When weights and measures in the metric system are referred to, the roughly corresponding term of Chinese measurement is always prefixed by the word kung (gung), which has the meaning of “common” (“standard”). If the prefix is not used, the term usually refers to the ordinary Chinese units of measurement. Thus, one kung ch’ih equals one meter; one kung sheng equals one liter, and one kung chin equals one kilogram. A kung li equals one kilometer (about 3,280 feet or five-eighths of a mile). On the other hand, as has been noted, an ordinary li is usually considered to be one-third of a mile.
The English unit of weight “ton,” pronounced in Chinese as tun (Dun) is frequently used in the cities. One kung tun is one metric ton. The following denominations of weights and measures are used:
Length
Surface
