Picul

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.