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liǎng [Chinese. 兩 or 啢]

See also: tael.

In China, 3^rd century bce–20ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass. It is currently a part of the metrified shi zhi system, 10 liǎng = 1 jin, 1 liǎng = 50 grams. Slightly earlier, in the People's Republic of China, 20ᵗʰ century, 31.2 grams, while on Taiwan, 1 liǎng = 10 ch'ien = 37.5 grams (about 1.32 ounces).

16 liǎng = 1 chin, about 1¹/₃ oz. Also romanized as leang.

As a silver weight, = ¹⁄₁₆th catty = 10 tchen (mass or mace) = 100 fen (condorines) = 1000 li (caches). The names in parentheses were employed by European traders at Canton in the 19ᵗʰ century.

In commerce, 19ᵗʰ century, a slightly different value was used = 1.2 ounces avoirdupois = ¹⁄₁₆th of the commercial catty, about 37.80 grams.¹

When liǎng occurs before measure words, or before bàn (半 'half'), qiān (千 'thousand'), wàn (万 'ten thousand'), or yì (亿 'a hundred million'), it means two.

Some Historical Values
Dynasty	Dates	Value of liǎng in grams (Wu Ch'eng-lo)
Chou	1121–220 bce	14.93
Qin	349–205 bce	16.14
Former Han	205 bce–8 ce	16.14
Hsin Mang	9–24 ce	13.92
Later Han	25–220	13.92
Wei	220–265	13.92
Western Tsin	265–273	13.92
Western Tsin	274–316	13.92
Eastern Tsin	317–430	13.92
Former Chao	318–319	—
Liu-Sung	420–478	—
South Ch'i	479–501	20.88
Liang & Chen	502–588	13.92
Later Wei & West Wei	386–557	13.92
Later Wei & East Wei	495–550	—
North Ch'i	550–557	27.84
North Chou	557–566	—
North Chou	566–581	15.66
Sui	581–606	41.76
Sui	607–618	13.92
Tang	618–906	37.30
Five Dynasties	907–960	37.30
Song	960–1279	37.30
Yuan	1279–1368	37.30
Ming	1368–1644	37.30
Qing	1644–1911	37.30

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

1. Doursther (1840) page 511.

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