In ancient times, trafficking in human beings was also a very serious crime, and the most common punishment was exile. But this does not mean that there was no human trade in ancient times, in the era when there was no contract law, many of the maids and servants of large families were bought from the "labor market", and these maids and servants were the same as the concubines in the family, they were all accessories, and there was no personal freedom and social status at all, so how were the ancient maids priced? If it is converted to today's amount, can modern people afford it?
Many people think that the maid trade is the ancient people's ignorance and greed for money, in fact, the maid also has parents, although the ancient phenomenon of patriarchy is very serious, but after all, it is biological flesh and blood, in the case of economic conditions permitting, I believe that there are not many parents willing to sell their daughters, there is only one reason for them to do this, they can't live.
In ancient times, when the agricultural economy was the mainstay, the ability to resist natural disasters was very weak, and when natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and plague appeared, except for some landlords, ordinary peasants were powerless to resist at all. Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Qing Dynasty, which has developed thousands of years of agricultural civilization, without the blessing of industrialization technology, it is still difficult to resist the poison of drought, the drought that broke out in the 51st year of Qianlong led to the famine in thirteen provinces.
And such a situation, even in the so-called prosperous era, is not necessarily much better, such as the drought in the Kanto region in the fifth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, according to the record of "Zizhi Tongjian", the situation at that time was "the drought in the Kanto, more than 40 hunger in the county, cannibalism". This kind of living environment, coupled with the common phenomenon of early marriage in ancient times, parents can't survive, and selling their daughters has become the only choice without a choice.
Therefore, in ancient times, it was difficult to prohibit the phenomenon of maid trading, and it could only change with the good or bad economic environment, such as areas or periods with better economic conditions, and the phenomenon of maid buying and selling was less. At the same time, the maid's ** will also change according to various factors, such as market supply and demand, maid age, law, etc.
In ancient dynasties, although the human trafficking of maids could not be completely prohibited, there were still a large number of restrictions in the law, such as the Tang Dynasty's "Tang Law Shu Yi", the maid trade must be of personal volition, if it is robbery or deception, it is a crime. If the trafficked person is under the age of 10, it is a crime to be a trafficker, even if voluntary.
Therefore, the maid trade is not something you can buy if you want to, even if you have money, if you buy and sell the maid through illegal channels, there is also a risk of crime, so ** and the family, most of them buy and sell maids through official institutions hostages, or private operators Ya Po These two routes buy and sell maids, and individual families will take the road of human traffickers.
However, the control of maids in various dynasties, as well as the economic environment, are different, so the pricing of their maid market is also different, for example, the maid of the Han Dynasty is between 500 and 1,000 copper coins, and the conversion of ** people's currency is a few hundred yuan, which is equivalent to a year's income of the common people in ancient times.
In the Tang Dynasty, especially in the early Tang Dynasty, when the economy was more developed, because the ordinary people lived relatively wealthy, the phenomenon of buying and selling maids was relatively rare, and the ** of maids also rose, only the top ** or rich people had the conditions to buy maids, **between ten and thirty yuan, and the conversion ** of civil currency was between 6,000 and 18,000**.
In the Ming Dynasty, the span of the maid ** was relatively large, roughly between 350 taels and 1200 taels, according to the calculation of the purchasing power of modern scholars at that time, a tael of silver was quite modern about 600 yuan, so the maid ** was roughly between 200,000 and 720,000.
In the Qing Dynasty, the maid ** was also determined according to the market environment, age and personal skills, such as in the year of famine, such as the famine in Laiyang County in the seventeenth year of Daoguang, the maid between the ages of 14 and 17 only needed about three to five taels. If it is in the Taiping years, the maid is 13 years old as the division line, under the age of 13 only four to five taels, over 13 years old need more than a dozen taels of silver, according to the purchasing power at that time, ten taels is equivalent to about 100,000 yuan in modern times, then a dozen taels is more than 100,000 yuan.
However, in the Qing Dynasty, the choice of a maid is not only to be a concubine or a servant, if the conditions are possible, it is not a problem to be a concubine, such as Qianlong's Wan Guifei, which is a typical example of a maid counterattacking into an imperial concubine.
In ancient times, maids not only had to clean the house, but also take care of the master's daily life, accompany the master, and manage other maids. The level of maids from low to high can be divided into low-level maids, intermediate maids, senior maids, and the highest is the concubine.
Whether it is the palace or the palace, the status of low-level maids is the lowest, they are engaged in the most heavy work in the palace, such as cooking, cleaning, etc., whether it is food and accommodation are very low-level, sometimes there is no basic accommodation, even if they are sick, they can not get effective treatment, and they have to endure the bullying of other maids, it can be said that there are no human rights at all.
Intermediate maids live relatively better, generally have a fixed place to live and food supply, but the work is still cumbersome, but the type of work than low-level maids, there are more opportunities to contact the owner, they are generally engaged in the care of the master's children, help the hostess dress up and makeup, and deliver news to the master, etc., compared to the low-level maid, this kind of maid has more opportunities to change his life, but can be like Wan Guifei, most of them are minority.
As for the senior maid, the status and living conditions are much better, the luxury of life is no less than the average rich lady, and there is also the power to manage other maids, if a palace is compared to a company, the senior maid belongs to the manager and secretary, not only by the trust of the president, but also by relatives and some high-level people have to be in awe.
As for the concubine, she is the highest among the maids, only when she is selected into the palace and becomes the emperor's concubine, she has the opportunity to be a concubine, and the status of the concubine in the harem is second only to the queen, as long as there is no competition for favor, it is not difficult to do the concubine's death, so it is regarded as the ceiling of the maid, and even the ability is outstanding, and it is possible to become the queen mother, such as the Empress Dowager Wei of the Southern Song Dynasty, which is a typical case of becoming the queen mother from a maid.
Whether it is high-level or low-level, the maid is an accessory attached to the superior after all, from the moment they are sold, their future is bound to the superior, if these maids can't please the superior, being snubbed and abandoned is also an instant thing.