Hong Kong units of measurement
Encyclopedia
Hong Kong
units of measurement is based on the measurement
units
of Chinese
of Qing Empire, British Imperial and metric
. Both British Imperial and Chinese units were used until recently. In 1976 Hong Kong started the conversion to the metric system. This has now been almost completed with almost all Hong Kong Government business and legal requirements being in metric units. Customary Chinese and Imperial units are still widely used in all walks of life.
There is a chapter of Metrication Ordinance
in the Law of Hong Kong for conversion between systems of measurement.
Some Chinese units are gradually being replaced by Metric units as the sole custom and trade because of new developments in technology and Hong Kong becoming a much more urban city.
), 寸 (tsun/chun), 分 (fen
/fan) in descending scale order.
These units are now rarely used in daily life as the preferred system is the Metric system.
The unit character for Imperial is the same as the Chinese system. In order to distinguish between units in both systems, it is sometimes written with a prefix of 英 (Ying) for the British Imperial system and 華 (Wa) for the Chinese system. Sometimes special crafted characters are used; with radical 口(mouth), that denote it is colloquial, for writing Imperial units.
The most commonly used units are the mile
(哩, li, 英里), yard
(碼, ma), foot (呎, chek, 英尺), and inch
(吋, tsun 英寸).
There is still some use of traditional weights, for example, vegetables, meats, Chinese medicines are usually measured in Chinese system while fruits are sometimes measured in the Imperial system.
The trading of gold
, silver
and platinum
are in the Chinese system though there is little discrepancy from other goods.
is 斗 (tau) but it is replaced by packaged rice in weight. The volume of water
and fuel
is the litre. The gallon
(加侖, ka-lun) of the Imperial system is still occasionally used.
is usually used, but the Chinese calendar
also plays a very important role in everyday life and in telling the dates of traditional festivals
.
In the following table, multiple Chinese names are listed in the order of usage frequency.
or Calorie
is the unit used for the measurement of energy
in food
.
(馬力) is still the dominant measurement for the power
of Car
s and Air Conditioning Systems. The Chinese counting word 匹 (pat) is the unit to describe it in the Cantonese language.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
units of measurement is based on the measurement
Measurement
Measurement is the process or the result of determining the ratio of a physical quantity, such as a length, time, temperature etc., to a unit of measurement, such as the metre, second or degree Celsius...
units
Units of measurement
A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention and/or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same physical quantity. Any other value of the physical quantity can be expressed as a simple multiple of the unit of...
of Chinese
Chinese units of measurement
Chinese units of measurement are the customary and traditional units of measure used in China. In the People's Republic of China, the units were re-standardised during the late 20th century to make them approximate SI units. Many of the units were formerly based on the number 16 instead of 10...
of Qing Empire, British Imperial and metric
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
. Both British Imperial and Chinese units were used until recently. In 1976 Hong Kong started the conversion to the metric system. This has now been almost completed with almost all Hong Kong Government business and legal requirements being in metric units. Customary Chinese and Imperial units are still widely used in all walks of life.
There is a chapter of Metrication Ordinance
Metrication Ordinance
The Metrication Ordinance was enacted in 1976 in Hong Kong. The law allowed a gradual replacement of the Imperial units and Chinese units of measurement in favor of the International System of Units Metric System. The adoption was facilitated under the government's Metrication Committee....
in the Law of Hong Kong for conversion between systems of measurement.
Some Chinese units are gradually being replaced by Metric units as the sole custom and trade because of new developments in technology and Hong Kong becoming a much more urban city.
Length
In the old days, in the Chinese system, the most commonly used units are 里 (li), 丈 (tseung/cheung), 尺 (tsek/chekChek
Chek or CHEK may refer to:graffiti artist "chek larok/cheksta* Chek, Kyrgyzstan* CHEK-TV, a TV station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada...
), 寸 (tsun/chun), 分 (fen
Fen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
/fan) in descending scale order.
These units are now rarely used in daily life as the preferred system is the Metric system.
