CHINESE UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

'Chinese units of measurement' () are the customary and traditional units of measure used in the People's Republic of China. The units were standardized during the twentieth century to make them approximate SI units. Many of the units were formerly based on the number 16 instead of 10. Hong Kong was outside the reform, and now the traditional units are used alongside with 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.

Contents

History

Length

Modern Chinese units

Hong Kong units

Area

Modern Chinese units

Chinese square area

Volume

Mass

Modern Chinese units

Hong Kong units

Hong Kong Troy units

Time

Reference

See also

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 and 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 need 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, but 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.
All "Metric values" given in the tables are exact unless otherwise specified by the approximation sign '~'.

Length

Modern Chinese units

Table of length (modern Chinese) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''hū''	忽	1/1 000 000	1/3 µm
''sī''	丝	1/100 000	3 1/3 µm
''háo''	毫	1/10 000	33 1/3 µm
''lí''	市厘	1/1000	1/3 mm
''fēn''	市分	1/100	3 1/3 mm	~0.1312 in
''cùn''	市寸	1/10	3 1/3 cm	~1.312 in
''chǐ''	市尺	1	33 1/3 cm	~1.094 ft	Chinese foot
''bù''	步	5	1 2/3 m	~1.823 yd	Chinese pace
''zhàng''	市丈	10	3 1/3 m	~3.645 yd
''yǐn''	引	100	33 1/3 m	~36.45 yd
''lǐ''	市里	1500	500 m	~546.8 yd	this ''li'' is not the small ''li'' above, which has a different character and tone

Hong Kong units

Table of length (Hong Kong) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''fan''	分	1/100	~3.715 mm	~0.1463 in
''tsun''	寸	1/10	~3.715 cm	~1.463 in
''chek''	尺	1	~37.15 cm	~1.219 ft	Hong Kong foot Exactly 0.371475 metres

Area

Modern Chinese units

Table of area (modern Chinese) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''lí''	市厘	1	6 2/3 m²	~7.973 sq yd
''fēn''	市分	10	66 2/3 m²	~79.73 sq yd	10 li
''mǔ''	市亩, 畝	100	666 2/3 m²	~797.3 sq yd, or ~0.1647 acres	10 fen, or 60 zhang²
''qǐng''	市顷	10,000	6 2/3 Ha	~16.47 acres	100 mu

Chinese square area

Table of area (modern Chinese square) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''fāng cùn''	方寸	1/100	11 1/9 cm²	~1.722 sq in	100 fen²
''fāng chǐ''	方尺	1	1/9 m²	~172.2 sq in, or ~1.196 sq ft	100 cun²
''fāng zhang''	方丈	100	11 1/9 m²	~119.6 sq ft, or ~13.29 sq yd	100 chi²

Volume

These units are used to measure cereal grains.

Table of volume (modern Chinese) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	US dry value	Imperial value	Notes
''cuō''	撮	1/1000	1 ml
''sháo''	勺	1/100	10 ml		~0.6102 cu in
''gě''	合	1/10	100 ml	~0.1816 pints	~6.102 cu in
''shēng''	市升	1	1 l	~1.816 pints	~61.02 cu in
''dǒu''	市斗	10	10 l	~18.16 pints, or ~2.27 gallons	~610.2 cu in, or ~0.3531 cu ft
''dàn''	市石	100	100 l	~22.7 gallons	~3.531 cu ft

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.

Table of mass (modern Chinese) units Modern Chinese units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''hū''	忽	1/10 000 000	50 µg
''sī''	絲	1/1000 000	500 µg
''háo''	毫	1/100 000	5 mg
''lí''	市厘	1/10 000	50 mg
''fēn''	市分	1/1000	500 mg	~0.2822 dr	candareen
''qián''	市钱	1/100	5 g	~2.822 dr	mace
''liǎng''	市两	1/10	50 g	~1.764 oz	tael or Chinese ounce
''jīn''	市斤	1	500 g	~1.102 lb	catty or Chinese pound formerly 16 liang = 1 jin = 604.79 g
''dàn''	市担 / 擔	100	50 kg	~110.2 lb	picul or Chinese hundredweight

Hong Kong units

(Pronunciation information is in Jyutping.)

Table of mass (Hong Kong) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''candareen''	分 (fen1)	1/1600	~378 mg	~0.2133 dr
''mace''	錢 (tsin2)	1/160	~3.78 g	~2.133 dr
''tael''	兩 (leung5)	1/16	~37.8 g	~1.333 oz	Exactly 37.79936375 g
''catty''	斤 (gan1)	1	~604.8 g	~1.333 lb	Exactly 0.60478982 kg
''picul''	担 (daam4)	100	~60.48 kg	~133.3 lb

Hong Kong Troy units

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

Table of mass (Hong Kong troy) units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Metric value	Imperial value	Notes
''candareen troy''	金衡分	1/100	~374.3 mg	~0.2112 dr
''mace troy''	金衡錢	1/10	~3.743 g	~2.112 dr
''tael troy''	金衡兩	1	~37.43 g	~1.32 oz	Exactly 37.429 grams

Time

Table of time units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Western value	Notes
''miǎo''	秒		1 second
''old fēn''	分	1/60 kè	15 seconds
''fēn''	分		1 minute
''kè''	刻	60 old fēn	15 minutes	Historically this had been defined as 1/96, 1/100, 1/108, or 1/120 of a day. The value here is the modern conventional value (1/96 day).
''xiǎoshí''	小时	4 kè	1 hour
''shíchén''	时辰	8 kè	2 hours	no longer in common use; retains religious, ceremonial and traditional usage
''rì'', or ''tiān''	日, or 天	12 shíchén	24 hours
''zi''	字		5 minutes	Used mostly in dialogue

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.

Reference

★ Hong Kong government definitions for Chinese units

★ Chinese/Metric/Imperial Measurement Converter

See also

★ Earthly Branches

★ History of measurement

★ Systems of measurement

★ Units of measure

★ Japanese units of measurement

★ Taiwanese units of measurement

★ Chinese numbers