Doubts about half a catty: the weights and measures system of the three places on the Taiwan Strait
Content directory
1. Inconsistent Weights and Measures
Second, from hexadecimal to decimal
3. Jin and Liang in New China
4. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan
text:
Living in the mainland, I have been protected in school and family since I was a child. I don’t know anything except taking exams. I am so out of touch with society that I have never been able to figure out the conversion relationship between jin and liang. The cognition of jin liang comes from the word "half jin and eight liang", that is, half a jin is equal to eight liang, and one jin is sixteen liang, which is a hexadecimal system. However, when living in the Sichuan-Chongqing area, noodle restaurants often sell in units of two, two or two small noodles and three or two small noodles (different from small bowls and large bowls in other areas). Once I was eating noodles at a noodle shop, and a local resident went to the noodle shop to buy "raw noodles". The person said, "Two catties, make ten small bowls." At this time, I realized that half a catty is not eight liang, but two catties. The base is decimal. How much is half a pound? I asked a few people my age, but no one could tell. Some said it was ten taels, while others said it was eight taels. With this doubt in mind, I searched for relevant information and found that things are far from being as simple as I thought.
1. Inconsistent Weights and Measures
After some searching, I found out that the jin liang in the mainland is different from that in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. One jin in the mainland is 10 liang. The unit of measurement in Macau and Taiwan is jin, and one jin is equal to sixteen taels, which is a hexadecimal system. Hong Kong is quite special. Pounds and jins coexist and are used according to the conventions of various industries, but a jin is also 16 taels. In imperial units, the unit of weight is pounds (lb), and one pound is equal to sixteen ounces (oz), which is a hexadecimal system.
Due to the special colonial history of Hong Kong, although the International System of Units was officially introduced into Hong Kong in 1976, it has now become the mainstream system of weights and measures in Hong Kong. In daily life, the Chinese old system and the imperial system are still used to a certain extent. The former is usually found in markets (vegetable markets) and the gold and silver trading industry, while the latter is also commonly found in the area of buildings and water capacity.
No matter how many talented people in Hong Kong are, they still go their own way. Different industries still follow the old rules . So in a single vegetable market, you can see a pound of vegetables, a pound of beef, a gallon of milk, and a portion of fruit. 1
It seems that the inconsistency of weights and measures is the norm in the world. It is no wonder that the world is promoting the international system of units , namely Kilogram and Gram. Mainland China is vast, with a large number of provinces, and private business practices are inconsistent. The confusion of weights and measures is the norm.
Second, from hexadecimal to decimal
The Qin Dynasty was the earliest dynasty in China to have unified weights and measures. According to relevant data, the jin liang formulated by the Qin Dynasty was hexadecimal.
There is also a legend about the hexadecimal system of Jinliang formulated by the Qin Dynasty: after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, the prime minister Li Si was responsible for formulating the weights and measures. Li Si successfully formulated the standards for coins, length, etc., but he had no idea about the weight. He really couldn't think of how many taels should be set as a pound, so he asked Qin Shihuang for instructions. Qin Shihuang wrote a four-character instruction: "The world is fair" (Xiaozhuan was used after Qin Shihuang unified), which is regarded as a set standard, but there is no exact number. In order to avoid being blamed for future problems in practice, Li Si decided to use the number of strokes of the four characters "the world is fair" as the standard, so he determined that one kilogram equals sixteen taels. Unexpectedly, this standard has been used for more than 2,000 years since then. This legend should come from the hands of modern people. 2
During the Qing Dynasty, weights and measures were very confusing. The unit of "liang" had different standards such as "Kupingliang", "Guanpingliang", "Caopingliang", "Simaliang", etc., but they were all hexadecimal. One pound is equal to sixteen taels. In the third year before the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the "Forty Articles of the Regulations on the Promotion of Uniform Weights and Measures" was issued, which formed the standardization of Kupingliang, and the hexadecimal system was maintained. After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang government continued to use the Qing government's Kupingliang system, but at the same time activated the Wanguoquan Dutong system (one kilogram equals ten kilograms, which is a decimal system), and China officially entered an era where one kilogram equals ten taels . 3
There are 24 articles in the Regulations on Powers, which stipulate that the powers are divided into two systems : A and B. The A system is "Zhichikuping system. The length is in the unit of one foot, and the weight is in Kuping one or two"; the B system is "the universal system of authority. The length is in one new foot, and the weight is in a new one." catties is the unit." 4
By 1929 (the 18th year of the Republic of China), the National Government officially announced and promulgated the "Weights and Measures Law", which stipulated that the metric system of the world should be adopted as the standard system, and a supplementary system was temporarily called the municipal system . After the reform of the scale, most of the documents in this historical period adopted the metric system in parallel with the municipal system, and the corresponding metric system weight was enclosed in parentheses after the municipal system. 5
"Weights and Measures Law" (18 years of the Republic of China)
Article 1 The weights and measures of the Republic of China shall be based on the platinum-iridium-meter-kilogram prototype formulated by the Universal Authority.
