can be used as a reference for studying economic changes in ancient and modern times. ?