SC - Chinese measurements was Cow's Milk Buns

[Susan Fox-Davis]

I'm having one of those days.  I just found the posts about which
someone enquired, and now I can't remember who just asked.  Oh well.
Here are the answers.

In a post titled "SC-Cow's Milk Buns" 3/20/2001:

Drakey wrote:
 Also, does anyone know what the following
measurements are: chin, sheng, liang?

I've been ok when all the measurements are the same
(so I can do things by proportions) but am stumpted
when the measurements are all separate.  I combed
 'A Soup for the Qan' with no luck.

Adamantius responded:

Comb to page 172 of "A Soup for the Qan", where you will see the
following translator's note:

"Note on Weights and Measures. In the translation below we have made no
attempt to translate Chinese weights and measures. The following
equivalents must be borne in mind when interpreting the recipes: a
ch'ien is today 3.12 g or .011 oz and is one-tenth of a liang. Sixteen
liang make a chin (about 500 g). A sheng is today 31.5 cu in (slightly
less in the fourteenth century), and is comprised of 10 ho (each 3.17 cu

in). Ten sheng make a tou. Units of length relevant to the translation
are the ts'un, which is 33 mm and the ch'ih, ten ts'un, or about a third

of a meter."

It looks to me that there may be a typo in ASFTQ: if "g" = grams, then a

ch'ien of 3.12 grams would be roughly 0.11 oz, not .011 oz, and a liang
would be roughly equivalent to an ounce, while a chin would equal
approximately a pound. Unless "g" is supposed to denote "grains", as
Cariadoc suggested may be the case, in which case you're on your own,
boyo. It's late here... .

As for the sheng, you could make one for dry measure out of cardboard,
and maybe waxed for wet use, essentially a box with no top, 3" x 3"
x3.5", or, let's see... 7.6 x 7.6 x 9 cm, in case it matters.

I know... I could swear... I just know, somewhere, there is, or was, on
the Web, a Table of Weights and Measures with sections on ancient
Chinese, Indian, etc., weights and measures, not to mention medieval and

early modern European ones. Of course, now I can't find it.

Bear responded with:

The following are from "How Many?  A Dictionary of Units of Measurement"

webbed at:

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html


sheng
a traditional unit of liquid volume in China. Like the Indian seer (see
above), the sheng is a little more than a liter; 1.035 liter (1.094 U.S.

quart) is one quoted equivalent.

chin
one of several spellings in English for the jin, a traditional Chinese
weight unit.

jin
a traditional unit of weight in China, comparable to the English pound.
During the European colonial era the jin was identified with the catty,
a
Malay unit widely used in various forms throughout East and Southeast
Asia.
Like the catty, the jin was then equal to 1 1/3 pounds or 604.79 grams.
Traditionally, it was divided into 16 liang. In modern China, however,
the
jin has been identified as a metric unit equal to exactly 500 grams
(1.1023
pounds), and it is divided into 10 liang. The spellings chin and gin
also
have been used for this unit.

liang
a traditional Chinese weight unit. During the European colonial period
the
liang was equal to 1/16 catty, 1/12 pound, or about 37.8 grams; this
made
it the same as a tael. In modern China, the liang equals 1/10 jin or 10
qian;
this is exactly 50 grams (1.7637 ounces).

- -=-=-=-=-

Yours in service, Selene