172  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
or  6  grains.  This  is  a  purely  arbitrary  standard  imposed
by,  or  on,  the  foreign  merchant,  and  accepted  because  it
was  a  round  figure  approximating  closely  to  the  merchants
standard  prevailing  at  Canton,  actually  weighing  2121
ounces  avoirdupois,  with  which  the  English  trader  first  came
in  touch,  and  which  a  hundred  years  ago  he  used  in  buying
his  tea  and  silk.  At  Canton  and  in  its  vicinity  there  are
other  standards,  by  which  the  catty  ranges  from  19’68
to  22'06  ounces.  In  the  trade  area  of  Shanghai  there  is  a
standard  for  the  use  of  Chinese  in  their  foreign  dealings
by  which  the  catty  is  20  4  ounces,  while  the  regular  guild
catty  is  18'6  ounces  ;  the  Soochow  guild  catty  is  19  7
ounces,  that  for  rice  paid  as  Imperial  tribute  is  20  6  ounces,
while  that  for  the  sale  of  oil  is  23'2  ounces  and  for  sugar
is  27-25  ounces.  At  Hangchow  there  are  seventeen  different
standards,  ranging  from  16  to  24  ounces,  all  equally  recognised ­
  in  their  respective  trades  ;  and  throughout  the
Empire  catties  are  known,  ranging  from  12  to  42'5  ounces.
Capacity
The  Chinese  table  of  capacity  gives  sixteen  decimal  divisions, ­
  down  to  iaõmsth  part,  of  the  shih  ;  those
m  common  use  are  the  tow  (g¡),  sheng  (^),  an&lt; ^  ko  (woo)-Measures
  of  capacity  are  seldom  used  except  for  rice  and
grain,  and  these  are  ordinarily  sold  wholesale  by  weight,
fluids,  such  as  oil,  spirits,  molasses,  etc.,  are  almost  invariably ­
  sold  by  weight.  Grain  tribute  is  assessed  on  the
tax  note  by  measures  of  capacity,  but  is  generally  collected
by  weight  at  a  rate  of  conversion  fixed  by  the  collectors,
w  îen  it  is  not  collected  in  money  at  rates  also  fixed  by  the
collectors.  The  tow  (which  we  may  call  peck)  for  tribute
contains  629  cubic  inches  (10-31  litres),  but  in  different
parts  of  the  Empire  different  standards  of  tow  exist  ranging
from  176  all  the  way  to  1,800  cubic  inches.
Length
1  ^  length  is  divided  decimally  down  to  the
10,000,000^  1  part  of  a  foot,  and  goes  up  to  10  feet  —  1  chang-