Editing Imperial units (section)

===Hong Kong===

[[Hong Kong]] has three main systems of [[units of measurement]] in current use:

* The [[Chinese units of measurement]] of the [[Qing Empire]] (no longer in widespread use in China);
* British imperial units; and
* The [[metric system]].

In 1976 the [[Hong Kong Government]] started the conversion to the metric system, and as of 2012 measurements for government purposes, such as road signs, are almost always in metric units. All three systems are officially permitted for trade,<ref name="Ordinance">{{cite web|url=http://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/68/sch2.html|title=CAP 68 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ORDINANCE Sched 2 UNITS OF MEASUREMENT AND PERMITTED SYMBOLS OR ABBREVIATIONS OF UNITS OF MEASUREMENT LAWFUL FOR USE FOR TRADE|access-date=31 January 2015|archive-date=3 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903233217/http://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/68/sch2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and in the wider society a mixture of all three systems prevails.

The Chinese system's most commonly used units for length are {{lang|zh|里}} (''lei<sup>5</sup>''), {{lang|zh|丈}} (''zoeng<sup>6</sup>''), {{lang|zh|尺}} (''[[Chi (unit)|cek<sup>3</sup>]]''), {{lang|zh|寸}} (''[[tsun|cyun<sup>3</sup>]]''), {{lang|zh|分}} (''fan<sup>1</sup>'') in descending scale order. These units are now rarely used in daily life, the imperial and metric systems being preferred. The imperial equivalents are written with the same basic Chinese characters as the Chinese system. In order to distinguish between the units of the two systems, the units can be prefixed with "Ying" ({{lang|zh|英}}, ''jing<sup>1</sup>'') for the imperial system and "Wa" ({{lang|zh|華}}, ''waa<sup>4</sup>'') for the Chinese system. In writing, derived characters are often used, with an additional {{lang|zh|口}} (mouth) [[Kangxi radicals|radical]] to the left of the original Chinese character, for writing imperial units. The most commonly used units are the [[mile]] or "li" ({{lang|zh|哩}}, ''li<sup>1</sup>''), the [[yard]] or "ma" ({{lang|zh|碼}}, ''maa<sup>5</sup>''), the [[Foot (unit)|foot]] or "chek" ({{lang|zh|呎}}, ''cek<sup>3</sup>''), and the [[inch]] or "tsun" ({{lang|zh|吋}}, ''cyun<sup>3</sup>'').

The traditional measure of flat area is the square foot ({{lang|zh|方呎, 平方呎}}, ''fong<sup>1</sup> cek<sup>3</sup>, ping<sup>4</sup> fong<sup>1</sup> cek<sup>3</sup>'') of the imperial system, which is still in common use for real estate purposes. The measurement of agricultural plots and fields is traditionally conducted in {{lang|zh|畝}} (''mau<sup>5</sup>'') of the Chinese system.

For the measurement of volume, Hong Kong officially uses the metric system, though the gallon ({{lang|zh|加侖}}, ''gaa<sup>1</sup> leon<sup>4-2</sup>'') is also occasionally used.