See also: tael.
In China, 3rd 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.
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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Last revised: 22 February 2016.