Chinese Numbers Explained
The traditional Chinese system of measuring area,
, is based on the Chinese acre:
, which is about 1/6 of an Imperial acre or 1/15 of a hectare, 666.67 sq. meters, or 7,176 sq. feet.
There is also a traditional unit of area equal to 100 亩, the
,
which was considered to the be amount of land needed to support a farming family.
The table below presents these and other traditional terms for units of area.
| Traditional Chinese Area Units |
|---|
| 亩 | mǔ | 1/6 Imperial Acre |
| 顷 | qǐng | 100 亩 |
| 分 | fēn | 1/10 亩 |
| 厘 | lí | 1/100 亩 |
| 毫 | háo | 1/1000 亩 |
In the table above there are also words representing 1/10th of a 亩
1/100th of a 亩,
and 1/1000 of a 亩,
but notice that these three other units are not unique to measures of area, as they are also used for terms of distance, and actually they are the standard International System of Units (SI) prefixes for signifying 1/10th, 1/100th or 1/1000th of something. Recall in the section on
distance, we saw the same three prefixes used for the standard metric terms for
millimeter: ,
centimeter: ,
and decimeter: .
When using the standard metric or Imperial systems the term for square unit is used: .
| Metric Area Units |
|---|
| 平方毫米 | píng fāng háo mǐ | sq. millimeter |
| 平方厘米 | píng fāng lí mǐ | sq. centimeter |
| 平方米 | píng fāng mǐ | sq. meter |
| 平方公里 | píng fāng gōng lǐ | sq. kilometer |
| Imperial Area Units |
|---|
| 平方英寸 | píng fāng yīng cùn | sq. inch |
| 平方英尺 | píng fāng yīng chǐ | sq. foot |
| 平方码 | píng fāng mǎ | sq. yard |
| 平方英里 | píng fāng yīng lǐ | sq. mile |
| 英亩 | yīng mǔ | acre |
| 公顷 | gōng qǐng | hectare |
Below are some examples of the relationships between various types of units. Note the use of the word for 'equals':
| Six Chinese acres equals one Imperial acre |
|---|
| six | Chinese acres | equals | one | Imperial acre |
| 六 | 亩 | 等于 | 一 | 英亩 |
| liù | mǔ | děng yú | yī | yīng mǔ |
| One hectare equals 15 Chinese acres |
|---|
| one | hectare | equals | fifteen | Chinese acres |
| 一 | 公顷 | 等于 | 十 | 五 | 亩 |
| yī | gōng qīng | děng yú | shí | wŭ | mǔ |
| One Imperial acre equals 0.405 hectares |
|---|
| one | Imperial acre | equals | zero | point | four | zero | five | hectares |
| 一 | 英亩 | 等于 | 零 | 点 | 四 | 零 | 五 | 公顷 |
| yī | yīng mǔ | děng yú | líng | diǎn | sì | líng | wŭ | gōng qīng |
| One square kilometer equals 1,500 Chinese acres |
|---|
| one | square kilometer | equals | one thousand | five hundred | Chinese acres |
| 一 | 平方公里 | 等于 | 一千 | 五百 | 亩 |
| yī | píng fāng gōng lǐ | děng yú | yī qiān | wǔ bǎi | mǔ |
For more on converting area measurements, this website has a convenient calculator for converting between Chinese, Metric and Imperial units: Chinese Weights and Measures
Follow
Share
Download
Chinese Numbers for iPhone & iPad
lets you practice numbers and counting anytime, anywhere you are. Has two modes to input numbers and a challenging game to test your translation skills.
Copyright © 2020 David Richmond
Follow @RedworkApps
Visit Facebook Page
Visit Redwork.org
