Did the Song Dynasty have silver How much was 500,000 taels of silver in the Song Dynasty?

With the development of commodity exchange, commodities from general equivalents were gradually concentrated on metals, mainly gold, silver and copper. The earliest metal currency in China was copper coinage, which was widely used from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Western Han Dynasty, ** was the main currency.

In the Song Dynasty, **, became the main currency, and circulated together with copper coins until the 30s of the 20th century.

The main currency of the Song Dynasty was copper coins, the reason is: China lacked silver ore at that time, and it was not until the Ming and Qing dynasties that China obtained more ** through imports. But there are also some merchants who use ** for transactions.

The Song Dynasty ** is not the main currency in circulation, so you have to be in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, don't be misled by TV dramas.

The main currency in circulation in the Song Dynasty was paper money, that is, silver tickets, and there was already silver at that time, but in the end, most of them were used to make silverware or jewelry**, and iron was not used to mint coins, so every household could use the iron cast pot to stir-fry and eat.

It seems to be Jiaozi. At that time, there was still silver. When the emperor of the Tang Dynasty rewarded him, there was silver in it.

A white sound in foreign countries appeared around the millennium BC, the appearance of gold was earlier, but compared with **, for the dominant position, until the 18th and 19th centuries, only than occupied a major position in the currency of Western Europe, at the beginning of the 20th century, in the world's major industrialized countries, the currency material was monopolized by **.

Summary. 500,000 taels of silver can be equivalent to 50 million yuan now.

In the Song Dynasty, the so-called "缗" was not the silver referred to by the Lingshan Sui Ruler, it originally referred to the rope that strung copper coins, and later used to refer to a string of money. There should be a thousand copper coins in this series of theories, that is, a thousand Wen, which was called consistent or a thread in ancient times.

However, the Song people also have the habit of so-called "provincial strangers", and a single wisp may only have seven or eight hundred words or even less to tease. As for the silver, the Song people rarely circulated as a positive currency, and there was no standard for the conversion of it and copper coins at this time.

At that time, one coin was equivalent to a thousand copper coins.

500,000 taels of silver can be equivalent to 50 million yuan now.

We often see consumption scenes in those costume film and television dramas, and Xiao Er will always smile and say, guest officer, this costs one or two silver. Silver is a very widely circulated currency, not as precious as **, but far more valuable than copper coins, and there are too many things that can be bought with one or two silvers. The purchasing power of a tael of silver in each dynasty is different, some are more and some are less, so how much is a tael of silver in the Qing Dynasty equivalent to now?

When paying in TV dramas, I often take out a silver ingot and say I don't need to look for it, Xiao Er happily took it, that's really happy, this is equivalent to me going to dinner at noon and eating five yuan of fried noodles, and then I took a coin worth 10,000 yuan to Xiao Er and said I don't need to look for it, do you think Xiao Er will be happy? Of course, the value of this ingot of silver may vary depending on the age, composition, and silver content, in fact, the value of one or two pieces of silver in the Qing Dynasty is different in various places and periods.

In terms of purchasing power, one tael of silver in the Qing Dynasty can be exchanged for 1,000 copper coins, once the rice needs 600 to 700 yuan, according to the current price of rice 3 yuan a catty, once the rice needs 510 yuan, that is to say, one tael of silver is less than 1,000 yuan. And now the price of silver is about yuan, a tael of silver is only 170 yuan, so in comparison, our cost of living is much higher than in ancient times, of course, the Qing Dynasty used 16 taels, we used 10 taels system, so it is very inappropriate to use the current silver price to compare ancient times.

1 tael of silver = 1 copper coin = 300 yuan.

The purchasing power of ancient currencies such as gold, silver, and copper has always been a topic of interest. This gossip also converts the currency of the Song Dynasty into today's renminbi in a modern context. The master of Wuzhai was not an expert in the study of Song Dynasty currency, and it was obviously impossible to make a completely accurate conversion.

Only a rough estimate can be given here, so that the reader can have a basic idea.

Generally speaking, ancient currencies were basically gold, silver, and copper coins (in fact, copper-containing alloys) as the main currency. The silver standard of the Song Dynasty and the later Ming and Qing dynasties was different, it was a copper standard, copper coins were the main currency, and gold and silver were not used as currency. The basic unit of copper coins is "Wen", and "Guan(缗)", which has always been 1,000 Wen.

