Tael
Encyclopedia
Tael can refer to any one of several weight
measures
of the Far East
. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese
tael, a part of the Chinese system
of weights and currency
.
In Taiwan
, Hong Kong
, and Southeast Asia
it is equivalent to 10 mace
(qián 錢) or catty
, albeit with slightly different equivalents in metric in these two places. These Chinese units of measurement
are usually used in the Chinese herbal medicine stores as well as gold and silver exchange.
from the Malay
word tahil, meaning "weight". Early English forms of the name such as "tay" or "taes" derive from the Portuguese plural of tael, taeis.
Tahil (ˈ in Singaporean English) 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, tael is written (simplified Chinese: ) and pronounced liǎng in Mandarin Chinese. In Chinese and Vietnamese, the phrase "half a catty, eight taels" (半斤八兩 and kẻ tám lạng người nửa cân, respectively), 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 used today.
tael weighed around 40 gram
s. The most common government measure was the Kùpíng (庫平 "treasury standard") tael, weighing 1.2057 Troy ounce
s (37.5 g). A common commercial weight, the Cáopíng (漕平 "canal shipping standard") tael weighed 1.18 Troy ounces (36.7 g) of marginally less pure silver.
As in China, Japan
used the tael (両 ryō) as both a unit of weight and, by extension, a currency.
s 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 37.5 grams, 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
in 1911. Common weights were 50 tael, 10 tael, and 5 down to 1.
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
.
The Thai
equivalent of the tael is known as the tamlueng
, a term derived from Khmer
. It was used as a unit of currency equal to four baht, and as a unit of weight is now standardised at 60 grams.
's standardised market tael (市两 shìliǎng) of 31.25 g was modified by the People's Republic of China
in 1959. The new market tael was 50 g or catty (500 g) to make it compatible with metric
measures (see Chinese unit for details). In Shanghai, silver is still traded in taels.
Some foodstuffs in China are sold in units also called "taels", but which do not necessarily weigh one tael. For cooked rice, the weight of the tael is approximated using special tael-sized ladels. Other 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.
, and is still in active use. In Hong Kong, one tael is 37.79936375 g, and in ordinance 22 of 1884 is oz. avoir.
Similar to Hong Kong, in Singapore, one tael is defined as ounce and is approximated as 37.7994 g
(equal to 10 momme) which was 37.5 g. Although the catty
is still frequently used in Taiwan, the tael is only used for precious metals and medicines.
, the colonial administration standardised the tael (lạng) as 100 g, which is commonly used at food markets where many items typically weigh in the 100–900 g range. However, a different tael (called cây, lạng, or lượng) unit of 37.5 g is used for domestic transactions in gold. Real estate prices are often quoted in taels of gold rather than the local currency over concerns over monetary inflation. However, with gold price rising real estate price are now rarely quoted in gold anymore.
Weight
In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity. Its magnitude , often denoted by an italic letter W, is the product of the mass m of the object and the magnitude of the local gravitational acceleration g; thus:...
measures
Units of measurement
A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention and/or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same physical quantity. Any other value of the physical quantity can be expressed as a simple multiple of the unit of...
of the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
tael, a part of the Chinese system
Chinese units of measurement
Chinese units of measurement are the customary and traditional units of measure used in China. In the People's Republic of China, the units were re-standardised during the late 20th century to make them approximate SI units. Many of the units were formerly based on the number 16 instead of 10...
of weights and currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
.
In Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
it is equivalent to 10 mace
Mace (measurement)
A mace is a traditional Chinese measurement of weight in East Asia that was also used as a currency denomination. It is equal to 10 candareens and is of a tael or approximately 3.78 grams. A troy candareen is approximately 3.74 grams. In Hong Kong, one mace is 3.779936375 gramme...
(qián 錢) or catty
Catty
The catty , symbol 斤, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries in some wet markets, street markets, and shops. Related units include the picul, equal to 100 catties, and the tael, which is of a catty. A stone is a...
, albeit with slightly different equivalents in metric in these two places. These Chinese units of measurement
Chinese units of measurement
Chinese units of measurement are the customary and traditional units of measure used in China. In the People's Republic of China, the units were re-standardised during the late 20th century to make them approximate SI units. Many of the units were formerly based on the number 16 instead of 10...
are usually used in the Chinese herbal medicine stores as well as gold and silver exchange.
Names and etymology
The English word tael comes through PortuguesePortuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
from the Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
word tahil, meaning "weight". Early English forms of the name such as "tay" or "taes" derive from the Portuguese plural of tael, taeis.
Tahil (ˈ in Singaporean English) is used in Malay and English today when referring to the weight in Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
where it is still used in some contexts especially related to the significant Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
population.
In Chinese, tael is written (simplified Chinese: ) and pronounced liǎng in Mandarin Chinese. In Chinese and Vietnamese, the phrase "half a catty, eight taels" (半斤八兩 and kẻ tám lạng người nửa cân, respectively), 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 used today.
