Catty (China) Unit | All you need to know

The Chinese catty or kati, jin, market catty (市斤 shìjīn) or  common catty (公斤 gōngjīn) is a unit of mass.

Catty (China), known as Jin (斤) in Chinese, is a traditional unit of mass that remains widely used throughout mainland China and other Chinese-speaking regions. Although China officially uses the metric system, the Catty continues to be the preferred unit in many food markets, grocery stores, agricultural transactions, and everyday commerce.

The modern Chinese Catty has been standardized to equal 500 grams, making it closely integrated with the metric system. Consumers commonly purchase fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, tea, and other products by the Catty, while manufacturers, exporters, and scientific organizations typically use grams and kilograms. Because of this dual usage, conversions between Catty and metric units are frequently required in trade, logistics, and product labeling.

Historically, the Catty has been part of traditional Chinese measurement systems for centuries and is closely related to other customary units such as the Liang (Tael). Despite the widespread adoption of metric measurements, the Catty remains an important cultural and commercial unit across China.