Local Nostalgia

• Some local markets prefer old measures.Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
  
  Separate provinces or feudal fiefdoms within any one country had their own measurement systems. Powerful monarchs, imperial conquest, and revolutions began a process of standardization, first nationally and then internationally. Today, government and international organizations define units of measurement for every aspect of life and commerce, but they have not won locals. All over the world, people still cling to a more comfortable past by buying goods in markets in the same measures that their great-grandparents used.
  
  

Ancient China

• The Ming Dynasty started Chinese standardization.Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
  
  Huang Di, China's so-called Yellow Emperor and the founder of Chinese civilization, invented the country's first national measurement system nearly 5,000 years ago. He derived the basic unit of length, the "chi", as approximately the length of the human forearm. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) introduced decimal measures. Standardization was incomplete. The "chi" length varied between one sixth and one third of a meter. The Chinese pace, the "bu", was five to six "chi." The "li" varied between 300 and 360 "bu." The Republic of China adopted the metric system in 1928. In 1949, the People's Republic of China rescinded this and reverted to the traditional system. In 1987, there was another reversal and SI metric units became China's national measurement system again.
  
  

Imperial and U.S. Customary Units

• Imperial measures came from Rome.Jupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images
  
  The Roman Empire provided the basis for the foot measurement of 12 inches, and the 1066 Norman Conquest introduced it to England. Originally the size of a shoe or sandal covering a man's foot, three feet, or a man's pace, measured a yard. Even today, length pacing is a common occurrence at building sites. Standardization began in the 18th century in Britain and spread throughout its empire. In 1790, Congress ratified the imperial system as the U.S. national standard. This did not occur in Britain until 1824, so differences between the two measures evolved over the years. Volumes such as pints and quarts are smaller in the United States than in Britain.
  
  

Metric

• The metric system followed the French Revolution.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  In 1790, the French National Assembly joined with the United States in standardizing its measurement system, in this case into metric units. Under this system, length relates to dimensions of the Earth such as its circumference, radius and distances to the North and South Poles. A complete revision occurred in 1960 during the General Conference on Weights and Measures which brought in the International System of Units (SI System). Today, this is the dominant measurement convention worldwide.