Article 2 The weights and measures of the Republic of China adopts the Universal Metric System as the standard system, and temporarily sets up an auxiliary system called the Municipal System.
Article 3 The length of the standard system is in meters, the weight is in kilograms, and the capacity is in liters. One meter is equal to the distance between the first and the last two punctuation marks of the original meter at zero degrees on the Baidu Cold and Summer Table, one kilogram is equal to the weight of the kilogram prototype, and one liter is equal to one kilogram of pure water at its highest density at 760mm pressure. Volume, which is commonly used as a cubic inch.
Article 4
... Kilogram: The unit is ten kilograms. ......
Article 5 The length of the municipal system is 1/3 of the meter as the city chi (abbreviated as chi), the weight is 1/2 of the kilogram as the city jin (abbreviated as the jin), and the capacity is liters as the city liter (abbreviated as the liter). Jin is divided into sixteen taels, 1,500 feet is defined as one li, 6,000 square feet is defined as one mu, and the rest are measured in ten.
3. Jin and Liang in New China
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the municipal system of the Republic of China continued for a period of time. On June 25, 1959, the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the "Order of the State Council on Unifying my country's Metrology System", which formally stipulated the international metric system and the municipal system, and officially changed the municipal system from "sixteen taels to one pound" to one pound. "Twelve taels are a pound." 6
On March 22, 1959, the 86th meeting of the Plenary Session of the State Council passed in principle ⌊Report of the Science and Technology Committee on Unifying my country's Metrology System and Further Carrying out Metrology Work ⌉ and ⌊Unifying the Chinese Names of Metric Units of Measurement ⌉, and now the order is issued as follows:
1. The international metric system (that is, the metric system, referred to as the metric system) is a measurement system characterized by ten advances and ten retreats. It is easy to use and has been adopted by most countries in the world. It is now determined as the basic measurement system in China. promotion within the scope. The original municipal system based on the international metric system has become accustomed to common use in the daily life of our people and can be retained.
The municipal system originally set sixteen taels as one jin, but due to the troublesome conversion, it should be changed to ten taels as one jin ; the time and steps of this reform shall be decided by the people's committees of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. In order to prevent calculation errors, the traditional units of measurement may continue to be used for traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions without reform.
2. The imperial system used in my country should be switched to the metric system, except that it can continue to be used due to special needs.
Some remote areas and ethnic minority areas are still using the old miscellaneous system, they should take prudent steps to reform by taking into account the habits and ethnic characteristics of the people in these areas and avoiding transactions that affect the market . It is up to the people's committees of the relevant provinces and autonomous regions to decide how to reform.
The nautical mile (wei) can continue to be used because it is a widely used unit for calculating sea distances internationally.
......
Premier Zhou Enlai June 25, 1959
On July 14, 1981, the State Council approved and promulgated the Plan for the Names and Symbols of Measurement Units of the People's Republic of China (for Trial Implementation), which stipulated that except those listed in the attached table, other municipal units are not allowed to use them. For the municipal system of jin liang listed in the attached table, the conversion relationship is "one jin is equal to ten liang".
