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The Chinese name for most SI units is based on that of the closest traditional unit. When it is necessary to emphasize which system is used, the words "market" (市 ''shì'') for traditional units or "common/standard" (公 ''gōng'') for SI units may be added in front of the name. SI is the official system of units, but traditional units are still ubiquitously used in everyday life. Note: The names ''lí'' (厘) and ''fēn'' (分) for small units are the same for length, area, and mass; however, they refer to different kinds of measurements. HISTORY According to the Liji , the legendary Yellow Emperor created the first measurement units. The Xiao Erya and Kongzi Jiayu state that length units were derived from the human body. According to the Records Of The Grand Historian , these human body units caused inconsistency, and Yu The Great , another legendary figure, unified the length measurements. Ruler s with decimal units have been unearthed from Shang Dynasty tombs. In the Zhou Dynasty , the king conferred nobles with powers of the state, and the measurement units began to be inconsistent from state and state. After the Warring States Period , Qin Shi Huang unified China, and later standardized measurement units. In the Han Dynasty , these measurements were still being used, and were documented systematically in the Book Of Han . Astronomical instruments show little change of the length of chi in the following centuries, since the calendar need to be consistent. It was not until the introduction of decimal units in the Ming Dynasty that the traditional system was revised. In 1928, the government of the Republic Of China adopted the Metric System as the official standard, but the government of the People's Republic Of China resumed using the traditional system until 1984, when it adopted the SI system. The SI system became the national standard in 1987. All "Metric values" given in the tables are exact unless otherwise specified by the approximation sign '~'. LENGTH Hong Kong units AREA Chinese square area VOLUME These units are used to measure cereal grains. MASS These units are used to measure the mass of objects. They are also famous for measuring monetary objects such as gold and silver. The decimal system has not been fully adopted by Chinese citizens. Hong Kong units (Pronunciation information is in Jyutping .) Hong Kong Troy units These are used for trading precious metals such as gold and silver. TIME Since 1645 (except for 1665–1669), the above equivalents have been true. Except for several short periods of a few years each, before 1645 (before the Qing Dynasty ) the following were true ; 1 rì := 12 shíchén = 100 kè, and ; 1 shíchén := 8 1/3 kè = 8 kè 20 fēn. REFERENCE SEE ALSO
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