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Q: What came first Pound or Jin?
I was out shopping today and of course I was buying stuff in Jin, for some reason I've always thought of a Jin as half a kilo and never as a Pound, but obviously, that also equates (approximately) to a Pound (lb).
That got me to thinking, the Pound weight was used by the English (still is up to a point) and is still widely used by the Americans, and obviously the Jin is an ancient Chinese measure of weight. So what came first who copied who? Did the English copy the Chinese or vice versa? Or did they both originate separately and if so, why?
9 years 47 weeks ago in Culture - Other cities
The weight of the Jin was adjusted in the 1900s, so in that context you can say the pound is the older denomination for weight. (of course a Brit would know when it was taken into use)
Hugh.G.Rection:
I am a Brit, but I assure you I don't know the history of our use of the Pound weight. I suppose I could google it but....
Hugh.G.Rection:
Just googled it and ........................... I'm even more confused!
Scandinavian:
know the feeling, I have in my past google the Jin which is why I have a limited amount of trivia, I do think the Pound can claim 500 years of history (or something in that ballpark)