When the Song Dynasty was financially tight, there were 800 Wen and 850 Wen as the same situation. In addition, there are disguised inflations such as two dollars, three dollars, and ten dollars. For example, in the section where Yang Zhi killed Niu Er, Niu Er used to be three coins to let Yang Zhi try the knife, and when three coins as the name suggests, one money is regarded as three coins, and Cai Jing even used ten coins when he was the prime minister.

To simplify our calculations, fasting masters ignore these factors.

This assumption is often used when discussing ancient currencies, which is:

1 tael ** = 10 taels ** = 10 copper coins = 10,000 copper coins.

Although the mutual exchange rate of gold, silver and copper has been fluctuating, this assumption should basically be reasonable. Mr. Wang Zengyu, an expert on contemporary Song Dynasty history, in the chapter 7 "Overcoming the Xianghan Dynasty" in his "New Biography of Yue Fei", once mentioned that the imperial court gave Yue Fei the provincial tale of rotten shirts: "Fourth, pay 60,000 stone rice and 400,000 yuan for military supplies.

The four hundred thousand taels of silver were converted into one hundred thousand taels of silver and five thousand taels of gold, and gold and silver were not yet used as independent currencies." It can be seen that 400,000 copper coins in the early Southern Song Dynasty are equivalent to 100,000 taels of silver and 5,000 taels of gold, which basically conforms to the above assumption in terms of order of magnitude.

To discuss the purchasing power of money, it is necessary to mention the methods of two famous masters. Mr. Huang Renyu in his "Great History of China" basically based on the ** of ** as the benchmark to convert, he is basically based on the assumption of 1 tael of gold = 10 taels of silver = 10 guan, and the international gold price to calculate the value of the copper coin todayIn his book "Unspoken Rules", he used both the price of rice and the price of silver as a benchmark, giving two figures.

Whereas. He prefers to take the data converted from the price of rice.

Normally, consistent money refers to a thousand copper coins, but the problem is that in the Song Dynasty, it was popular to save Mo, "seventy-seven coins for a hundred", (History of the Song Dynasty, vol. 180 Food and Goods Chronicles). That is, the consistent money is seven hundred and seventy dollars.

As for the conversion of copper coins to silver taels, it varies with different dynasties:

At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the exchange ratio of silver coins was one or two silver to consistent money.

When he arrived at Huizong, one tael of silver was exchanged for two pieces of money.

At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the exchange ratio of silver coins was one or two silver to consistent money.

A thousand square hole money is consistent.

In the early years of Daoguang, one or two ** exchanged money for one hanging, that is, one thousand Wen; By the time of the Opium War in the twentieth year of Daoguang, one or two ** could be exchanged for 16,700 yuan. Since Xianfeng, the price of silver has risen sharply, and one or two ** can be exchanged for as much as 22,300 yuan. ”

It can be known that under normal circumstances, 1 tael ** can be exchanged for about 1000 1500 copper coins, and in ancient times, it was usually said that 1 guan money or 1 hanging money was 1000 yuan.

But it's from the Qing Dynasty.

The currency exchange in the Song Dynasty was also subject to market changes, but it was similar to that of the later period.

Normally, consistent money refers to a thousand copper coins, but the problem is that in the Song Dynasty, it was popular to save Mo, "seventy-seven coins for a hundred", (History of the Song Dynasty, vol. 180 Food and Goods Chronicles). That is, the consistent money is seven hundred and seventy dollars.

As for the conversion of copper coins to silver taels, it varies with different dynasties:

At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the exchange ratio of silver coins was one or two silver to consistent money.

When he arrived at Huizong, one tael of silver was exchanged for two pieces of money.

One tael is equal to sixteen coins, and there was no decimal system in ancient China, and the hexadecimal system was usually used. For example, half a catty and eight taels are described as no different, because in ancient times, half a catty was equal to eight taels.

After Ming Yingzong ascended the throne, ** has already embodied the two basic monetary functions of value scale and means of circulation. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the use of silver was even more common. The exchange ratio of silver and copper coins in the Ming Dynasty is not fixed, in the early and middle of the Ming Dynasty, about one or two silver for a thousand Wen, which is a normal **, at the end of the Ming Dynasty to exchange for 1500 Wen.

During the Ming Dynasty, one tael of silver was equal to sixteen coins. In units of taels, it is called silver taels. Silver refers to a kind of weighing currency in the form of silver ingots, which began in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Silver taels, also known as patterned silver, are the ancient Chinese unit of currency. Its upward is **, and the downward is the copper plate, which is also called money-making. Real silver refers to the actual circulation of **, such as silver ingots, etc., its fineness and weight vary from place to place, and the virtual silver is a kind of accounting currency, although there is a certain amount of silver, but there is no physical object.

