science

Mu (land)

Mu (land) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mu (land) rather than just read about it. In short: The mu (simplified Chinese: 亩; traditional Chinese: 畝; pinyin: mǔ) in Mandarin, mau or mou in Cantonese, or bo in Taiwanese Hokkien, also called Chinese acre, is a traditional Chinese unit of measurement for land area. One mu equals 666.67 square meters in mainland China, 761.4 square meters in Hong Kong and Macau, and 99.17 square meters in Taiwan and Japan.

Key takeaways

Mu (land) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mu (land) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mu (land) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The mu (simplified Chinese: 亩; traditional Chinese: 畝; pinyin: mǔ) in Mandarin, mau or mou in Cantonese, or bo in Taiwanese Hokkien, also called Chinese acre, is a traditional Chinese unit of measurement for land area. One mu equals 666.67 square meters in mainland China, 761.4 square meters in Hong Kong and Macau, and 99.17 square meters in Taiwan and Japan. Mu is the only Chinese area unit legally retained by the People's Republic of China.

Origin The mu was defined in terms of the bu, or more precisely the square bu. Deng Zhan of the Three Kingdoms era wrote that "in the old times 100 bu makes a mu, but now 240 bu makes a mu. Han dynasty fields use Qin dynasty units." Combined with known values of the Han dynasty chi and bu, the "new" mu of the Han Dynasty is therefore 240 bu2 = 240 (6 chi⁄bu × 0.231 m⁄chi)2= 461 m2.

Mainland On 7 January 1915, the Beiyang government promulgated a measurement law to use not only the metric system as the standard but also a set of Chinese measurement units based directly on the Qing dynasty definitions (營造尺庫平制).

where mu is the basic unit of area measurement. On 16 February 1929, the Nationalist government promulgated The Weights and Measures Act to adopt the metric system as the official standard and to limit the newer Chinese units of measurement to private sales and trade in Article 11, effective on 1 January 1930. These newer "market" units are based on rounded metric numbers.

And mu remains the base unit. In mainland China, mu is the only area unit retained after the traditional Chinese measurement system was discontinued in the "Decree of the State Council Concerning the Use of Uniform Legal Measures in the Country" promulgated in 1959. Now the Chinese measurement system stipulates that 1 mu is equal to 60 square zhang, which is approximately equal to 666.67 square meters; 15 mu is equal to 1 hectare; 1 square kilometer is equal to 1500 mu.

Macau In Macau, mu is also the basic area unit of Chinese measurement. One mu is defined as 761.4 square meters. On 24 August 1992, Macau published Law No. 14/92/M that Chinese units of measurement similar to those used in Hong Kong, imperial units, and United States customary units would be permissible for five years since the effective date of the law, 1 January 1993, on the condition of indicating the corresponding International System of Units (SI) values, then for three more years thereafter, Chinese, imperial, and US units would be permissible as secondary to the SI.

Hong Kong The Chinese units of measurement used in Hong Kong are similar to those used in Macau. In 1976 the Hong Kong Metrication Ordinance allowed a gradual replacement of the system in favor of the SI metric system. The Weights and Measures Ordinance does not recognize Chinese units for area. The standard commercial measure of real estate area is in square feet of the imperial system. Apartment or office size is generally still given in square feet. However, square metres are used for official purposes. The traditional units of agricultural land area are the mau or mou (Cantonese for mu) and the local dau chung (斗種). Notionally the two units are defined differently, with the dau chung being the amount of land which could be planted by one dau (斗) of rice; in practice the area of one dau chung is roughly equal to one mau.

Taiwan In Taiwan, the principal unit for measuring the floor space of an office or apartment is 坪 (Taiwanese Hokkien: pêⁿ, Hakka: phiàng, Mandarin: píng). The unit derives from the Japanese tsubo, the base unit of the Japanese area. The principal unit of land measure is 甲 (Taiwanese Hokkien: kah, Hakka: kap, Mandarin: jiǎ). The unit is derived from the obsolete Dutch morgen, which was introduced during Taiwan's Dutch era. Taiwanese mu is derived from Japanese se, i.e., equals one Japanese se or 30 ping.

Officially, land area is measured in square metres.

"Mu", "acre" and "are" There are three area units whose Chinese names include character 畝: 市畝, 英畝 and 公畝. Their meanings and conversions are as follows:

市畝 (Chinese mu; character-by-character translation: "market mu"): Or simply called mu, is a traditional Chinese unit of measure, roughly equals 667 square meters in mainland China. 英畝 (acre, "British mu"): A British imperial unit, about 4,047 square meters or 0.405 hectares. 公畝 (are, "common mu"): Part of the metric system, equivalent to 100 square meters. 1 Chinese mu =6.667 ares = 0.164 acre.

Idioms One mu and three fen of land, or 1.3 mu of land (simplified Chinese: 一亩三分地; traditional Chinese: 一畝三分地; pinyin: yī mǔ sān fēn dì) is a Chinese idiom that figuratively refers to someone's small personal domain or limited territory, often implying a narrow scope of influence or control. It is also the name of a Chinese website 1Point3Acres.

See also Chinese units of measurement Taiwanese units of measurement Hong Kong units of measurement zh:亩 (the Chinese Wiki article of Mu)

Notes

References

External links https://www.britannica.com/science/mou (Mou: Chinese unit of measurement)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mu (land)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mu (land) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mu (land) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mu (land) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mu (land)

In research: Mu (land) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mu (land) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mu (land) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Chinese units of measurement, Customary units of measurement, Units of area, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mu (land) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mu (land) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mu (land) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mu (land) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mu (land) in simple terms?

Why does Mu (land) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mu (land)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mu (land).