Liu Xin's bronze standard (jialiang)
Patrón de bronce de Liu Xin (jialiang)
- Date
- 9 · confidence high
- Place
- Chang'an (Xi'an), Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Liu Xin, commissioned by Wang Mang
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A bronze vessel with five capacity measures (hu, dou, sheng, he and yue) whose dimensions were fixed from the huangzhong pitch pipe so as to link length, volume and weight. It was a theoretical attempt to unify the measurement system with a sealed material standard.
The main example is kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The length-volume-weight derivation from the huangzhong is Liu Xin's, and its practical value was less than its theoretical one.
What it led to
- the Chinese unit system derived from music and millet
- metrological reforms of later dynasties