Investment Immigration to Hong Kong is successful, and if you visit Hong Kong for the first time, you might want to take a look at the common measurement units in Hong Kong. Understanding these will help you avoid losses and misunderstandings while shopping and living.
1. Area
The Hong Kong government generally uses the international unit "hectare" to calculate land area.
1 hectare = 10,000 square meters
However, property transactions in Hong Kong are often calculated in square feet. The full name of square feet is square foot.
1 square foot = 144 square inches = 929.0304 square centimeters = 0.09290304 square meters (exact value)
To simplify calculations, it is common to divide the square feet by ten, effectively moving the decimal point one place to the left to estimate the area in square meters. For example, 400 square feet is typically estimated as 40 square meters.
2. Length
The construction, renovation, and furniture industries commonly use the length units "foot" and "inch".
1 foot = 30.48 centimeters
1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
Generally, the specifications for a double bed and mattress are 4 x 6 feet; a single bed is 2.5 x 6 feet. For convenience in estimation, you can multiply feet directly by 30 and inches by 2.5, which means a double bed is approximately 120cm x 180cm; a single bed is approximately 75cm x 180cm. (Here, I must again comment on how small houses are in Hong Kong.)
In addition to feet and inches, another length unit commonly seen in the trade of fabrics, paper, and wires is "yard".
1 yard = 0.9411 meters. Although this is not far from a meter, due to the precise requirements for length in fabrics and wires, it is not recommended to estimate.
3. Weight
In terms of weight, supermarkets or pre-packaged items generally use "pound", "ounce", "catty", and "tael" as common units of measurement.
In street markets, "pound" is more commonly used; staple foods, fresh meat, seafood, and medicinal materials are often measured in traditional "catty" and "tael".
1 pound = 453.59237 grams
1 market tael = 50 grams
1 market catty = 500 grams = half a kilogram
For convenience in estimation, we can directly consider 1 pound as approximately half a kilogram.
However, it is important to note that the so-called "catty" and "tael" commonly used in Hong Kong are often "Sima catty".
1 dan = 100 catties
1 catty (604.79 grams) = 16 taels,
1 tael (37.7994 grams) = 10 cents
1 cent = 10 points
Additionally, the international gold market traditionally uses ounces for pricing, while Hong Kong insists on using taels for trading gold and precious metals.
1 tael = 37.429 grams = 1.20337 troy ounces.
4. Volume
In Hong Kong, the Water Supplies Department calculates the water usage on the water bill in "gallons"; influenced by the import of cooking utensils and food (such as dairy products, milk powder, etc.) from the United States, "quart" is also used; otherwise, liters are used.
1 gallon = 3.78541178 liters
1 quart = 946.352946 milliliters
Sometimes for convenience, 1 quart can also be estimated as close to one liter.
5. Currency
The currency unit is the dollar.
Everyone understands this, but let me mention the "dime" and "cent" commonly referred to by local residents.
1 dime = 1 tenth of a dollar = 0.1 dollars
1 cent = 1 hundredth of a dollar = 0.01 dollars