Metrology is also called measurement in nowadays. In ancient times, there were quite a few Chinese characters indicating weights and measures and the most commonly seen ones include unit of length such as  (Zhang),  (Chi), (Cun),  (Fen),  (Li) and  (Hao), etc; unit of weight such as (Shi),  (Dou), (Sheng), (Jin), (Liang) and  (Qian), etc; unit of acreage such as  (Qing),  (Mu) and (Li), etc.

Among these characters of measurement, some changed a lot in meaning. For example, the character (Jin), it meant 16 (Liang) in ancient times, but nowadays it means 10 Liang.

Besides above-mentioned ones, there were many other characters indicating measurement and they mainly fall into seven categories:

Unit of length: (Si), (Hu), (Xun), (Chang), (Ren),  (Chi), (Suo), (Zhou) and so on.

Unit of textile goods:  (Pi),  (Duan), (Zhong),  (Zhang), (Liang), (Xun), (Chang),  (Mo) and so on.

Unit of capacity:  (Hu),  (Yue), (He),  (Shao),  (Chao) and so on.

Unit of weight:  (Dan), (Jun),  (Zhu),  (Yue, equal to six Liang),  (Gu) and so on.

Unit of land and mileage:  (Bu),  (Zhou),  (Gong),  (Yin),  (Xiang),  (Fang) and so on.

Unit for measurement of crops:  (Bing, a handful of crops),  (Yu, a granary),  (Zi, ten thousand milliard),  (Fou) and so on.

Unit of time:  (hour),  (quarter),  (minute),  (second) and so on.

Among these characters indicating units of weights and measures, quite a part are symbolic signs such as  (He) and (Mi), some are names of body parts such as (Zhou, elbow) and  (Zhi, finger) and others are containers such as (Gong, equal to 5 Chi) and (Hu, a container of grain).