Tael - Historical Usage

Historical Usage

In China, there were many different weighting standards of tael depending on the region or type of trade. In general the silver tael weighed around 40 grams. The most common government measure was the Kùpíng (庫平 "treasury standard") tael, weighing 1.2057 Troy ounces (37.5 g). A common commercial weight, the Cáopíng (漕平 "canal shipping standard") tael weighed 1.18 Troy ounces (36.7 g) of marginally less pure silver.

As in China, Japan used the tael (両 ryō) as both a unit of weight and, by extension, a currency.

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