What If Huawei Salaries Traveled Back to the Song Dynasty? A Comparative Study

About a month ago a viral post claimed Huawei employees earn an average of 800,000 RMB per year. Ignoring the claim's accuracy, we use it as a basis to imagine how a Huawei worker’s income would translate into the economic context of the Northern Song dynasty (997‑1085 AD).

We compare Shenzhen (modern) with Bianjing (ancient Kaifeng), the Song capital, acknowledging the vast regional economic gaps then and now.

Two main challenges arise: differing currencies and measurement units. The Song economy used copper and iron coins, but also paid salaries partly in rice and silk, with occasional silver, paper money, and gold. For our calculations we adopt rice (as a practical commodity) and gold (a universal store of value) as conversion bases.

We examine three representative income groups from the Song era: high‑ranking officials, low‑ranking officials, and ordinary workers.

Using rice as the conversion unit:

Rice price assumed at 5‑10 RMB per kilogram.

One Song "shi" of rice equals 59.2 kg (640 g per Song jin), yielding a value of roughly 296‑592 RMB.

Result: Huawei’s average annual income roughly matches that of a high‑ranking Song official, while the lowest‑paid Shenzhen blue‑collar workers exceed the earnings of Song laborers.

Using gold as the conversion unit:

1 Song liang of gold = 40 g; 1 Song liang of gold ≈ 10,000‑12,000 RMB.

1 shi of rice ≈ 875 copper coins; gold price taken as 275 RMB per gram.

Result: Huawei salaries are about half of a Song high‑ranking official’s income, comparable to mid‑level officials, while Shenzhen’s minimum wage aligns with Song laborer earnings.

We also consider purchasing power: converting rice and gold values to copper coins shows that one copper coin today would be worth about 0.5 RMB (rice basis) or 1.1 RMB (gold basis).

Price comparisons indicate food was cheaper in the Song era, whereas industrial goods were relatively more expensive.

Housing costs in Bianjing were high; many mid‑level officials could not afford prime locations, suggesting Song urban housing prices were likely below modern Shenzhen’s per‑square‑meter rates exceeding 100,000 RMB.

Key takeaways:

Wealth gaps persist across a millennium.

Housing affordability has worsened; modern purchasing power adjusted for housing could be lower than in the Song dynasty.

Gold remains a reliable store of value over centuries.

Huawei employees earn significantly more than Song officials, roughly equivalent to mid‑high‑level officials, and enjoy a lifestyle comparable to those officials in the capital.

Overall, the exercise highlights the importance of historical perspective on income, wealth distribution, and the enduring value of precious metals.