Daily Life in China                  

Chinese Balance sticks, Market weighing sticks:

Ballance makers shop.

  These sticks are used to weigh meat and vegetables at a market.  The stick is held up by hand.  One side had a hook to hold a basket or bag of vegetables.  The other end is long and graduations for indicating the weight.  A light counter weight on the long side of the fulcrum offsets the basket with vegetables.  The graduations at the location of the counterweight can then be read to give the weight of the vegetables.