Traditional Chinese Weights and Measures (in progress)
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Another page of useless information brought to you by U160618 as table-typing practice (or something like that).
Mainland China is still in the process of introducing metric units, but all
the traditional units have been modified to represent whole numbers or simple
fractions of metric units to ease the transition.
Distance
Originally 1 chi was the distance between the oustretched thumb and middle
finger, with 1 cun the width of a finger, giving China an early start to using
a decimal system. A zhi3 or small chi of 8 cun was supposed to be 1 chi
measured by a woman's hand.
| 1 | hao2 | |||||||
| 10 | hao | = | 1 | ri2 | ||||
| 10 | ri | = | 1 | fen1 | ||||
| 10 | fen | = | 1 | cun4 | ||||
| 10 | cun | = | 1 | chi3 | = | 33.3 | cm | |
| 5 | chi | = | 1 | bu4 | ||||
| 10 | chi | = | 1 | zhang4 | ||||
| 300 | ho | = | 1 | li3 | = | 500 | m |
The chi has changed over time1, gradually expanding. 1 zhang has always
been 10 chi, but the bu and li have changed. Current usage has standardised
1 li as half a kilometer, and returned to the older practice of 300 bu to 1
li, giving a chi only slightly larger than previous recent usage.
| Date Dynasty | >12 C B.C. Yin | 12-3 C B.C. Zhou | 3-1 C B.C. Early Han | 1-3 C Late Han | 3 C Wei | 4-5 C East Jin | |
| chi | 15.8 cm | 18.0 cm | 22.5 cm | 23.0 cm | 24.1 cm | 24.5 cm | |
| bu | 6 chi | ||||||
| li | 300 bu | ||||||
| Date Dynasty | 6-7 C Sui | 8-10 C Tang | 10-14 C Song/Yuan | 14-17 C Ming | 17-20 C Qing | 20 C Modern | |
| chi | 29.5 cm | 31.1 cm | 30.7 cm | 31.1 cm | 32.0 cm | 33.3 cm | |
| bu | 6 chi | 5 chi | |||||
| li | 300 bu | 360 bu | 300 bu | ||||
Area
| 1 | fang1bu4 | = | 1 | square bu | ||||
| 240 | bu | = | 1 | mu3 | ||||
| 100 | mu | = | 1 | qing3 |
Until about the 1st century BC 1 mu was 100 square bu.
Capacity
| 1 | cuo1 | = | 1 | ml | ||||
| 10 | cuo | = | 1 | shao2 | ||||
| 10 | shao | = | 1 | ge3 | ||||
| 10 | ge | = | 1 | sheng1 | = | 1 | l | |
| 10 | sheng | = | 1 | dou3 | ||||
| 10 | dou | = | 1 | shi2 |
interpretation. Most of the values here are from Obunsha's Kanwa Jiten (Japanese
character [= classical Chinese] dictionary), New Revised edition, 1986. The
Yin and Zhou numbers are from Sanseido's Kanjikai, 2000. In general, it seems no two tables give the same numbers.
