A Traditional Chinese scale

Chinese units of measurement (Chinese: 市制; pinyin: Shìzhì; literally "market system") are the customary and traditional units of measure used in China. In the People's Republic of China, the units were re-standardised during the late twentieth century to make them approximate SI (metric) units. Many of the units were formerly based on the number 16 instead of 10. On the other hand, Hong Kong, under the influence of the British Imperial system, was formed Hong Kong units of measurement, and now the traditional Chinese units and Imperial units are used alongside metric units. The Taiwanese units of measurement, which appeared under the colonial influences of the Dutch and the Japanese, for the most part may have similar names but are different from the Chinese units of measurement.

The Chinese name for most SI units is based on that of the closest traditional unit. When it is necessary to emphasize which system is used, the words "market" (市 shì) for traditional units or "common/standard" (公 gōng) for SI units may be added in front of the name. SI is the official system of units, but traditional units are still ubiquitously used in everyday life.

Note: The names lí (厘) and fēn (分) for small units are the same for length, area, and mass; however, they refer to different kinds of measurements.

[edit] History

According to the Liji, the legendary Yellow Emperor created the first measurement units. The Xiao Erya and Kongzi jiayu state that length units were derived from the human body. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, these human body units caused inconsistency, and Yu the Great, another legendary figure, unified the length measurements. Rulers with decimal units have been unearthed from Shang Dynasty tombs.

In the Zhou Dynasty, the king conferred nobles with powers of the state and the measurement units began to be inconsistent from state to state. After the Warring States Period, Qin Shi Huang unified China, and later standardized measurement units. In the Han Dynasty, these measurements were still being used, and were documented systematically in the Book of Han.

Astronomical instruments show little change of the length of chi in the following centuries, since the calendar needed to be consistent. It was not until the introduction of decimal units in the Ming Dynasty that the traditional system was revised. In 1928, the government of the Republic of China adopted the metric system as the official standard.

In 1976 the Hong Kong Metrication Ordinance allowed a gradual replacement of the system in favor of the International System of Units (SI) metric system.^[1].

The government of the People's Republic of China resumed using the traditional system until 1984, when it adopted the SI system. The SI system became the national standard in 1987.

[edit] Ancient Chinese units

Multiple systems of metrology have been used across Chinese history. All of which are variants of a single classical system. The standard proportion was 6 chi to 1 bu and 300 bu to 1 li

[edit] Modern Chinese units

All "metric values" given in the tables are exact unless otherwise specified by the approximation sign '~'.

[edit] Length

[edit] Hong Kong length units

[edit] Area

[edit] Volume

These units are used to measure cereal grains.

[edit] Mass

These units are used to measure the mass of objects. They are also famous for measuring monetary objects such as gold and silver. The decimal system has not been fully adopted by Chinese citizens^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Hong Kong mass units

(Pronunciation information is in Jyutping.)

[edit] Hong Kong Troy units

These are used for trading precious metals such as gold and silver.

[edit] Time

Since 1645 (except for 1665–1669), the above equivalents have been true. Except for several short periods of a few years each, before 1645 (before the Qing dynasty) the following were true:

1 rì 

= 12 shíchén = 100 kè, and

1 shíchén 

= 8 1/3 kè = 8 kè 20 fēn.

[edit] See also

• Earthly Branches
• History of measurement
• Systems of measurement
• Units of measure
• Chinese numbers
• Chinese classifier

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. John E. Hill. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
• Chinese Measurement Converter - Online Chinese / Metric / Imperial Converter
• Hong Kong government definitions for Chinese units
• Chinese/Metric/Imperial Measurement Converter

• Schinz, Alfred (1996). The magic square: cities in ancient China. Edition Axel Menges. pp. 428. ISBN 3930698021. http://books.google.com/books?id=qhcRYkz-I3YC&source=gbs_navlinks_s.