How high was the income of calligraphers in the Republic of China?

After the Revolution of 1911, a large number of Qing officials were laid off. Among them, those with excellent calligraphy skills, or seeking economic independence or forced by livelihood, all turned around gorgeously and became famous calligraphers in the Republic of China. According to "Mo Lin at Sea", around the end of Qing Dynasty, as many as 67 1 painters gathered in Shanghai. Although the country was in turmoil, the economy was depressed, and wars continued, their participation brought an unprecedented new situation to the development of calligraphy in China, which greatly stimulated people's desire to buy and promoted the prosperity of the calligraphy art market. Because of the strong demand, calligraphy at that time was surprisingly expensive.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Chen, Shen, Zhang Jian, Chen, Zhu Zumou, Kang Youwei, Zeng, Li Ruiqing, Zheng and others. Those who leave Beijing for Shanghai regard themselves as old people, and most of them make a living by writing. They are all lofty officials and scholars before, and they are very famous. Although the price of Chinese characters is very high, there is still an endless stream of people seeking Chinese characters. Zheng wrote the word "Bank of Communications" for Bank of Communications, embellished with 4,200 pieces of silver. The first edition of Etymology published on 19 15 received a manuscript fee of 500 taels. He writes a name for the Commercial Press at 2200 yuan per word. Although it has been written, the Commercial Press asked its inscription to be marked "the year of the Republic of China", which angered the legacy of the Qing Dynasty. He set fire to Mo Bao on the spot, and twelve thousand pieces of silver went up in smoke, but he didn't care.

Not only the calligraphy of the old people in the former Qing Dynasty was expensive, but also that of officials in the Republic of China. At that time, you could be an official if you couldn't draw, but it was difficult to be an official if you couldn't write well. In addition, studying literature was a fashion in the Republic of China, and Chiang Kai-shek, Li, Xu Shichang and Feng Yuxiang all wrote well. During the Anti-Japanese War, Wu Jingheng, a veteran of the Kuomintang, had a hard life in Chongqing, so he advertised in Chongqing's Central Daily and declared that he began to write calligraphy. Until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to Shanghai, and his business was still booming. He was nicknamed "Calligraphy and Painting Trust". In seven years, he sold calligraphy and got 50 thousand to 60 thousand silver dollars.