measurement

 

Units of Measurement

 

Money

* Ordered by unit size not pinyin

千 (qiān) Qian = 4g; The ideal weight of one copper cash coin.

兩 (liáng) Liang or Tael = 40g; The unit of measurement for silver ingots (銀子 yínzi or 銀錠 yíndìng)

1,000 copper coins = 1 string of coins (貫 guàn or “string”) = 1 liang/tael

Time

时辰 (shíchén) Hour and 刻 (kè) Quarter Hour: The ancient Chinese used the 时-刻 timekeeping system where time was divided into roughly two-hour intervals called 时辰 (shíchén) and quarter-hour units called 刻 (kè). Each 时辰 corresponds to one of the twelve Earthly Branches and twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. The animals were used as a mnemonic for the system. 

Weight

斤 (jīn) Catty = ~500g (in China) and ~600g (in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Thailand) or about 604.8g (Hong Kong and Malaysia).

兩 (liáng) Liang = 40g

Shang Dynasty, one foot is 16.95cm today,

1 foot = 10 inches, 1 inch = 10 minutes,

Three foot six inches five minutes=3*16.95+0.6*16.95+0.05*16.95=61.8675cm

In the Shang Dynasty, one chi(foot) is 16.95 cm today. According to this scale, the height of a

person is about one zhang(ten foot), so it is called "husband(zhangfu)";

Zhou Dynasty, one foot is 23.1cm today;

In Qin Dynasty, one foot was about 23.1cm;

In the Han Dynasty, one foot was about 21.35-23.75cm;

Three Kingdoms, one foot about 24.2cm today.

Southern Dynasty, one foot about 25.8cm.

Northern Wei dynasty, one foot about 30.9cm today.

Sui Dynasty, one foot is 29.6cm;

Tang Dynasty, one foot is 30.7cm;

In the Song and Yuan dynasties, one foot was now 31.68cm.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, a foot of woodwork was now 31.1cm.