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Chi (unit)
Traditional Chinese unit of length / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The chi (Tongyong Pinyin chih) is a traditional Chinese unit of length. Although it is often translated as the "Chinese foot", its length was originally derived from the distance measured by a human hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger, and is similar to the ancient span. It first appeared during China's Shang dynasty approximately 3,000 years ago and has since been adopted by other East Asian cultures such as Japan (shaku), Korea (ja/cheok), and Vietnam (thước). Its present value is standardized at around one-third metre (1 ft 1 in), although the exact standards vary among the mainland of the People's Republic of China, its special administrative region of Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Chi | |||||||||||||||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 尺 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||
Kanji | 尺 | ||||||||||||||||||
Kana | しゃく | ||||||||||||||||||
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Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||
Hangul | 자 | ||||||||||||||||||
Hanja | n/a | ||||||||||||||||||
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Alternative Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||
Hangul | 척 | ||||||||||||||||||
Hanja | 尺 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Chi (China) | |
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![]() Wooden ruler of the western Han dynasty, unearthed at Jinguan Pass Site in Jinta County | |
General information | |
Unit system | traditional Chinese unit |
Unit of | length |
Conversions | |
1 chi (china) in ... | ... is equal to ... |
metric (SI) units | 1/3 m ~333.3 mm |
imperial/US units | ~1.0936 ft ~13.123 in |
Chek (Hong Kong) | |
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![]() a section of an old Hong Kong ruler, showing the last (10th) cun of a chi. One can see that the chi in that jurisdiction was exactly equal to 14+5/8 of an inch. A metric ruler is shown next to it for comparison | |
General information | |
Unit system | traditional Chinese unit |
Unit of | length |
Conversions | |
1 chek (hong kong) in ... | ... is equal to ... |
metric (SI) units | 0.371475 m ~371.5 mm |
imperial/US units | 1.21875 ft 14+5/8 in |
Chi (Taiwan) | |
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Unit system | traditional Taiwan unit |
Unit of | length |
Conversions | |
1 chi (taiwan) in ... | ... is equal to ... |
metric (SI) units | 10⁄33 m ~303.0 mm |
imperial/US units | ~0.99419 ft ~11.930 in |
In its ancient and modern forms, the chi is divided into 10 smaller units known as cun (the "Chinese inch"). 10 chi are equal to 1 zhàng.[1]