Thecattyorkatiis a traditional Chinese unit ofmassused acrossEastandSoutheast Asia,notably for weighing food and other groceries. Related units include thepicul,equal to 100 catties, and thetael,which is1⁄16of a catty. Astoneis a former unit used in Hong Kong equal to 120 catties and agwan(Quân) is 30 catties. Catty orkatiis still used in Southeast Asia as a unit of measurement in some contexts especially by the significantOverseas Chinesepopulations across the region, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore.
The catty is traditionally equivalent to around1+1⁄3pound avoirdupois,formalised as 604.78982gramsin Hong Kong,[1]604.5 grams historically in Vietnam,[2]604.79 grams in Malaysia[3]and 604.8 grams in Singapore.[4]In some countries, the weight has been rounded to 600 grams (Taiwan,[5]Japan, Korea[6]and Thailand). Inmainland China,the catty (more commonly translated as jin within China) has been rounded to 500 grams and is referred to as themarket catty(Thị cânshìjīn) in order to distinguish it from the kilogram, called thecommon catty(Công cângōngjīn), and it is subdivided into 10 taels rather than the usual 16.
Fruit sold in catties in a market inSanchong,New Taipei,Taiwan.
Tea priced by the catty inDadaocheng,Taipei,Taiwan.
A spring scale in Hong Kong shows conversions betweenmetric system(in red),traditional Chinese unit(in green) andBritish Imperial Units(in blue).
