Culture Insider: Housing issues in ancient China

A statue of Bai Juyi stands at Lushan mountain in Jiangxi province [Photo/IC]

3. Bai Juyi: It's hard to buy a house in Chang'an.

Tang Dynasty's great poet Bai Juyi (772-846) was 32 years old when, in 803, he became a senior editor in the royal court with a monthly salary of 16,000 wen (one wen equals 0.5 yuan), a huge sum at that time. He rented a house in the eastern part of Chang'an city and settled down. Two years later, he wanted to bring his mother and brother from hometown to the capital city but the house was too small for three people and he didn't have money to buy one then. So he went to nearby city Weinan and bought a house in rural area of Weinan as the house was much cheaper there. During each vacation, Bai Juyi rode a horse to Weinan and met his family.

In 807, when Bai Juyi was promoted as Hanlin Academician in the court in Chang'an, his monthly salary was 25,000 wen, but he still lived in a rented house. When his wage increased to more than 300,000 yuan, he rented a large house in the urban area of Chang'an. It was only in 821, when he was 50 years old, that he bought his first house in Chang'an. Later he wrote this in his poem: "Hanging around in the capital city for nearly 20 years before I got my own real estate to settle down."