View source for Picul

{{Short description|Traditional Asian unit of mass}}
{{redirects|Shek|the surname 石|Shí (surname)}}

{{Chinese
|t=擔
|s=担 
|p=dàn 
|w=tan
|y=daam
|j=daam1
|h=tâm
|poj=tàⁿ
|kanji=担
|hiragana=たん / ピクル, ㌯
|romaji=tan / pikuru
|hangul=담
|hanja=擔
|rr=dam
|vie=đảm
|ind=pikul
|msa=pikul
|image = Old man with carrying pole.JPG
|piccap=
}} 
The '''picul''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|k|əl}}<ref name=OED>{{Cite OED|picul}}</ref>, '''shi''' ({{zh|c=石|l=stone}}), '''dan'''<ref name="ROC1930">{{Cite web|url=http://lis.ly.gov.tw/lghtml/lawstat/version2/01926/0192618020200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425025351/http://lis.ly.gov.tw/lghtml/lawstat/version2/01926/0192618020200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-04-25 |title=The Weights and Measures Act (1929) |publisher=[[Legislative Yuan]] }}</ref> or '''tam''',<ref name = "hk_law">{{cite web|title = Weights and Measures Ordinance |work = The Law of Hong Kong | url = http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_ind.nsf/e1bf50c09a33d3dc482564840019d2f4/4ed2ff0cf02f2fd9c82564760077af3c?OpenDocument }}</ref>  is a traditional Asian [[unit of weight]], defined as "as much as a man can carry on a [[shoulder-pole]]".<ref name=OED/> Throughout most of Chinese history, it was defined as equivalent to 120 [[catty|catties]]. Some later definitions (British Hong Kong, Chinese market-use system) define it as 100 catties. It is most commonly used in southern [[China]] and [[Maritime Southeast Asia]].

==History==
The unit originated in China during the [[Qin dynasty]] (221–206 BC), where it was known as the ''shi'' (石 "stone"). During the [[Han dynasty]], one stone was equal to 120 [[catty|catties]]. Government officials were paid in grain, counted in stones, with top ranked ministers being paid 2000 stones.<ref>[http://ctext.org/han-shu/bai-guan-gong-qing-biao 《漢書》 百官公卿表]</ref> 

As a unit of measurement, the word ''shi'' (石) can also be pronounced ''dan''. To avoid confusion, the character is sometimes changed to 擔 (''dàn''), meaning "burden" or "load". Likewise, in [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]] the word is pronounced ''sek'' (石) or ''daam'' (擔), and in [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]] it is pronounced ''tam'' (擔).

The word ''picul'' appeared as early as the mid 9th century in [[Javanese language|Javanese]]. In modern [[Malay language|Malay]], ''pikul'' is also a verb meaning 'to carry on the shoulder'.

In the early days of [[Hong Kong]] as a British colony, the stone (石, with a Cantonese pronunciation given as ''shik'') was used as a measurement of weight equal to 120 catties or {{convert|160|lb|kg|lk=on|sigfig=3}}, alongside the picul of 100 catties.<ref name="1844 Ordinance"/> It was made obsolete by subsequent overriding legislation in 1885, which included the picul but not the stone, to avoid confusion with European-origin measures that are similarly called [[Stone (unit)|stone]].<ref>[http://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/814 Weights and Measures Ordinance, 1885], Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online.</ref>

Following [[Spain|Spanish]], [[Portugal|Portuguese]], [[United Kingdom|British]] and most especially the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[maritime trade#Age of Discovery|colonial maritime trade]], the term ''picul'' was both a convenient unit, and a [[lingua franca]] unit that was widely understood and employed by other [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]]s (in modern [[Malaysia]] and the [[Philippines]]) and their centuries-old trading relations with [[India]]ns, [[China|Chinese]] and [[Arab]]s. It remained a convenient reference unit for many commercial trade journals in the 19th century. One example is ''Hunts Merchant Magazine'' of 1859 giving detailed tables of expected prices of various commodities, such as coffee, e.g. one picul of Javanese coffee could be expected to be bought from 8 to 8.50 Spanish dollars in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] and [[Singapore]].<ref>Freeman Hunt, Thomas Prentice Kettell, William Buck Dana. ''Hunt's merchants' magazine and commercial review, Volume 41''.Freeman Hunt, 1859 Google PDF download: [https://books.google.com/books/download/Hunt_s_merchants__magazine_and_commercia.pdf?id=OYooAAAAYAAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U363vNMSBj7ygE11A-iXyEIm9wa5Q&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0]</ref>

==Definitions==
[[File:China & Opium 1908 en.jpg|thumb|right|A 1903 map showing opium production in China measured in piculs]]
As for any [[History of measurement|traditional measurement unit]], the exact definition of the picul varied historically and regionally.
In imperial [[China]] and later, the unit shi/dan (picul) was used for a measure equivalent to 120 [[catty|catties]].<ref>三十斤为钧, 四钧为石。——《汉书·律历志上》; 重不过石。——《国语·周语》。注:“百二十斤也。”</ref> This conversion was kept until the 1930 Chinese unit reform, which defined a market-catty of exactly 0.5 kilograms and a market-picul of exactly 50 kilograms. See [[Chinese units of measurement#Mass units in the Republic of China since 1930]].

In 1831, the [[Dutch East Indies]] authorities acknowledged local variances in the definition of the pikul.<ref>Abdul Rasyid Asba. ''Kopra Makassar: perebutan pusat dan daerah : kajian sejarah ekonomi politik regional di Indonesia.'' Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 2007. {{ISBN|978-979-461-634-5}}. 318 pages quoting Algemen Verslag Resdientie Banoemas 1831: ANRIJ and ANRIJ Makassar 291/18: Chinne ''Verslag van de Havenmeester''</ref>

In [[Hong Kong]], one picul was defined in ''Ordinance No. 22 of 1844'' as {{frac|133|1|3}} [[avoirdupois pound]]s, exactly 100 catties.<ref name="1844 Ordinance">[http://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/26 Weights and Measures – Ordinance No. 22 of 1844], Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online.</ref> The modern definition is exactly 60.478982 [[kilogram]]s.<ref name = "hk_law"/>

The measure was and remains used on occasion in Taiwan where it is defined as 60&nbsp;kg.<ref>[http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/2001/appendix6.htm Weights and Measures in Use in Taiwan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229224604/http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/2001/appendix6.htm |date=2010-12-29 }} from the ''Republic of China Yearbook--Taiwan 2001.</ref> The [[last (unit)|last]], a measure of rice, was 20&nbsp;picul, or 1,200&nbsp;kg.<ref>{{cite book|author1-link=Tonio Andrade |last=Andrade |first=Tonio |year=2005 |title=How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century |url=http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/ |publisher=Columbia University Press |chapter=Appendix A: Weights, Measures, and Exchange Rates |chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/appA.html }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Dan (volume)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Chinese units in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Units of mass]]
[[Category:Human-based units of measurement]]