Tael
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Tael can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael (Chinese: 两, liǎng in Mandarin Chinese), a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency . There were many different weighting standards of tael depending on the region or type of trade. In general the silver tael weighed around 40 grams. The most common government measure was the Kùpíng (庫平 "treasury") tael, weighing 1.2 Troy ounces (37.3 g). A common commercial weight, the Cáopíng (漕平) tael weighed 1.18 Troy ounces (36.7 g) of marginally less pure silver.
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[edit] Tael currency
Traditional Chinese silver sycees and other currencies of fine metals were not denominated or made by a central mint and their value was determined by their weight in taels. They were made by individual silversmiths for local exchange, and as such the shape and amount of extra detail on each ingot were highly variable; square and oval shapes were common but "boat", flower, tortoise and others are known. The local tael also took precedence over any central measure, so the Canton tael weighed 37.5g, the Convention or Shanghai tael was 33.9 g (1.09 oz troy), and the Customs or Hǎiguān (海關) tael 37.8 g (defined as 11⁄3 oz avoirdupois, about 1.22 oz troy). The conversion rates between various common taels were well known. The tael was still the basis of the silver currency and sycee remained in use until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Common weights were 50 tael, 10 tael, and 5 down to 1.
[edit] Historical value
Modern studies suggest that, on purchasing power parity basis, one tael of silver was worth about 4130 modern Chinese yuan in the early Tang Dynasty, 2065 in the late Tang Dynasty, and 660.8 in the mid Ming Dynasty.
[edit] Modern usage
The tael is still in use as a weight measurement. In the People's Republic of China, it is equivalent to 50g since the country has gone metric (see Chinese unit for details). In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia it is equivalent to 10 mace (qián 錢) or 1⁄16 catty[1], albeit with slightly different equivalent in metric in these two places. The Chinese units of measurement are usually used in the Chinese herbal medicine stores as well as gold and silver exchange. In Shanghai, silver is still traded in taels.
In Hong Kong, one tael is 37.79936375 g[1], and in ordinance 22 of 1884 is 11⁄3 oz. avoir.
Some foodstuff in China are sold in units also called "taels", but which do not necessarily weigh one tael. Food items sold in taels include the Shengjian mantou and the Xiaolongbao, both small buns commonly found in Shanghai. In these cases, one tael is traditionally four and eight buns respectively.
[edit] Names
The English word tael comes from the Malay word tahil, meaning "weight" and tahil is used in Malay and English today when referring to the weight in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei where it is still used in some contexts especially related to the significant Overseas Chinese population.
In Chinese, the tael is written 两 and pronounced liǎng (pinyin romanisation). It is a legal weight measure in Hong Kong, where it is pronounced leung in Cantonese[1]. The names liang and leung are also used in English to refer to the tael.[citation needed]
In Chinese, the phrase "half a catty is 8 tael" ("半斤八两"), meaning two different presentations of the same thing, similar to the English phrase "Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other" is still often said today.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Weights and Measures Ordinance. The Law of Hong Kong.
[edit] External links
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