This has been a very hectic week for me but the show must go on. Before I start this reflection I must thank my classmates for their blog posts. I was able to read the material but not as intensely as I would have liked to. In addition to what I learned this week, their posts helped me learn more things that I missed. With that being said, here are three things I learned this week.
Craftsman made about 0.03 tael and 5 copper cash: In the grand scheme of things, that is not a lot. For reference, 1/1000 of a tael is equal to 1 copper cash. There is not an exact comparison to todays modern cash but I would guess it close to minimum or less. The better a craftsman was, the better they got paid. Regardless, for the projects these craftsman complete, they are severely underpaid.
Craftsman had to make up the work of other individuals: That is correct, they were so skilled they ended up having to do the work of others. Their other co-workers did not have the correct qualifications to work so the craftsman had to do their job and other jobs too.
Workers were paid with rice: Some workers would be paid 2.5 pints of rice which was not enough to get through a typical day. It really is shame to see how these people were treated.
