[USMA:27968] Re: China

[Chimpsarecute]

Of course they are.  Even if the Chinese were to use their old units, they have been metricated a long time ago.  With all of the Chinese exports to the US it really means the US is being flooded with metric products.  The movement of the computer and electronics industry to Asia has been a real powerful factor in the metrication of these industries.  American companies purchasing and using Asian (as well as European) products in their equipment have to come to terms with rational metric spacings, fasteners with metric threads, and other nuances that make working in FFU an added headache.   But some American industries would rather have headaches then convert their operations over to complete metric usage.  Others just give up and export their work to a metric country.  Why try and metricate an arrogant people hateful of metric when one can just close a plant or industry and export it.  People in India and China and elsewhere have no problem working in metric.    One always pays a price for once arrogance and stupidity.  The US got away with it for a long time, but the time of payback is now and it is hurting.  Just look at how the euro is pounding the dollar.  The ever weaking dollar will prove to be a curse to the American economy.       From Rowlett:     li a traditional unit of distance in China. A Confucian proverb widely misquoted in the West as "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" actually says "a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step." Although the traditional li was approximately 500 meters, the late imperial governments of China used a li of 1800 ch'ih, which is 644.65 meters. In modern China, the li equals exactly 0.5 kilometer or 500 meters. In Chinese, the kilometer itself is usually called a gongli, or "metric li."   liang a traditional Chinese weight unit. During the European colonial period the liang was equal to 1/16 catty, 37.8 grams; this made it the same as a tael. In modern China, the liang equals 1/10 jin or 10 qian; this is exactly 50 grams .   tael or tahil a traditional unit of weight used throughout eastern Asia. During the colonial period, the tael was more or less standardized throughout the region at 4/3 ounce avoirdupois (1/16 catty, 37.8 grams). In Japan, however, the tael was identified with a slightly smaller traditional unit and is considered equal to 37.51 grams. The tael is usually considered equal to the Chinese liang.   jin a traditional unit of weight in China, comparable to the English pound. During the European colonial era the jin was identified with the catty, a Malay unit widely used in various forms throughout East and Southeast Asia. Like the catty, the jin was then equal to 604.79 grams. Traditionally, it was divided into 16 liang. In modern China, however, the jin is a metric unit equal to exactly 500 grams and divided into 10 liang. The kilogram itself is usually called the gongjin, or "metric jin." The spellings chin and gin also have been used for the jin.     Note:  The liang being equal to 50 g would make the tael also equal to 50 g.   Keep in mind, that instruments don't exist in the old units.  People in metric countries use metric instruments.  If the old units continue to be used in name only, they have to be rationalised to convenient metric values to make them usable.  In metric countries a pound of 453.6 g or even 454 g is clumsy.  Thus, the shift to 500 g.    I'm sure the FFU-ists hate this but thankfully they do have the power to do anything about it.   Euric   P.S.  I cleaned out my mailbox the other day and erased the posting you made about your daughter and others who did not understand inter-FFU conversion factors.  Could you repost it?   Thanks.     ----- Original Message ----- From: john mercer To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, 2003-12-25 01:01 Subject: [USMA:27963] China Could someone tell me if road signs in China such as speed and distance are they in metric.  What about gasoline and diesel? Are they sold by the liter? Thanks.