Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China/Chinese Weights, Measures, and Money
CHINESE WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND MONEY.
Weights
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1 liang (tael) 1·333 oz. avoir, or 37·78 grammes.
16 liang (tael) make 1 kin (catty) 1·333 lbs. avoir, or 604·53 grammes.
100 kin (catty) make 1 tan (picul) 133·333 lbs. avoir, or 60·453 kilogrammes.
120 kin (catty) make 1 shik (stone) 160·000 lbs. avoir, or 72·544 kilogrammes.
Four ounces equal three taels; one pound equals three-quarters of a catty, or twelve taels; one hundredweight equals 84 catties; and one ton equals 16 piculs 80 catties.
Measures of Capacity. I koh (gill) = 0103 litre.
koh make 1 sheng (pint) = 1-031 litre.
10 sheng make i tou (peck) = 1031 litre. Land Measure. I chih =
chih make 1 pu = pu make 1 fun = pu make i kioh = kioh make i mow = mow make i king =
I3'126 inches. 30'323 square feet. 80-862 square yards. 202156 square yards. 26*73 square poles. 167 acres. The mow, which is the unit of measurement, is almost exactly one-sixth of an acre. Weights and measures in China vary in every province and almost every district, and differ in the same districts for different kinds of goods. Measures of Length. I fun ^= 14 in. English.
fun make 1 tsun (inch) = 141 in. English. tsun make i chih (footi = I4'i in. English. chih make i chang (pole) = 11 ft. 9 in. English,
The length of the chang was fixed by the Treaty of Tientsin at 141 in.
chih make i pu (pace) ... = about 5 ft. English. pu make i li = about one-third English mile. li make i tang-sun (league) = about 3j English miles. li make i tu (degree).
Money.
1 li (cash) = ·032 of a penny.
10 li make 1 fen (candareen) = ·32 of a penny.
10 fen make 1 ch'ien (mace) = 3·2 pence.
10 ch'ien make 1 liang (tael) = 2s. 8d.
The above are weights of silver. They are not represented by any coin, except the copper cash, which is supposed to be the equivalent in value of a li of silver, but the value of which differs greatly in different districts and at different times. They have no uniform intrinsic value, being made of varying size and composition. Silver is used uncoined in ingots, usually of fifty taels, more or less, in weight, called sycee or "shoes," on account of their shape. The tael may be taken as worth one and a third silver dollar.
