Differences in Determining Temperature, Age and Weight in China

by Afia Yeboah, Greenheart Travel Homestay Teacher in China

叶飞飞Yèfēifēi

Ni Hao Friends, Family and New Friends,

Day 6 in Beijing was a very chill Saturday in Beijing for me. I stayed in with the boys, played with them a bit and helped them to practice their English. They are great.

I’d like to use this quick post to talk about a few more cultural differences between home in the United States, and life in Beijing. Yes, the list of differences continue, but I’ll make these brief.

Temperature:

When Chao told me one day, “Yeah it’ll be about 22 degrees today,” I literally was like “wut!?” *insert shock face here*.

But we both realized that their ‘22 degrees’ here in Beijing meant about ‘71 degrees Fahrenheit’ back home in the States. The temperature here in Beijing is told in Celsius.

Weight:

They have a weight scale here in the BEIT Office, Greenheart Travel’s partner company’s office. So of course I casually hop on the scale to check my weight. But after seeing the number I’m screaming like “Ahhhh, no way!”

I figured I’d lose weight in China because the eating is healthier here, but not this much weight! Then I had to ask, “Chao and Bella. Please tell me, is weight measured here in lbs?” And they’re like “yeah.”

I say “No way, p-o-u-n-d-s, pounds? l-b-s, pounds?

And then they clarify, “No, we use jin.”

Now it made sense. It seemed like I had lost a drastic 10-12 pounds in my short stay here so far. However, it was more like 3-5 lbs, but not too far off my normal weight at home.

The difference between jin to lbs seems to fall within 10-20 lbs or so. So the conversion looks like this:

• 100 lbs is 90 jin.
• 200 lbs is 181 jin.

Age:

The way age is recognized in the States differs from how it’s recognized in Beijing.

In the states, when a baby is born, he is 0 months old. Then the baby is x months old, like 6 months old or 10 months old. After one year passes, on the first anniversary of the baby’s birth, the baby is then considered to be 1 years old.

Not the case in China. In China, the moment a baby is born, that baby is considered to be 1 years old. On the baby’s first birthday, the baby is now considered to be 2 years old.

So yes, the differences here are pretty neat. I’ll continue to take note and keep you all posted as I do.

Until next time,

叶飞飞
Fifi