In 1959 the People's Republic of China formally standardised the metric system as the sole legal system of measurement, replacing a complex mixture of traditional Chinese units and the systems imposed during the Republican era. The reform aligned China with international scientific and commercial practice. It was part of a wider modernisation drive that reshaped everyday language and administration across the country.

Chinese metric standardization in 1959 aligned with socialist construction themes in modern Chinese poetry, influencing writers like Bei Dao and Gu Cheng. Their works often reflected the aspirations and challenges of a rapidly changing society, using metric as a metaphor for order and progress.