<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_customs_gold_unit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>, in 1941 20 Chinese yuan was equal to 1 United States dollar, so 1 Chinese yuan was equal to 0.05 US dollars at the time.</p>

<p>Using an <a href="https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1941?amount=0.05" rel="nofollow noreferrer">inflation calculator</a> for the US dollar, 1 Chinese yuan would be 0.87 US dollars in 2019. This would give the cost of the school fees to be 870 US dollars or 27,500 NTD, and the children's uniform to be 350–390 US dollars or about 11,000 – 12,000 NTD.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T15:13:52.850Z
Uh, I was asking about Mainland China, not Taiwan.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-18T00:06:39.283Z
Given that Mainland China and Taiwan were both governed by the KMT before 1949, this applies both to Mainland China and Taiwan. If you want, you can convert the figures in US dollars to Chinese yuan.
Toby Mak
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T13:59:51.317Z
2019-06-17T13:59:51.317Z
Toby Mak
<p>The answer depends on which year between 1937 and 1945, the Sino-Japan war time.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://fee.org/articles/the-great-chinese-inflation/#:%7E:text=The%20value%20of%20China%27s%20paper,to%201%2C222%20to%20the%20dollar." rel="nofollow noreferrer">Foundation for Economic Education</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The value of China’s paper money on the foreign-exchange market reflected this huge depreciation of the currency. In June 1937, 3.41 yuan traded for one U.S. dollar. By December 1941, on the black market 18.93 yuan exchanged for a dollar. At the end of 1945, the yuan had fallen to 1,222 to the dollar. And by May 1949, one dollar traded for 23,280,000 yuan.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-09-10T11:24:33.537Z
2022-09-10T11:24:33.537Z
Nobody
<p>I'm working on translating the following sentence:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>一年学费都要化千把，一套童子军服都要四五百</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The book takes place during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Second Sino-Japanese War</a> which is during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Republic of China</a> era.</p>

<p>I would like to make the numbers more relevant for modern readers, but I'm struggling to figure out how much <em>a thousand</em> and <em>four or five hundred</em> is actually worth in today's currencies.</p>

<p>My searches keep bringing up info about Taiwanese money, and not Mainland Chinese money.</p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-13T13:45:34.520Z
try search 法币, the value changes vastly before WW2 and after WW2
Zang MingJie
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T17:13:36.130Z
Given that Taiwan is the successor of the Republic of China and the PRC did not yet exist during the time-period you're asking about, isn't Taiwanese money what you want?
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T20:43:05.037Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is a historic question.
zyy
<translation>
What was money worth during the Republic of China (1912 - 1949) era?
# What was money worth during the Republic of China (1912 - 1949) era?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-13)

I'm working on translating the following sentence:

> 一年学费都要化千把，一套童子军服都要四五百

The book takes place during the [Second Sino-Japanese War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War) which is during the [Republic of China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949)) era.

I would like to make the numbers more relevant for modern readers, but I'm struggling to figure out how much *a thousand* and *four or five hundred* is actually worth in today's currencies.

My searches keep bringing up info about Taiwanese money, and not Mainland Chinese money.

Any ideas?

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: try search 法币, the value changes vastly before WW2 and after WW2  
> **username_2**: Given that Taiwan is the successor of the Republic of China and the PRC did not yet exist during the time-period you're asking about, isn't Taiwanese money what you want?  
> **username_3**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is a historic question.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-06-17. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_customs_gold_unit), in 1941 20 Chinese yuan was equal to 1 United States dollar, so 1 Chinese yuan was equal to 0.05 US dollars at the time.

Using an [inflation calculator](https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1941?amount=0.05) for the US dollar, 1 Chinese yuan would be 0.87 US dollars in 2019. This would give the cost of the school fees to be 870 US dollars or 27,500 NTD, and the children's uniform to be 350–390 US dollars or about 11,000 – 12,000 NTD.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Uh, I was asking about Mainland China, not Taiwan.  
> **username_4**: Given that Mainland China and Taiwan were both governed by the KMT before 1949, this applies both to Mainland China and Taiwan. If you want, you can convert the figures in US dollars to Chinese yuan.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2022-09-10. Score: 1

The answer depends on which year between 1937 and 1945, the Sino-Japan war time.

According to [Foundation for Economic Education](https://fee.org/articles/the-great-chinese-inflation/#:%7E:text=The%20value%20of%20China%27s%20paper,to%201%2C222%20to%20the%20dollar.)

> The value of China’s paper money on the foreign-exchange market reflected this huge depreciation of the currency. In June 1937, 3.41 yuan traded for one U.S. dollar. By December 1941, on the black market 18.93 yuan exchanged for a dollar. At the end of 1945, the yuan had fallen to 1,222 to the dollar. And by May 1949, one dollar traded for 23,280,000 yuan.


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