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Chinese units of measurement (Chinese: 市制; pinyin: Shìzhì; literally "market system") 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 1 History 2 Length 2.1 Modern Chinese units 2.2 Hong Kong units 3 Area 3.1 Modern Chinese units 3.2 Chinese square area 4 Volume 5 Mass 5.1 Modern Chinese units 5.2 Hong Kong units 5.3 Hong Kong Troy units 6 Time 7 References 8 Notes 9 See also

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
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

(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 37.799 363 75 g
catty	斤 (gan1)	1	~604.8 g	~1.333 lb	Exactly 0.604 789 82 kg
picul	担 (daam4)	100	~60.48 kg	~133.3 lb

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

Table of time units
Unit	Hanzi	Relative value	Western value	Notes
miǎo	秒		1 second
old fēn	分	1/60 kè	15 seconds	No longer in common usage
fēn	分		1 minute
zi	字		5 minutes	Used mostly in dialogue, since saying 'minutes' implies more accuracy and usually one syllable longer.
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. (Mostly used in religious purposes.)
rì, or tiān	日, or 天	12 shíchén	24 hours

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.

• Hong Kong government definitions for Chinese units
• Chinese/Metric/Imperial Measurement Converter

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