The Chinese sheng, called sho in Japan and seung in Korea, also called Chinese liter, is a traditional unit of volume in East Asia. It originated from China and later spread to Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Vietnam and other places.[1] One sheng equals 10 ge or 1/10 dou, though its specific capacity has varied by times and regions. Nowadays, it is 1 liter in China,[2] [3] 1.8039 liters in Japan and 1.8 liters in Korea.
Sheng is a traditional measure for cereal grains. Now, like "liter", sheng is more often used to measure liquid or gas.
As a unit of volume, sheng appeared in the Warring States Period (c. 475 to 221 BC) of China and has remained in use ever since. [4]
| Dynasty | Unit converion | Metric conversion (milliliters ml) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warring States Period (戰國) | Qi (齊)：1 zhong (鍾)＝10 fu (釜)；1釜＝4 qu (區)；1區＝4 dou (豆)；1豆＝4 sheng (升) Chu (楚)：1 shao (筲)＝5升 Qin (秦)、Three Qin (三晉)（Han 韓、Zhao 趙、Wei 魏）：1 hu (斛)＝10 dou (斗)；1斗＝10升 | ||
| Qin (秦) | 1 hu (斛)＝10 dou (斗)；1 斗＝10 sheng (升) | 1斛＝20000ml；1斗＝2000ml；1升＝200ml；Shang Yang’s Reform (商鞅变法) 1 cubic sheng (方升)＝201ml | |
| Han (漢) | 1 hu (斛)＝10 dou (斗)；1 斗＝10 sheng (升)；1 升＝10 ge (合)；1合＝2 lun (龠)；1龠＝5 cuo (撮)；1撮＝4 gui (圭) | 1斛＝20000；1斗＝2000；1升＝200；1合＝20；1龠＝10；1撮＝2；1圭＝0.5 | |
| Three Kingdoms (三國) and Jin (兩晉) | 1 hu (斛)＝10 dou (斗)；1斗＝10 sheng (升)；1升＝10 ge (合) | 1斛＝20450；1斗＝2045；1升＝204.5；1合＝20.45 | |
| Northern and Southern Dynasties (南北朝) | 1斛＝10斗；1斗＝10升；1升＝10合 | 1斛＝30000；1斗＝3000；1升＝300；1合＝30 | |
| Sui (隋) | 1斛＝10斗；1斗＝10升；1升＝10合 | Kaihuang (開皇)：1斛＝60000；1斗＝6000；1升＝600；1合＝60Daye (大業)：1斛＝20000；1斗＝2000；1升＝200；1合＝20 | |
| Tang (唐) | 1斛＝10斗；1斗＝10升；1升＝10合 | big (大)：1斛＝60000；1斗＝6000；1升＝600；1合＝60small (小)：1斛＝20000；1斗＝2000；1升＝200；1合＝20 | |
| Song (宋) | 1 dan (石)＝2 hu (斛)；1斛＝5 dou (斗)；1斗＝10 sheng (升)；1升＝10 (合) | 1石＝67000；1斛＝33500；1斗＝6700；1升＝670；1合＝67 | |
| Yuan (元) | 1石＝2斛；1斛＝5斗；1斗＝10升；1升＝10合 | 1石＝95000；1斛＝47500；1斗＝9500；1升＝950；1合＝95 | |
| Ming (明) & Qing (清) | 1石＝2斛；1斛＝5斗；1斗＝10升；1升＝10合 | 1石＝100000；1斛＝50000；1斗＝10000；1升＝1000；1合＝100 |
Sheng and the other units of volume were usually used to measure cereal grains in ancient China.
