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jin [Chinese. 斤]

Jin is the pinyin romanization. In the Wade-Giles romanization it is chin. Also romanized as kin and tsin. The traditional character is 觔. Europeans often referred to this unit as a catty.

In China, since 1959, a unit of mass in the market system (shì zhì), 1 shìjīn 市斤 = 500 grams.

United Nations, 1966.

The gong jin, a unit of mass in the standardized metric system (gong zhì) = 1 kilogram, and the gong dan = 100 kilograms.

History

As a treaty measure, 1¹/₃ pounds avoirdupois.

A 1936 survey found 36 different values in use, ranging from 0.3 to 2.5 kilograms.²

2. Witold Kuta, page 284.

Dynasty	Dates	Value of jin in grams
Huang-ti	After 2697 bce	—
Yü	2254–2204 bce	—
Hsia	2204–1765 bce	—
Shang	1765–1121 bce	—
Chou	1121–220 bce	228.86
Ch'in	349–205 bce	258.24
Former Han	205 bc– 8 ce	258.24
Hsin Mang	9 ce – 24	222.73
Later Han	25 ce – 220	222.73
Wei	220–265 ce	222.73
Western Tsin	265–273 ce	222.73
Western Tsin	274–316 ce	222.73
Eastern Tsin	317–430	222.73
Former Chao	318–319	—
Liu–Sung	420–478	—
South Ch'i	479–501	334.10
Liang & Chen	502–588	222.73
Liang		—
Chen	557–588	—
Later Wei & West Wei	386–557	222.73
Later Wei & East Wei	495–550	—
North Ch'i	550–557	445.46
North Chou	557–566	—
North Chou	566–581	250.56
North Chou	577–581	250.56
Sui	581–606	668.19
Sui	607–618	222.73
T'ang	618–906	596.82
Five Dynasties	907–960	596.82
Sung	960–1279	596.82
Yuan	1279–1368	596.82
Ming	1368–1644	596.82
Ch'ing	1644–1911	596.82

Data from Wu Ch'eng-lo.
Chung-kuo tu liang heng shih (History of Chinese Weights and Measures).
Shanghai, 1937.