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A rod-derived shorthand for numbers.
Also known as: Huama, Rod numerals
The Chinese commercial shorthand numeral system descended from counting rods, written vertically on price tags and ledgers.
Writes a number in a shorthand used on price tags, ledgers and market boards.
Contexts: History, Public information
Alternates the orientation of consecutive identical digits so that a run of ones cannot be misread as a four: three ones in a row are written upright, sideways, upright, which is a self-checking device built into the notation itself.
Contexts: History, Public information
Survives in daily use in Hong Kong and Macau on cha chaan teng menus and market stalls long after being replaced elsewhere, which makes it one of very few pre-modern numeral systems a person can still meet without seeking it out.
Contexts: History, Public information
A run of strokes and short characters written in a column, the first three digits drawn as one, two and three strokes laid alternately upright and sideways.
The other Chinese numeral set kept for a practical property rather than for tradition.