Historical usage
In China, there were many different weighting standards of tael depending on the region or type of trade. In general the silverSilver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
tael weighed around 40 gram
Gram
The gram is a metric system unit of mass....
s. The most common government measure was the Kùpíng (庫平 "treasury standard") tael, weighing 1.2057 Troy ounce
Troy weight
Troy weight is a system of units of mass customarily used for precious metals, gemstones, and black powder.There are 12 troy ounces per troy pound, rather than the 16 ounces per pound found in the more common avoirdupois system. The troy ounce is 480 grains, compared with the avoirdupois ounce,...
s (37.5 g). A common commercial weight, the Cáopíng (漕平 "canal shipping standard") tael weighed 1.18 Troy ounces (36.7 g) of marginally less pure silver.
As in China, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
used the tael (両 ryō) as both a unit of weight and, by extension, a currency.
Tael currency
Traditional Chinese silver syceeSycee
A sycee was a type of silver or gold ingot currency used in China until the 20th century. The name derives from the Cantonese words meaning "fine silk"...
s 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
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
tael weighed 37.5 grams, the Convention or Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
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
Avoirdupois
The avoirdupois system is a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States and is still widely used to varying degrees by many people in Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other former British colonies despite the official adoption...
, 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
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
in 1911. Common weights were 50 tael, 10 tael, and 5 down to 1.
Modern studies suggest that, on purchasing power parity
Purchasing power parity
In economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates...
basis, one tael of silver was worth about 4130 modern Chinese yuan
Renminbi
The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...
in the early Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, 2065 in the late Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, and 660.8 in the mid Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
.
The Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
equivalent of the tael is known as the tamlueng
Thai units of measurement
Before metrication, the traditional system of measurement used in Thailand employed anthropic units. Some of these units are still in use, albeit standardised to SI/metric measurements. The square wa, ngan and rai are still used in measurements of land area, and the baht is still used as a unit of...
, a term derived from Khmer
Khmer language
Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
. It was used as a unit of currency equal to four baht, and as a unit of weight is now standardised at 60 grams.
Contemporary usage
The tael is still in use as a weight measurement in a number of countries though usually only in limited contexts.China
The Republic of ChinaRepublic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
's standardised market tael (市两 shìliǎng) of 31.25 g was modified by the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1959. The new market tael was 50 g or catty (500 g) to make it compatible with metric
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
measures (see Chinese unit for details). In Shanghai, silver is still traded in taels.
Some foodstuffs in China are sold in units also called "taels", but which do not necessarily weigh one tael. For cooked rice, the weight of the tael is approximated using special tael-sized ladels. Other items sold in taels include the shengjian mantou
Shengjian mantou
Shengjian mantou are a type of small, pan-fried baozi which is a specialty of Shanghai. It is usually filled with pork and gelatin that melts into soup/liquid when cooked. Shengjian mantou has been one of the most common breakfast items in Shanghai for the last century...
and the xiaolongbao
Xiaolongbao
Xiaolongbao is a type of steamed bun or baozi from eastern China, especially Shanghai and Wuxi. It is traditionally steamed in small bamboo baskets, hence the name...
, both small buns
Baozi
A bāozi or simply known as bao, bau, humbow, nunu, bausak, pow or pau is a type of steamed, filled bun or bread-like item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations...
commonly found in Shanghai. In these cases, one tael is traditionally four and eight buns respectively.
Hong Kong and Singapore
The tael is a legal weight measure in Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and is still in active use. In Hong Kong, one tael is 37.79936375 g, and in ordinance 22 of 1884 is oz. avoir.
Ounce
The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
Similar to Hong Kong, in Singapore, one tael is defined as ounce and is approximated as 37.7994 g
Taiwan
The Taiwan tael is 37.5 g and is still used in some contexts. Taiwan never adopted the Republic of China's market tael of 31.25 g; its tael is derived from the tael or ryō of the Japanese systemJapanese units of measurement
' is the traditional Japanese system of measurement. The name shakkanhō originates from the name of two of the units, the shaku, a unit of length, and the kan, a mass measurement.The system is Chinese in origin...
(equal to 10 momme) which was 37.5 g. Although the catty
Catty
The catty , symbol 斤, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries in some wet markets, street markets, and shops. Related units include the picul, equal to 100 catties, and the tael, which is of a catty. A stone is a...
is still frequently used in Taiwan, the tael is only used for precious metals and medicines.
Vietnam
In French IndochinaFrench Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, the colonial administration standardised the tael (lạng) as 100 g, which is commonly used at food markets where many items typically weigh in the 100–900 g range. However, a different tael (called cây, lạng, or lượng) unit of 37.5 g is used for domestic transactions in gold. Real estate prices are often quoted in taels of gold rather than the local currency over concerns over monetary inflation. However, with gold price rising real estate price are now rarely quoted in gold anymore.