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Li orri (Chinese:里,lǐ, or市里,shìlǐ), also known as theChinese mile,[citation needed] is atraditional Chinese unit ofdistance. Theli has varied considerably over time but was usually about one third of an Englishmile and now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer (500meters or 1,640feet or 0.311miles). This is then divided into 1,500chi or "Chinese feet".
The character里 combines the characters for "field" (田,tián) and "earth" (土,tǔ), since it was considered to be about the length of a single village. As late as the 1940s, a "li" did not represent a fixed measure but could be longer or shorter depending on theeffort required to cover the distance.[1]
There is also anotherli (Traditional:釐, Simplified:厘,lí) that indicates a unit of length1⁄1000 of achi, but it is used much less commonly. Thisli is used in thePeople's Republic of China as the equivalent of thecenti- prefix in metric units, thuslimi (厘米, límǐ) for centimeter. Thetonal difference makes it distinguishable to speakers of Chinese, but unless specifically noted otherwise, any reference toli will always refer to the longer traditional unit and not to either the shorter unit or the kilometer. This traditional unit, in terms of historical usage and distance proportion, can be considered theEast Asian counterpart to the Westernleague unit. However, in Englishleague commonly means "3 miles."
Like mosttraditional Chinese measurements, theli was reputed to have been established by theYellow Emperor at the founding of Chinese civilization around2600 BC and standardized byYu the Great of theXia dynasty six hundred years later. Although the value varied from state to state during theSpring and Autumn period andWarring States periods, historians give a general value to theli of 405 meters prior to theQin dynasty imposition of its standard in the 3rd century BC.[citation needed]
The basic Chinese traditional unit of distance was thechi. As its value changed over time, so did theli's. In addition, the number ofchi perli was sometimes altered. To add further complexity, under the Qin dynasty, theli was set at 360 "paces" (步,bù) but the number ofchi perbu was subsequently changed from 6 to 5, shortening theli by1⁄6. Thus, the Qinli of about 576 meters became (with other changes) theHanli, which was standardized at 415.8 meters.
The basic units of measurement remained stable over the Qin and Han periods. A bronze imperial standard measure, dated AD 9, had been preserved at the Imperial Palace in Beijing and came to light in 1924. This has allowed very accurate conversions to modern measurements, which has provided a new and extremely useful additional tool in the identification of place names and routes. These measurements have been confirmed in many ways including the discovery of a number of rulers found at archaeological sites, and careful measurements of distances between known points.[2] The Hanli was calculated by Dubs to be 415.8 metres[3] and all indications are that this is a precise and reliable determination.[2]
| Dynasty | Period | SI length |
|---|---|---|
| Xia | 2100–1600BCE | 405 m |
| Western Zhou | 1045–771 BCE | 358 m |
| Eastern Zhou | 770–250 BCE | 416 m |
| Qin | 221–206 BCE | 415.8 m |
| Han | 205 BCE – 220CE | 415.8 m |
| Tang | 618–907 CE | 323 m |
| Qing | 1644–1911 CE | 537–645 m |
| ROC | 1911–1984 | 500–545 m |
| PRC | 1984–present | 500 m |
Under theTang dynasty (AD 618–907), theli was approximately 323 meters.[citation needed]
In the lateManchu orQing dynasty, the number ofchi was increased from 1,500 perli to 1,800. This had a value of 2115 feet or 644.6 meters. In addition, the Qing added a longer unit called thetu, which was equal to 150li (96.7 km).
These changes were undone by theRepublic of China ofChiang Kai-shek, who adopted the metric system in 1928. The Republic of China (now also known asTaiwan) continues not to use theli at all but only the kilometer (Mandarin:公里,gōnglǐ,lit. "common li").
UnderMao Zedong, thePeople's Republic of China reinstituted the traditional units as a measure of anti-imperialism and cultural pride before officially adopting themetric system in 1984. A place was made within this for the traditional units, which were restandardized to metric values. A modernli is thus set at exactly half a kilometer (500 meters). However, unlike thejin which is still frequently preferred in daily use over the kilogram, theli is almost never used. Nonetheless, its appearance in many phrases and sayings means that "kilometer" must always be specified by sayinggōnglǐ in full.
As one might expect for the equivalent of "mile",li appears in many Chinese sayings, locations, and proverbs as an indicator of great distances or the exotic:
The present day Koreanri (리, 里) and Japaneseri (里) are units of measurements that can be traced back to the Chineseli (里).
Although the Chinese unit was unofficially used in Japan since theZhou dynasty, the countries officially adopted the measurement used by theTang dynasty (618–907 AD). Theri of an earlier era in Japan was thus true to Chinese length, corresponding to six chō (c. 500–600 m), but later evolved to denote the distance that a person carrying a load would aim to cover on mountain roads in one hour. Thus, there had been variousri of 36, 40, and 48 chō. In theEdo period, theTokugawa shogunate defined 1ri as 36 chō, allowing other variants, and the Japanese government adopted this last definition in 1891. The Japaneseri was, at that time, fixed to themetric system,216⁄55 ≈ 3.93kilometres or about 2.44miles. Therefore, one must be careful about the correspondence between chō andri. SeeKujūkuri Beach (99-ri beach) for a case.
InSouth Korea, theri currently in use is a unit taken from theHan dynasty (206 BC–220 AD)li. It has a value of approximately 392.72 meters, or one tenth of theri. TheAegukga, the national anthem of South Korea, mentions 3,000ri, which roughly corresponds to 1,200km, the approximate longitudinal span of theKorean peninsula.
InNorth Korea theChollima Movement, a campaign aimed at improving labour productivity along the lines of the earlier SovietStakhanovite movement, gets its name from the word "chollima" which refers to a thousand-ri horse (chŏn + ri + ma in North Korean Romanization).