Are poor peasants illiterate in China?  How come China was a nation of peasants with an annual income of $200 dollars in the 19th-20th century?  How can peasants live off $200 a year in China?

19 -20世纪的中国怎么成为农民年收入只有200美元的国家？农民靠200美元怎么生活呀？

以下是Quora网友的评价：

Yugan Talovich

The literacy rate in China is over 99%. China has always honored education. Ever since the days of Confucius, any boy with a will could learn and rise to the highest ranks of government, no matter how poor or humble his background. Girls could learn, usually in wealthy families, but were not allowed to take the imperial examinations established in the Han.

中国现在的识字率超过99%了。中国自古以来都很重视教育。自孔子时代以来，男孩子只要想读书，不管出身多么贫穷或卑微，都可以通过读书出人头地，位列高官。富裕家庭的女孩子也可以学习，但不得参加汉代时创立并一直延续的科举考试。

Compare this to India, ridden by the caste structure, where even if Dalit are brilliant and excel in their studies, their future is still limited. This has become a problem in high tech companies in the US. India has a literacy rate of only about 77%.

相比之下，在深受种姓结构困扰的印度，即使贱民在学习上十分出色，前途也十分有限。这已经成为美国高科技公司的一个问题了。印度的识字率只有77%左右。

Kyo Syа(秋霞)

No, in 2021, the poorest 20% of the population had a monthly income of $90. It means $1080 a year.

And in rural areas, people do not need to spend on food and fuel because they can get it from their farmland. Outpatient fees are less than $1, blood tests are priced at around $3 to $4, CT scans are not more than $10, and medical appointments in China are not required. Even in rural areas, we have a high population density, and people do not need to pay for fuel to go to places where they can shop. During the compulsory education stage, families hardly need any expenses. Children from impoverished families are almost certain to receive scholarships in higher education. Therefore, the per capita monthly income of $90 is only used to purchase non food necessities, such as electricity and telephone expenses etc. And the impoverished population can receive additional government subsidies.

不是，2021年中国最贫穷的20%人口的月收入也有90美元，也就是年收入1080美元。

在农村地区，人们无需花钱购买食物和燃料，因为他们可以从农田里获得食物和燃料。门诊费不到1美元，抽血化验的价格在3到4美元左右，CT扫描也不超过10美元，在中国看病也不需要提前预约。

农村地区的人口密度也很高，但人们不用去购物也不需要加油。在义务教育阶段，中国家庭几乎不需要支付任何费用。贫困家庭的孩子在接受高等教育时几乎都能获得奖学金。

因此，90美元的人均月收入只需要购买非食品必需品，如电费和电话费等。而且贫困人口还可以获得政府的额外补贴。

Tony Tan

The poorest and most illiterate peasants in China have higher IQ than your beggar parents……

Obviously.

中国最贫穷、最文盲的农民，智商也比你们的父母高......

这是显而易见的事。

Tony Tan

Several major western countries and Japan invaded China in unison. They stole everything they could take home and burned whatever they couldn't take home. They also force fed the Chinese people with opium.

Now those countries are paying their bad karma.

And this is today's China.

几个西方大国和日本一起侵略中国。他们把能带回家的东西都偷走了，不能带回家的东西也一把火烧光了。他们还强迫中国人吸食鸦片。

现在这些国家正在为他们曾经的罪行付出代价。

来看看今天的中国。

Tony Tan

Don't worry about China in the past, but worry about the US today.

别担心过去的中国了，担心担心今天的美国吧。

Paul Chiu

China was weak and backward during the 19–20 Century due to the following factors. Weakness of the Qing Dynasty led to a lack of political stability. Its isolationist policies prevented it from taking advantage of foreign trade and Western technological advancements. Civil wars and internal strife further hampered its progress. The lack of a modern education system also contributed, meaning that the majority of the population were illiterate peasants and relied on agricultural production.

Hence for most of 19-20 century China’s per capita income was very low, at $200, and close to 90% of the population lived in poverty and on less than $1 dollar a day.