History records that during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, one tael of silver could buy two stones of rice of general quality, and one stone at that time was about kilograms, and one or two pieces of silver could buy kilograms of rice, which was catties. Now the rice eaten by the average family in China is between one catty and 2 yuan, and the middle price can be calculated as one tael of silver = RMB yuan in the Ming Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty was even more frighteningly high in terms of purchasing power. Tang Taizong Zhenguan period material civilization is greatly rich, a bucket of rice only sold for 5 yuan, usually a tael of silver folded 1000 copper coins (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, with today's general rice price yuan a catty calculation, a tael of silver is equivalent to the purchasing power of 4130 yuan. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the price of rice rose to 10 wen per bucket, which was also one tael of silver = 2,065 yuan.

According to the History of the Song Dynasty.

"Food and Goods Journal" mentions that "before Xi and Feng, rice stones were only six or seven hundred" and "History of the Song Dynasty."

According to the record of "30 Wen per bucket (rice)", the price of rice in the Taiping period was 600-300 yuan (one tael of silver for one stone before and after the Jingkang Rebellion to the early Southern Song Dynasty, which was not within the normal calculation range). 1 tael can basically buy 4-8 stone of rice, based on 66 kilograms of Song stone, 1 tael of silver is equivalent to nearly 924-1848 yuan; (One said that Song Shi is 96 catties, which is equivalent to 672-1344 yuan for 1 tael of silver).

According to the History of the Song Dynasty.

"Food and Goods Journal" mentions that "before Xi and Feng, rice stones were only six or seven hundred" and "History of the Song Dynasty."

According to the record of "30 Wen per bucket (rice)", the price of rice in the Taiping period was 600-300 yuan (one tael of silver for one stone before and after the Jingkang Rebellion to the early Southern Song Dynasty, which was not within the normal calculation range). 1 tael can basically buy 4-8 stone of rice, based on 66 kilograms of Song stone, 1 tael of silver is equivalent to nearly 924-1848 yuan;

Since the accession of Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, gold and silver have been used in private transactions.

Because China does not produce silver, or is not enough to supply, in the eighth year of Hongwu, that is, in 1375 AD, the Ming Dynasty issued treasure money, and the imperial court repeatedly ordered to prohibit the people from trading in gold and silver as currency, and violators were guilty of smelting. However, the issuance of banknotes and the minting of money are still based on the price of silver. There is a certain price comparison between silver banknotes and silver money, and the price is set in the same year, and the silver is one or two when the money is a thousand Wen, and the banknote is consistent.

After Ming Yingzong ascended the throne, he relaxed the ban on the use of silver, received the order of converting rice and wheat into silver, and reduced various banknote items, using rice and silver coins as banknotes. You must know that the price of rice in the middle of the Ming Dynasty was very cheap, there was no need for macro control, the price of rice was very stable, and the price of rice in modern times could not be exchanged at all, because the values of white rice were different, and the values of ** were even more different.

The weight of rice silver is 1 tael is 34 grams, and the official price is 1 tael of silver for 1,000 copper plates, also called 1,000 yuan. At first, 4 wen could be exchanged for 1 yuan of silver, and later the official regulations stipulated that 7 wen was converted into 1 cent of silver, and 70 wen was converted into 1 cent of silver. And the bad money made by the people privately requires 40 or even 70 wen to be exchanged for one cent of silver, 700 for one penny of silver, and 7,000 for one tael of silver.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was developed, exporting porcelain, tea, silk fabrics, etc., overseas to buy goods from China are paid silver, especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, because there are no goods and daily necessities overseas can be sold to the Ming Dynasty, overseas have, the Ming Dynasty has, the Ming Dynasty has, overseas does not, of course, in addition to ivory and gemstones, so, the Ming Dynasty does not produce silver, but there is no shortage of silver, everything can only be bought with silver, therefore, the silver ** is relatively low.

And copper, the production of household utensils and other consumption is very large, the output is not enough for use, so the copper ** changes greatly, no one dares to use it when it is expensive, and many people melt the copper money to make copper ware and sell it when it is cheap. In addition, the Western colonizers imported too much silver into the Ming Dynasty, which led to the appreciation of copper coins, so in the late Ming Dynasty, 1 tael of silver could only be exchanged for 700 Wen at most, and even 600 Wen was everywhere.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the arrival of the Xiaoice River period, droughts, floods, and locust plagues continued in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the exchange rate of silver and copper coins changed even more. Is it the late stage or the end stage?