Politics of precision in ancient China

Later this year the General Conference of the International Committee for Weights and Measures is scheduled to meet outside Paris to discuss a major metrological question that has provoked strong passions and extensive research: whether to keep the current artifact-based kilogram standard or replace it with an absolute standard. But discussions of how to connect units and standards have flared passions and inspired research since ancient times - and not only in the West. In the past few years, for instance, scholars of early China have unraveled an episode involving metrological change in the Jin dynasty (AD 265-420) that sheds light on a complex and unique blend of metrology, musicology, and politics in ancient Chinese courts.