On February 27, 1984, the "Order of the State Council on the Unified Implementation of Legal Measurement Units in my country": "2. The municipal measurement units currently used in the people's lives in our country can continue to be used until 1990. Before the end of 1990, the national Transition of Legal Units of Measurement". In this regard, the municipal system was officially abolished in mainland China.
But to this day, people in mainland China still use "jin" as a unit of weight. For the convenience of customers, ordinary shops, supermarkets or vegetable markets still use one jin as a unit (or in parallel with kilograms) when marking the price. Write "500 grams". In addition, many people use "jin" to measure their weight in daily communication (but there are also many people who are used to using kilograms), and one catty is ten taels . 7
4. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan
Hong Kong's Weights and Measures Ordinance stipulates three types of measurement of mass or weight, namely decimal units, imperial units, and Chinese units (hexadecimal). 8
The relevant laws of Macau do not recognize the Chinese system and the imperial system, but only the international system of units (decimal). 9
According to reports, Macau residents have been using multiple units of measurement at the same time (the traditional Sima unit, the imperial system and the decimal system coexist). Macao's "Statutory Units of Weights and Measures System", which came into effect on January 1, 1993, legally defined Macao's measurement system as the International System of Units (SI) (commonly known as the decimal system). However, the law also allows the non-SI system to be used for five years after the law comes into force, and after the end of the buffer period, the non-SI system will continue to be used in a secondary position for three years. 10
To this day, the use of decimal units of measurement has not been popularized in Macao, and various folk systems coexist.
In Taiwan , in 1954 (the 43rd year of the Republic of China), the "Weights and Measures Law" was revised in full, officially abolishing the legal status of the municipal system, stipulating that one kilogram equals ten kilograms. 11
"Weights and Measures Law" March 09, 1943
Article 1 The weights and measures of the Republic of China shall be based on the platinum-iridium-meter-kilogram prototype formulated by the Universal Authority.
......
Article 3... The unit of kilogram, that is, ten kilograms and two...
......
The folks follow the Japanese system, 1 jin is 600 grams, which is equal to 16 taels. In the 73rd year of the Republic of China (1984), after the full text of the "Weights and Measures Law" was revised again, it was stipulated that the Central Bureau of Standards of the Ministry of Economic Affairs was in charge of "the unification and implementation of weights and measures standards". . The Central Bureau of Standards of the Ministry of Economic Affairs once forcibly banned non-metric weighing instruments to facilitate the full implementation of the metric system and the elimination of the Taiwan system. On the mainland of Taiwan, Taiwan-made units are still widely used in traditional markets. The "jin" in the market is Taiwan jin, and one jin is sixteen taels . 12
1 See: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/260175923 ↩
2 For details, please refer to: https://baike.baidu.com/item/16 taels per pound/715957#:~:text=About the Qin Dynasty formulating taels of pounds, okay, so I asked Qin Shihuang for instructions. ↩
3 There is a saying circulating on the Internet that, like the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese, the decimal metric adopted in mainland China is the result of communist rule, which is inaccurate. ↩
4 For details, see: "Republic of China History Archives and Materials Collection" Volume III, Agriculture and Commerce (1), Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House, 1991 edition, pp. 46-47. ↩
5 See : https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/jin↩
6 For the original text of the policy, please refer to: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/The order of the State Council on the unification of China's measurement system↩
7 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality#Hong Kong -Macao↩
8 See the original text of the law: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap68!zh-Hant-HK ↩
9 See the original text of the law: https://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/92/34/lei14_cn.asp ↩
10 See: https://news.sina.cn/sa/2004-11-23/detail-ikkntiam1738998.d.html ↩
11 See the original text of the law: https://lis.ly.gov.tw/lglawc/lawsingle?003B5C6F2A73000000000000000000A000000002FFFFFA00 ^01926043030900^00000000000 ↩
12 For details , see: https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/Taiwan↩
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