The unit character for Imperial is the same as the Chinese system. In order to distinguish between units in both systems, it is sometimes written with a prefix of 英 (Ying) for the British Imperial system and 華 (Wa) for the Chinese system. Sometimes special crafted characters are used; with radical 口(mouth), that denote it is colloquial, for writing Imperial units.
The most commonly used units are the mile
Mile
A mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile...
(哩, li, 英里), yard
Yard
A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches...
(碼, ma), foot (呎, chek, 英尺), and inch
Inch
An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
(吋, tsun 英寸).
Weight
Both Chinese and Metric weight units are used in Hong Kong. The choice of system depends on the type of goods and their origins. Metric is used for all official purposes, for example the Post Office and Road signs. All packaged foods must have labels giving metric weights.There is still some use of traditional weights, for example, vegetables, meats, Chinese medicines are usually measured in Chinese system while fruits are sometimes measured in the Imperial system.
The trading of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
are in the Chinese system though there is little discrepancy from other goods.
Area
The traditional measure of flat area is in square feet (方呎,fong-chek,平方呎, ping-fong-chek) of the Imperial system. Apartment or office size is generally still given in square feet. Traditionally, the measurement of agricultural plots and fields are conducted in 畝(mau) of the Chinese system.Volume
In Chinese system, the measurement of volume of riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
is 斗 (tau) but it is replaced by packaged rice in weight. The volume of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
and fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
is the litre. The gallon
Gallon
The gallon is a measure of volume. Historically it has had many different definitions, but there are three definitions in current use: the imperial gallon which is used in the United Kingdom and semi-officially within Canada, the United States liquid gallon and the lesser used United States dry...
(加侖, ka-lun) of the Imperial system is still occasionally used.
Time
Time measurement follows the international system. Gregorian calendarGregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
is usually used, but the Chinese calendar
Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well...
also plays a very important role in everyday life and in telling the dates of traditional festivals
Public holidays in Hong Kong
Public holidays in Hong Kong are holidays designated by the Government of Hong Kong. They allow workers rest from work, usually in conjunction with special occasions.-Public holidays:...
.
In the following table, multiple Chinese names are listed in the order of usage frequency.
| English name | Chinese name | Cantonese pronunciation | Equivalent in other units | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year (Gregorian) | 年 | nin4 | 365 or 366 days | Roughly follows a solar cycle. Historically, the Chinese refer to the return of the Sun in the winter solstice Winter solstice Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film... as "歲" (seui3). |
| Year (Chinese) | 年 | nin4 | 12 or 13 Chinese months | In Chinese years with 13 months, the 13th month is known as the intercalary month. |
| Month (Gregorian) | 月 | yut6 | 28, 29, 30 or 31 days | The Gregorian month lost the meaning of the lunar cycle. |
| Month (Chinese) | 月 | yut6 | 29 or 30 days | Roughly in sync with the lunar cycle |
| Day | 日 | yat6 | 24 hours | |
| Hour | 鐘/鐘頭/小時 | jung1/jung1 tau 4/siu2 si4 | 4 quarters or 60 minutes | "鐘" also means "clock" or "bell", which usually chimes every hour. |
| Quarter | 骨 | gwat1 | 15 minutes | "骨" is the Cantonese Cantonese Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province... loanword Loanword A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,... for "quarter". |
| 字 | ji6 | 5 minutes | "字" is very commonly used in colloquial speech, more so than "分鐘". | |
| Minute | 分鐘/分 | fan1 jung1/fan1 | 60 seconds | |
| Second | 秒 | miu5 |
Energy
The JouleJoule
The joule ; symbol J) is a derived unit of energy or work in the International System of Units. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of one metre , or in passing an electric current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm for one second...
or Calorie
Calorie
The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule...
is the unit used for the measurement of energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
in food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
.
Power
HorsepowerHorsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
(馬力) is still the dominant measurement for the power
Power (physics)
In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
of Car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s and Air Conditioning Systems. The Chinese counting word 匹 (pat) is the unit to describe it in the Cantonese language.