What is the annual income of Qing officials? What is the income of "handling fee"

According to "Jiangyou County Records", at the county level at that time, only four or five people, including the magistrate, the governor, Dian Shi, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Ji, were called officials (most counties did not have inspection departments). The magistrate's annual salary is 45 Liang, plus 600 Yang Liang Lianyin, which is 645 Liang; The annual salary of inspection is 3 1.52 Liang, plus Yin's 90 Liang, which is 1.2 1.52 Liang; The annual salary of classical history is 3 1.52 Liang, plus 80 Yang Liang Lianyin, which is 1 1.52 Liang; The annual salary for teaching and guidance is 40 Liang per person. Perhaps these two cultural and educational officials have no conditions for corruption and no money to support themselves.

The county government is divided into the "third class" of speed, soap and strength, and the departments of officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, punishment and industry, plus the "four major teams" of inspection department, history department and canon department, with a total of 77 officials. Except for eight "Zhuang Min" (heavy manual workers) and six (technical soldiers), the remaining 63 people account for 82% of the total number of officials, and each person has only 6 taels per year. These people include Menzi (janitor), Zaoli (police officer), Ma Kuai (special police), Zhang Zuo (forensic doctor) and bearers (service).

What kind of life do you live with an annual salary of six taels of silver?

For two or three thousand years, there has been a saying in China's internal market that "one meter presses one hundred prices", and the price not controlled by * * * fluctuates with the fluctuation of rice market price. On May 27th, the forty-eighth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, Xu Li, the director of weaving in Suzhou Prefecture (equivalent to the director of weaving directly under the central government), reported to the emperor that "the price of rice (per stone) ranges from 1234 yuan". This is a land of plenty, and Jiangyou County in northern Sichuan should be around 1.5 two stones.

The county magistrate's salary of six taels of silver a year should be used to buy four stone meters. From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, rice was 300 Jin per stone, 4 stones 1200 Jin. At present, the average rice in Jiangyou is about RMB per catty in 2 yuan. In other words, the annual salary of Jiangyou county officials in Qing Dynasty is equivalent to 2400 yuan today, with an average monthly salary of only 200 yuan.

In recent years, the minimum living security provided by jiangyou city Civil Affairs Bureau to urban residents is 2 10 yuan per capita per month. It can be seen that the salary of Jiangyou county officials in the Qing Dynasty was even worse than that of the current "low-income households", and they could hardly make ends meet, let alone support their parents, wives and children.

County grandpa's compromise

As the saying goes, "God never shuts one door but he opens another", and county officials will never go on business on an empty stomach. According to the written report of Mr. A Tong, the magistrate of Tongchuan in northern Sichuan on December 6, Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, "Once the lawsuit of visiting the county (Santai County) is justified, officials often choose fat and eat, and go to the countryside with tickets. Regardless of the seriousness of the case, they will first talk about the number of bad rules and do everything possible to intimidate and make things difficult for them. " It is difficult to list all kinds of shortcomings, such as bringing a witness card to invest in the city and other expenses such as bills. "