中国在19-20世纪贫穷落后，主要归根于以下原因。清朝的软弱导致了政治动荡。清政府的孤立主义政策使它没能利用对外贸易和西方的技术进步。内战和内乱进一步阻碍了它的发展。现代教育体系的缺乏也是原因之一，这导致了大多数人口都是文盲农民，依赖农业生产。

因此，在19-20世纪的大部分时间里，中国的人均收入非常低，只有200美元，接近90%的人口生活在贫困中，每天的收入不到1美元。

Michael Cia

Yes, you can live on $200 a year in the rural area in China, China is cheap.

But China is prosperous now, it started from nothing to prosperous and one of the most powerful countries.

US was extremely poor with no treasury and no money, but it became wealthy and powerful, should US be shamed of its humble origin? 100–200 years ago, US was not in great shape, not to mention 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War.

There is no shame in humble begng, in fact, it is an honor, pride and joy to made it on your own, it is to be respected.

是的，在中国农村一年200美元就足以生活，中国的物价很便宜。

但是中国现在很繁荣，它从零起步，已经成为最强大的国家之一了。

美国也曾经非常贫穷，没有国库，没有资金，但后来也变得十分富有强大，美国应该为自己卑微的出身感到羞耻吗？100-200年前美国也曾兵荒马乱，60万美国人死于内战。

出身卑微也没有什么可耻的，事实上，它是一种荣誉和自豪，你现在拥有的一切都是自己打拼出来的，值得受到尊重。

Pieter

Does this data from the internet indicate what kind of USD they are talking about? Is it the current USD of January 2022 or the USD from 1990 or perhaps the USD from 1950?

For reference a Ford Model T would cost you around 850 dollars in the 1920s, less than the monthly US minimum wage today but almost a years worth of disposable income back then.

这个来自互联网的数据计算的是什么时候的美元？是2022年1月的美元，还是1990年的美元，还是1950年的美元？

作为参考，20世纪20年代一辆福特T型车的价格约为850美元，比现在美国每月最低工资还低，但在当时几乎相当于美国人一年的可支配收入。

Jonathan Carlson

Why is it, Jain Patel, that you constantly produce these kinds of trash questions? I’ve literally answered this question before:

So ya know what, I’m not going to answer it for a second time. Instead I’m going to have to insist that you do a few things instead.

Jain Patel你为什么总是一而再再而三地提出这种垃圾问题？我确定我回答过你这个问题了

所以你这个问题，我绝不会再回答一遍。相反，我要求你必须做几件事。

First off, how about providing a source for what you claim? If you cannot do that, then you are full of BS.

Second, how about you provide a date (or a narrower range of dates)? If you cannot narrow it down to less than two hundred years, then you are full of BS.

Third, how about you take a look in the mirror? You are trash-talking China, yet India, back in 1947–1948 had an average annual income of less than $70. Also, 82% of the population was illiterate. How can you sit here and trash-talk China when India was such a trashed country as well? Actually, considering your claim of $200/year, the average Chinese person was around 3x better off than the average Indian person!

首先，为你的说法提供一个出处。如果你做不到，那说明你这就是一堆废话。

其次，明确一个时间(或缩小日期范围)？如果你不能把时间缩短到200年以内，那你就是一派胡言。

第三，你自己去照照镜子，你把中国说的一无是处，但印度呢，1947-1948年的平均年收入还不到70美元。此外，印度82%的人口都是文盲，那印度也是个垃圾国家咯，你怎么能坐在垃圾堆里说中国的坏话呢？实际上，你说中国人均收入只有200美元/年，那中国人的平均生活水平也达到了印度人的3倍呢！

Zane Liu

Poverty is natural, wealth is artificial.

Don’t forget that the annual GDP per individual in the UK, which siphoned resources from around the world into just a single island, was a mere 41 pounds in 1900. The Bank of England’s inflation calculator estimates this to be 4142.93 pounds.

贫穷是天然造成的，富裕是人为造成的。

别忘了，英国把全世界的资源都导入一个小岛，1900年的人均GDP也只有41英镑。根据英格兰银行的通货膨胀计算器，这个数字现在约值4142.93英镑。

Wealth comes from a nation’s ability to produce items that can be traded for an insanely high amount of commodities. More colloquially, this is known as “trading a single Boeing jet for a million T-shirts.”

