Chinese Recipe Unit Converter
Convert jin, liang and qian to grams, and cups or spoons to millilitres, with ingredient densities for volume-to-weight.
A Chinese recipe says 半斤 or 两汤匙, not 250 g or 30 ml. This converter handles the everyday units — jin, liang, qian, cups, bowls, tablespoons and teaspoons — and switches between volume and weight using the density of the ingredient you are actually measuring. A cup of flour and a cup of water are not the same weight.
Convert one unit
Pick the unit you have, the unit you want, and the ingredient when crossing between volume and weight.
Units at a glance
| Unit | Equals | Where it comes from |
|---|
Density used for volume and weight
| Ingredient | Grams per millilitre | One cup (240 ml) |
|---|
Read this before measuring
Mainland Chinese recipes use the market system: 1 jin = 500 g, 1 liang = 50 g, 1 qian = 5 g. Older recipes and Hong Kong or Taiwan books use 1 jin = 16 liang, which is why the same word can mean a different weight.
Spoon and cup figures are level measurements, not heaped. A rice-cooker cup is 180 ml, not 240 ml — do not use it as a measuring cup.