Jin (mass)
Traditional Chinese unit of weight
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The catty is traditionally equivalent to 1+1⁄3 pound avoirdupois, formalised as 604.78982 grams (g) in Hong Kong, 604.5 g (historically) in Vietnam, 604.79 g in Malaysia and 604.8 g in Singapore. In Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Thailand, the unit is rounded to 600 g. In China, the jin is rounded to 500 g and called the market jin (市斤; shìjīn), to distinguish it from the kilogram (called the common jin; 公斤; gōngjīn), and is subdivided into 10 taels rather than 16.
History
In ancient China, the office of Sima (司馬) was in charge of military affairs. Because the management of military grain and fodder involved frequent weighing, mass units (such as jin and liang) were also called sima jin (司馬斤), sima liang, and so on. The measuring tools used were called sima scales (司馬秤). This is still true in Hong Kong. One sima jin is equal to sixteen sima liang, which is where the idiom "half a jin vs eight liang" comes from.
The mass of the jin varies between different eras and regions, but its ratio to contemporaneous units is generally unchanged: one jin is equal to sixteen liang, or 1/120 of a dan. Starting from the late Qing dynasty, the jin was also written in English as catty or kan based on the Malay name for the unit.
Before the Qing dynasty, various regions and industries in China had their own weight standards for jin and liang. During the Qing, unified weights and measures were implemented. One late-Qing jin was 596.816 g according to the Beiyang government, and equal to 16 liang.
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China
1915 measurement law
On 7 January 1915, the Beiyang government promulgated a measurement law to use the metric system as the standard but also a system based directly on Qing definitions (营造尺库平制), with the liang as the base unit.
Mass units in the Republic of China (1930–1959)
On 16 February 1929, the Nationalist government adopted and promulgated The Weights and Measures Act to adopt the metric system and limit the updated Chinese units of measurement to private sales and trade, effective 1 January 1930. The updated market units are based on rounded metric numbers, and jin is the base unit.
Mass units since 1959
On June 25, 1959, the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued the Order on the Unified Measurement System, retaining the market system, with the statement of "the market system originally stated that sixteen liang is equal to one jin. Due to the trouble of conversion, it should be changed to ten liang per jin."
Legally, 1 jin equals 500 grams, and 10 liang equals 1 jin (that is, 1 liang is 50 g). The traditional Chinese medicine measurement system was unchanged.
Mass units in traditional Chinese medicine
Until 1979, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) generally kept the division of 16 liang to 1 (500-g) jin. In 1979, the State Council of China issued an order for the TCM trade to switch to metric units. The previously used qian was to be treated as exactly 3 g, with other units derived from the liang scaled accordingly. Mass units in ancient TCM prescriptions should be interpreted using the metric (gram) conversions appropriate for the era, not the modern versions of these units.
Taiwan
The jin, or kin, in Taiwan is called the Taiwan jin or taijin (台斤). The taijin is equivalent to the Qing-era Chinese jin. In 1895 Taiwan was ceded to Japan, which implemented the metric system, but Taiwan continued to use the old weights and measures. Thus, after China stopped using the Qing system, it came to be known as the Taiwan system. 1 taijin is 600 grams, or 16 Taiwan liang, and 1 Taiwan liang is equal to 37.5 g.
Hong Kong and Macau
Hong Kong and Macau mass units
According to the original Hong Kong law, Article 22 of 1884, one jīn is 1+1⁄3 British pounds (that is, 3 jīn is equal to 4 pounds). Currently, Hong Kong law stipulates that one jīn is equal to one hundredth of a dan or sixteen liang, which is 0.604 789 82 kilograms (0.604 789 82 kg divided by 4⁄3 is 0.453 592 65 kg, the 1878 definition of the British Avoirdupois pound).
Hong Kong troy units
These are used for trading precious metals such as gold and silver, defined around the British troy weight system.
Malaysia and Singapore
Malaysia has similar regulations as Hong Kong, as it was also a former British colony. The rounding is slightly different, a catty (or jin) is 0.604 79 kg. Similarly, Singapore law stipulates that one catty is also equal to 11⁄3 pounds, or 0.6048 kg.
Japan
In Japan, 1 jin, or kin in Japanese, is equal to 600 grams, but is rarely used. An exception is the jin used for slices of bread. According to the fair competition regulations of the Japanese Bread Fair Trade Council, a jin only needs to be more than 340 g.
Korea
The base unit of Korean mass is the gwan. At the time of Korea's metrication, however, the geun (or Korean pound) was in more common use. The gwan is usually considered equivalent to 600 g. The nyang also sees some use among Korean traditional Chinese medicine vendors.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, the jin is called the cân ta (lit. 'our scale'), and is equal to 604.6 grams. The following table lists common units of mass in Vietnam in the early 20th century:
Notes:
- The cân ('scale') is also called cân ta ('our scale') to distinguish it from the kilogram (cân tây, 'Western scale').
Jin, pound and kilogram
The jin, pound and kilogram are all currently used in China. Their meanings and conversions in China are as follows:
- 市斤 (Chinese jin; lit. 'market jin'): Or simply called jin, also called Chinese pound. In the market system (市制) in use since 1930, 1 jin equals 500 g, equivalent to 1.1023 pounds.
- 公斤 (kilogram, lit. 'common jin'): A metric unit, equivalent to 1000 g.
- 磅 (pound): A British Imperial unit, about 453.6 g.
Society and culture
Etymology
The word catty comes from Malay kati, meaning 'the weight'. It has also been borrowed into English as caddy, meaning a container for storing tea.
Chinese idioms
- wikt:幾斤幾兩 (jǐjīnjǐliǎng)
- wikt:半斤八兩 (bànjīnbāliǎng)
- wikt:缺斤少兩 (quējīnshǎoliǎng)
- wikt:斤斤計較 (jīnjīnjìjiào)