Sheng is the basic unit in the volume system promulgated by the Chinese government in 1915. One sheng (升) equals 1.0354688 liters. [7]
| Pinyin | Character | Relative value | Metric value | US value | Imperial value | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sháo | Chinese: 勺 | 0.3501 fl oz | 0.3644 fl oz | ||||
| gě | Chinese: 合 | 3.501 fl oz | 3.644 fl oz | ||||
| shēng | Chinese: '''升''' | 1 | 2.188 pt | 1.822 pt | |||
| dǒu | Chinese: 斗 | 10 | 2.735 gal | 2.278 gal | |||
| hú | Chinese: 斛 | 50 | 13.68 gal | 11.39 gal | |||
| dàn | Chinese: 石 | 100 | 27.35 gal | 22.78 gal |
The following table is based on the "Weights and Measures Acts" of the 18th year of the Republic of China (1929), which came into effect on January 1, 1930. The Chinese volume units listed in the "Chinese Name Plan for Unified Metric Units of Measurement" of the People's Republic of China in 1959 are Chinese dan, dou, sheng, and ge. The basic unit remains sheng, and one sheng is equal to one liter. The Chinese sheng is also called "市升" ("market sheng" or "market liter") to distinguish from the Chinese translation of "liter", which is called "公升", ("common sheng" or "common liter").[8]
| Pinyin | Character | Relative value | Metric value | US value | Imperial value | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuō | Chinese: 撮 | 1 mL | 0.0338 fl oz | 0.0352 fl oz | millilitre | ||
| sháo | Chinese: 勺 | 10 mL | 0.3381 fl oz | 0.3520 fl oz | centilitre | ||
| gě | Chinese: 合 | 100 mL | 3.381 fl oz | 3.520 fl oz | decilitre | ||
| shēng | Chinese: '''市升''' | 1 | 1 L | 2.113 pt | 1.760 pt | litre | |
| dǒu | Chinese: 市斗 | 10 | 10 L | 21.13 pt 2.64 gal | 17.60 pt 2.20 gal | decalitre | |
| dàn | Chinese: 市石 | 100 | 100 L | 26.41 gal | 22.0 gal | hectolitre |
Nowadays, like the unit of "liter", sheng is more often used to measure liquid or gas.[4]
The base unit of volume in Japan is shō, i.e., the Japanese sheng. One sho equals 1.804 liters. Sake and shochu are both commonly sold in large 1800mL bottles known as, literally "one shō bottle".[9]
| Shō | Metric | US | Imperial | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanized | Kanji | Exact | Approx. | Exact | Approx. | Exact | Approx. | ||||||
| Sai | Japanese: 才 | L | 1.804mL | cuyd | 29.28min | gal | 30.47min | ||||||
| 0.1101cuin | |||||||||||||
| Shaku | Japanese: 勺 | L | 18.04mL | cuyd | 0.6100floz | gal | 0.6349floz | ||||||
| 1.101cuin | |||||||||||||
| Gō | Japanese: 合 | L | 180.4mL | cuyd | 0.3812pt | gal | 0.3174pt | ||||||
| 0.3276drypt | |||||||||||||
| Shō | Japanese: '''升''' | 1 | L | 1.804L | cuyd | 1.906qt | gal | 1.587qt | |||||
| 1.638dryqt | |||||||||||||
| To | Japanese: 斗 | 10 | L | 18.04L | cuyd | 4.765gal | gal | 3.968gal | |||||
| 2.048pk | |||||||||||||
| Koku | Japanese: 石 | 100 | L | 180.4L | cuyd | 47.65gal | gal | 39.680gal | |||||
| 5.119bu | |||||||||||||
Notes:
| |||||||||||||
The base unit of Korean volume is the doi, equal to the Korean sheng (seung, 승(升)).
| Korean | English | Equivalents | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RR | MR | Other | Doe | Other countries | Global | ||
| Jak | Chak | Korean: 작(Korean: 勺) | 18mL | ||||
| Hop | Hop | Korean: 홉 | Ge | 180mL | |||
| Doe | Toe | Doi Dwe | Korean: 되 | Korean Peck | 1 | 1.8L | |
| Seung | Sŭng | Korean: '''승'''(Korean: '''升''') | |||||
| Mal | Mal | Korean: 말 | Korean Bushel | 10 | 18L | ||
| Du | Tu | Korean: 두(Korean: 斗) | |||||
| Seom | Sŏm | Korean: 섬 | Korean Picul | 100 | Picul | 180L | |
| Seok | Sŏk | Suk | Korean: 석(Korean: 石) | ||||
| Jeom | Chŏm | Korean: 점(Korean: 苫) | |||||
| Sogok | Sogok | Korean: 소곡(Korean: 小斛) | 150 | 270L | |||
| Pyeongseok | P'yŏngsŏk | Korean: 평석(Korean: 平石) | |||||
| Daegok | Taegok | Korean: 대곡(Korean: 大斛) | 200 | 360L | |||
| Jeonseok | Chŏnsŏk | Korean: 전석(Korean: 全石) | |||||
The English "liter" is also called sheng (升) in China. In the cases where distinguishing is needed, word "liter" is translated into 公升 ("common sheng", or "common liter"), and the traditional Chinese sheng is called 市升 ("market sheng", or "market liter"), because it is more frequently used in the market. The shengs can also be distinguished by the regions they were defined, such as the "Chinese sheng", "Japanese shō", "Korean seung", "British liter", etc.
In China, one sheng is equal to one liter. Since the two units are of the same size, they are both called sheng in Chinese or "liter" in English for short when distinction is not necessary.In addition, the Chinese standard SI prefixes may be added to 升 (shēng) to form more units, such as 分升(fensheng, deciliter, dl), 厘升 (lisheng, centiliter, cl), 毫升 (haosheng, milliliter, cl).[8]