Jin (mass)

Jin
A traditional Chinese scale
Chinese市制
Literal meaningmarket system
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinshìzhì
Wade–Gilesshih-chih
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese市用制
Literal meaningmarket-use system
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinshìyòngzhì
Wade–Gilesshih-yung-chih
A spring scale in Hong Kong shows conversions between metric system (in red), traditional Chinese unit (in green) and British Imperial Units (in blue)

Jin (Chinese: 斤; pinyin: jīn), or gan in Cantonese, also called "Chinese pound" or "catty"[a], is a traditional Chinese unit for weight measurement in East Asia. It originated in China mainland before being introduced to neighboring countries. Nowaday, the mass of 1 jin ranges between 500 to 610 grams in different places: 500 grams in mainland China,[2] 600 grams in Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Thailand, [3] [4] 604.78982 grams in Hong Kong,[5] and 604.8 grams in Singapore and Malaysia.[6] [7] The Jin system is mostly used in the traditional markets, and famous for measuring gold, silver and Chinese medicines. [2] [4]

  1. ^ "Oxford English Dictionary".
  2. ^ a b (in Chinese) 1959 Gazette of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, No. 180, pages 311 to 312
  3. ^ Weights and Measures in Use in Taiwan Archived 2010-12-29 at the Wayback Machine from the Republic of China Yearbook – Taiwan 2001.
  4. ^ a b "Regulation on Approval and Notification of Herbal (crude) Medicinal Preparations, Etc". Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
  5. ^ "Weights and Measures Ordinance". Laws of Hong Kong.
  6. ^ "Weights and Measures Act". Statutes of the Republic of Singapore.
  7. ^ "Weights and Measures Act 1972". Laws of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).