Chinese mile; li (unit of length)
Meanings
1 sense · 5 examplesnoun
Chinese mile; li (a traditional unit of length equal to 500 meters or about 0.31 miles)
A traditional Chinese unit of distance. 1 华里 is equal to 500 meters (0.5 kilometers) or about 0.31 statute miles. It is still used in some contexts (e.g., describing distances in rural areas, in historical or literary works). Distinguishes it from the 公里 (gōnglǐ, kilometer) which is the standard metric unit. The character 华 here refers to 'Chinese', distinguishing it from other units of 'li' (like the historical or Japanese units).
It's still ten Chinese miles from here to the county town.
He walks five li to school every day.
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The length of this bridge is two li.
In ancient times, one li was five hundred meters.
The 'li' in the idiom 'to travel thousands of miles without minding the distance' refers to the Chinese li.