The Inspection Of Shanghai Government Officials' Salary And Standard Of Living (1930-1956)

Starting with a series of government officials' salary systems or policies from 1930s to 1950s, this paper try to reveal the government officials' living conditions and subsequent changes in this period, by investigating price levels in different periods of Shanghai. Due to the lack of reference materials of government officials' life, the paper try to summarize the internal causes and general laws of Shanghai government officials' changing living standards through analysis and comparison of pricing levels and salaries of this period.Modern Chinese government officials' salary system was initially developed from 1930s to 1950s. Based on the criterions of Shanghai government officials' salaries and living standards, this period can be divided into four stages, namely : early 1930s before the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the period of Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the period from Shanghai victory in the war to Shanghai's liberation, the period from Shanghai's liberation to the salary reform in 1956. In this four-stage, due to the influence of salary policies, price levels and other factors, Shanghai government officials' living conditions at the time underwent many ups and downs.The outline of this paper is divided on the base of these four stages. In each chapter, the author has a detailed analysis and research of salary and price datas in each period, and the living standards of Shanghai government officials are measured by analyzing the actual purchasing power of their salaries under specific circumstances. Meanwhile, the living standards of government officials at different stages are quantify appropriately under the existing conditions, which aims to reveal the general trends of its changes and development.The paper ended by concluding Shanghai government officials' salaries and living standards from 1930s to 1950s, and further analysis and discussion is continued by considering "being honest and clean with high pay"policy, salary "index" and "monetarism" , etc.