What happened during the 19th century was the rapid industrialization of Europe, which allowed them to build up the most powerful military that could cross the oceans that until then had posed an impassable barrier. These militaries were then able to conquer nearly the entire world and demand the conquered to provide free resources to the Europeans.

财富来自于一个国家生产物品的能力，这些物品可以用来交换数量惊人的大宗商品。更通俗的说法是“一架波音飞机换一百万件T恤”。

19世纪欧洲快速实现了工业化，这使他们能够建立起最强大的军队，有能力跨越海洋，而在此之前，海洋对人类而言就是一个不可逾越的障碍。欧洲军队征服了几乎整个世界，并强迫被征服的国家向欧洲人提供免费的资源。

While outright conquest was no longer necessary after WWII, the former imperialist powers would continue to widen the gap by holding onto a monopoly over core military technologies. A single Boeing 747 (419.2 million USD) could be traded for 1.19 billion board feet of timber.

Poverty is natural, wealth is artificial.

And this was how the West artificially became wealthy.

虽然二战后不再需要明面上的征服，但前帝国主义列强继续通过对核心军事技术的垄断来扩大差距。现在一架波音747(4.192亿美元)可以换11.9亿板英尺的木材。

这就是西方人致富的方式。

Doug Hensley

They’d fallen into a period of bitter civil war. In 1600 they were living better and were reasonably powerful. By 1800 they were divided, much reduced in numbers and in wealth.

Imagine like the US civil war but it goes for 150 years instead of 4.

中国陷入了激烈的内战。公元1600年的中国，人民生活水平较高，国家也相当强大。但到了1800年，中国的人数和财富都大大减少。

你们可以想象一下美国内战，但中国内战持续了150年，不是美国内战只有短短的4年。

Tony Tan

China was minding her own business in China when several western imperialist countries invaded China in unison, stole everything, destroyed whatever left and force fed the Chinese people with opium.

Tell that to the world.

几个西方帝国主义国家一起入侵中国，偷走了一切，摧毁了一切，强迫中国人民吸食鸦片。

你有种就跟全世界说清楚这一切。

Q-X Sun

This is true to a certain extent.

Peasants are the most miserable people in China.

Many Peasants/homesteaders have fields of less than an acre (666 square meters), which is not even as large as the yards of some Americans. With such a small area of land, it is often necessary to support a family (at least 4 people).

For those of us in our modern lives, it's hard to imagine this.

在一定程度上，这么说并没有错。

农民是中国最可怜的群体。

许多农民/自耕农的田地不到一英亩(666平方米)，甚至还不如一些美国人的院子大。而这么小的一块土地通常要养活一个家庭(至少4口人)。

对于生活在现代生活中的我们来说，这是极难想象的。

Moreover, these lands usually belonged to the landlords rather than the peasants themselves. Peasants usually have to pay 50% of the land harvest as rent.

In fact, now (2023) Chinese peasants/farmers are still low-income. In some areas of Hebei and Henan, the arable land owned by each person is even as low as 1-2 mu (1 mu = 666 square meters), which is far smaller than the courtyard of some wealthy people.

此外，这些土地通常属于地主而非农民自己。农民通常还必须支付作物收成的50%作为地租。

事实上，现在(2023年)中国农民的收入仍然不高。在河北和河南的一些地区，人均拥有的耕地甚至只有1-2亩，远远小于一些富人的院子。

E. Thrush

It was largely agricultural. Farmers don’t make that much in income, although that may not reflect their situation as they may be growing all their own food and not paying for it. Annual incomes always look lower in agricultural areas, as for states like Alabama and Mississippi.

中国主要依赖农业。农民的收入并不高，但这可能并不能真实反映他们的生活水平，因为他们的食物有可能都是自己种植养殖的，不需要花钱购买。农村人口的年收入基本都比较低，比如阿拉巴马州和密西西比州也是如此。

Feng Lu

Chinese farmers make up 50 percent of the Chinese. China's literacy rate is 97%

Probably except for peasants over 70 years old, none of them are illiterate.

中国农民占到中国人口的50%。现在中国的识字率是97%。

可能除了70岁以上的农民，都没有文盲了。