1/18/2015 Chinesenumerals

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Chinesenumerals
Shangnumerals
ThesearethenumeralsthatwereusedintheOracleBoneScriptfromthe14thcenturyBC.Laternumerals
usedinChinesedevelopedfromthese

Rodnumerals([]chu)
Rodnumeralsorcountingrodswereapositionalnumeralsystemusedbymerchants,mathematiciansand
astronomersfromtheHanDynastytothe16thcentury.

Suzhounumerals([])
TheSuzhounumeralssystemisaversionoftherodnumeralsystemsthatwereformerlyusedinChina.The
SuzhounumeralsdevelopedfromtheSouthernSongrodnumerals.Theywereapositionalsystemusedasa
formofshorthandinbookkeepingandaccounting,andwerepopularinmarkets,particularlyinHongKong,
untilthe1990s,sincewhentheyhavebeenreplacedbyWesternnumerals.Thesenumeralsarealsoknownas
[](hum)

ModernChinesenumerals
Thecomplexnumeralsareusedoncheques,banknotesandcoinsandaretheequivalentofwriting'one','two',
'three',etc,ratherthan1,2,3.Thesimplenumeralsareusedforeverythingelse.

Simplenumerals

Complexnumerals

Largenumbersaredividedintounitsoftenthousand,so1millionisonehundredtenthousands.

HowtocountinMandarin,Cantonese,Hakka,ShanghaineseandTaiwanese

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Links
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chinEASEisaneBookthathelpslanguagelearnerstosuccessfullytacklethecomplexitiesofChinesewriting
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