The Qing Dynasty hired many ordinary people to serve tea, sweep the floor and cook on the ships of the British Mission. The British noticed that these people were "all thin". "Among ordinary China people, it is difficult to find a beer belly like a British citizen or a beaming face like a British farmer." These ordinary people in China, "Every time they receive our leftovers, they should be grateful. They always greedily compete for our used tea and then boil it. 」
John barlow, a member of the mission, said in "My View on the Prosperity of Qianlong": "During the three days I went to Beijing in Zhoushan or beside the Baihe River, I didn't see any signs of people's ample food and clothing and prosperity in the countryside ... Except around the village, there were almost no ugly trees. Houses are usually mud-walled bungalows with thatched roofs. Occasionally, there are independent small buildings, but there are never gentlemen's mansions and comfortable farmhouses ... Neither houses nor rivers can compare with Radcliffe and Waping (two towns on the Thames in England). In fact, all we can see is poverty and backwardness. 」
In fact, in the14th century, Europeans were not much richer than China. The proportion of meat in their food is not high, and a large piece of bread and a bowl of thick soup can satisfy the British farmers who have worked hard all day. However, with the development of society, the living standards of Europeans are constantly improving. /kloc-before the industrial revolution in the 0 th/8 th century, the recipes of ordinary employees on a farm in Hampshire, England were as follows: breakfast was the milk, bread and bacon left over from the previous day; Lunch is bread, cheese, a small amount of beer, cured pork, potatoes, cabbage or radish; Dinner is bread and cheese. On Sunday, you can eat fresh pork. After the industrial revolution, the life of the British people is booming. In 1808, 2.3 gallons of skim milk, 1 pound of cheese, 17 pints of light beer, half a pound of butter and sugar, one British and two teas were added to the consumption list of ordinary farmers in Britain.
What did China people eat during the Qianlong period? For thousands of years, the main food of farmers in China is coarse grains and vegetables, with little meat, eggs and milk. Usually, in the spring drought, they have to pick wild vegetables to make a living. During the Qianlong period, records of people eating bran swallow vegetables abound. According to18th century China and the world? According to the amount of agriculture, the average British farmer can have eleven pounds left after spending a year, which is about thirty-three to forty-four taels of silver. And a medium-sized farmer in China, the total income of a year is only 32 liang, and the annual expenditure is 35 liang. In other words, after a hard year, he has to be in debt for three or two years to survive. So once there is a famine, ordinary people will go bankrupt.
Excerpts from ten faces of Emperor Qianlong of Zhang Hongjie.