The purchasing power of money in the last years of the Five Dynasties (calculated by grain prices)
Most of the Five Dynasties used Kaiyuan Tongbao. As for the specific silver price linked to commodities, there are fewer records. We can only take Hou Shu in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms after the Tang Dynasty as an example:
In the pseudo-Shu Guangzhengzhong, one tael of silver is worth one thousand and seven hundred yuan. ("Continued Zizhi Tongjian Changbian")
At this time, the regulation of Kaiyuan Tongbao money in Tang Dynasty was also popular in Hou Shu. The price of grain was as follows:
In the 13th year of Meng Chang's reign, Sichuan was at peace for a long time, all taxes and servitude were saved, and rice was worth three coins. (Zhang Tangying's "Shu")
10 dou and 1 stone, then 1 stone of rice in Shu country is 30 qian. In the Five Dynasties, one pound equals 596.82 grams, and one tael equals 37.30 grams.
1,700 money can be exchanged for 56.67 Tang stones = 6,800 Tang jins of rice = 8,116.752 city jins of rice.
As of December 31, 2021, the cheapest 500g JD bagged rice I found was 3.3 yuan. Taking this, the total value is 26,785.28 yuan.
That is, during the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms period, one tael of silver was approximately equivalent to the current RMB 26,785.28, and one penny was equivalent to RMB 15.76.
The thirteenth year of Guangzheng was in 950, which was similar to the second year of Guangshun, 952, so the silver price in the book is taken from this.
During the Wuyue period of the Five Dynasties (before 978), rice (stone) was 50 qian (Fan Zhongyan described the price of rice during the Five Dynasties)
At this time in the book, rice (stone) is counted as 50 qian, and fighting is 5 qian. (At that time, wars continued in the Central Plains, and political power changed frequently. There was no stability and prosperity in the southern regions such as Shu, Wuyue, etc., so 5 qian was only a little less.)
Therefore, in the book, the purchasing power of 1 tael of silver in the next week is calculated as 16,071 yuan, and one penny is 9.4 yuan.
Calculating purchasing power based on grain prices is naturally inaccurate, but I have very few talents and limited knowledge, and there is too much history of the Five Dynasties to examine, so I didn’t put too much thought into it. After all, writing novels is not academic, so forgive me.
In addition, the supply of copper coins in the Tang Dynasty was insufficient, and short roads were common.
In the ninth year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty (750), the official standard was 980 texts. During the period of Mu Zong in the middle Tang Dynasty, it was always 920 texts. During the reign of Emperor Ai of the Tang Dynasty (904-907), an edict was issued, which was always 850 texts. In the Five Dynasties and later the Tang Dynasty, it was 800 texts. By the time of the Later Han Dynasty, there were only 770 articles for Guanqian. No relevant records were found in the Later Zhou Dynasty. However, in the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Later Han Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty followed the Later Zhou Dynasty. In the fourth year of Qiande (966), Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty issued an edict for the number of 770 articles. Therefore, this book adopts the same number. It is 770 Wen, and one tael of silver is equal to 1,700 cash, which is equal to 2.2 strings.
