Picul

A picul is a way to weigh things.

It is a heavy load. It is what one man can carry. He uses a pole on his shoulder.

People use it to trade goods. They trade things like coffee. This unit is used in many lands.

In old China, it was called a shi. This word means stone. It was also called a dan.

Some places say a picul is 100 catties. Other places say it is 120 catties. It is a very useful way to measure weight.

A picul is a way to measure weight.

It is based on a human load. It is the weight a man can carry on a shoulder pole. This unit is used in southern China and parts of Southeast Asia. In China, it was known as the shi. The word shi can also mean stone. It is also called the dan. Some people use the word dan to mean a heavy load.

The weight of a picul can change. In old China, one picul was 120 catties. A catty is a smaller unit of weight. Later, some places used 100 catties for a picul. In Hong Kong, a law in 1885 stopped using the name. This was to avoid confusion with other types of stone weights.

Traders used the picul to buy and sell goods. They used it for things like coffee. One book from 1859 shows coffee prices in piculs. In Taiwan, people still use a version of it. There, a picul is 60 kg. A large amount of rice might be 20 piculs. That would be 1,200 kg.

Caption: A map from 1903 shows goods measured in piculs.

A picul is a special way to measure weight. It is based on a very human idea. It represents the weight a person can carry on a shoulder-pole. This unit is used in southern China and Southeast Asia. People call it the shi, the dan, or the tam. It is also known as the picul. This name helps traders talk to each other easily.

How much a picul weighs can change depending on the place. In many parts of history, it was 120 catties. A catty is a smaller unit of weight. In some places, like British Hong Kong, it was 100 catties. In modern Taiwan, a picul is exactly 60 kg. One large amount of rice might be 20 piculs. This would weigh 1,200 kg in total.

This way of measuring has a very long history. It began in China during the Qin dynasty. This was between 221 and 206 BC. Back then, the word was shi, which means stone. During the Han dynasty, one stone equaled 120 catties. Government officials were even paid in grain using these stones. Top ministers might receive 2,000 stones as pay.

Many different people used the picul for trade. The word picul appeared in Javanese by the mid-9th century. It became a common language for many different traders. This included people from the Philippines and Malaysia. In 1859, a magazine called Hunts Merchant Magazine used it. It listed the price of Javanese coffee in piculs. One picul of coffee cost about 8 to 8.50 Spanish dollars.

Rules helped keep these measurements clear for everyone. In Hong Kong, a law in 1844 set the picul at 100 catties. Later, a law in 1885 stopped using the name. This was to avoid confusion with European stone weights. In 1930, China changed its units again. A market-picul became exactly 50 kg during that reform. Even today, the picul remains a part of history.

The picul is a traditional unit of weight used throughout Asia. It is a human-centered measurement. The name comes from the idea of a load a person can carry on a shoulder-pole. This unit is common in southern China and Maritime Southeast Asia. People use many different names for it. In China, it is called the shi, the dan, or the tam. In Malay, the word picul is also a verb meaning to carry on the shoulder. This unit helped different cultures trade goods together for centuries.

To understand the picul, you must understand the catty. The catty is a smaller unit of weight used in these regions. The picul is defined by how many catties it contains. In most of Chinese history, one picul equaled 120 catties. However, this was not always the case. In British Hong Kong, the picul was defined as 100 catties. The exact weight of a picul depends on the specific system being used. This makes it a flexible but sometimes confusing unit of measure.

Different regions and eras created their own versions of the picul. In imperial China, the unit was known as the shi, which means stone. During the Han dynasty, the standard was 120 catties. Later, the 1930 Chinese unit reform changed things again. This reform set a market-catty at exactly 0.5 kilograms. It also set a market-picul at exactly 50 kilograms. In modern Taiwan, a picul is often defined as 60 kg. There is also a specific modern definition of exactly 60.478982 kilograms.

The history of the picul reaches back to the Qin dynasty. This was a time in China between 221 and 206 BC. During the Han dynasty, the measurement was used for government business. Officials were paid in grain using these stones. High-ranking ministers could receive as much as 2,000 stones in pay. By the mid-9th century, the word picul appeared in Javanese. This shows how the concept moved through different cultures over a long time.

The picul became a vital tool for international maritime trade. It acted as a lingua franca, or a common language, for traders. This helped Austronesians in Malaysia and the Philippines trade with others. They worked with Indian, Chinese, and Arab merchants using this unit. Many commercial journals in the 19th century relied on the picul. For example, Hunts Merchant Magazine in 1859 used it to list prices. It noted that one picul of Javanese coffee cost 8 to 8.50 Spanish dollars in Batavia and Singapore.

Laws were often created to manage these various weights. In 1844, an ordinance in Hong Kong set the picul at 100 catties. Later, the Weights and Measures Ordinance of 1885 changed how weights were handled. This law made the picul the main unit but removed the "stone" measurement. This was done to avoid confusion with European stone weights. The authorities wanted to ensure that local measurements did not clash with European ones. This helped keep trade organized and clear for everyone involved.

Even today, we can see the traces of this measurement system. It connects ancient agricultural practices to modern global trade. While many countries use the metric system, the picul still appears in specific contexts. In Taiwan, it is still used for certain goods. For instance, a large measure of rice might be 20 piculs. This would equal a total weight of 1,200 kg. The picul remains a symbol of how humans once measured the world by what they could carry.