Hanyu Pinyin, often referred to simply as Pinyin, is the most common Romanized Chinese alphabet of standard Mandarin in use. The Pinyin alphabet uses Roman letters to represent Chinese sounds. It is used in mainland China and Singapore and accepted by many international institutions such as the United States’ Library of Congress.

Approved in 1958 and adopted in 1979 by the People’s Republic of China, Hanyu Pinyin has superseded other existing pinyin alphabets such as the 1859 Wade Giles Pinyin alphabet.

Taiwan adopted a modified version of Hanyu Pinyin, the Tongyong Pinyin alphabet, on a national level in 2002. However, since the use of Tongyong is not mandatory, the resulting employment of either Tongyong or Hanyu in Taiwan has been inconsistent. Before this a different phonetic alphabet had established widespread use in Taiwan. This was known as the Zhuyin Fuhao (Bopomofo) Chinese alphabet, but was not romanized like Hanyu Pinyin.

The main purpose of Pinyin is to teach standard Mandarin pronunciation to Chinese students. Pinyin is also useful for entering Chinese text into computers. And, mostly in mainland China, the Pinyin Chinese alphabet is used in books and for other products targeted to consumers who can not read Chinese characters.

Besides Pinyin, there are several other Chinese alphabets or writing systems in common use today.

Zhuyin Fuhao, or simply Zhuyin, is often nicknamed Bopomofo, which refers to the first four sounds of the Chinese phonetic alphabet. Bopomofo uses thirty-seven symbols to represent the twenty-one consonant and sixteen vowel sounds of standard Mandarin Chinese.

Renamed in 1930, Zhuyin Fuhao is based upon Zhang Binglin’s shorthand that was first released in 1913. The symbols he used are variants of ancient Chinese characters. Bopomofo is used mainly in Taiwan; its use on the Mainland has been superseded by Pinyin since 1949.

The main purpose of Bopomofo is to teach standard Mandarin pronunciation. In Taiwan elementary school texts in all subjects, including Mandarin, are entirely in Zhuyin. Around the fourth grade, Zhuyin is replaced by Traditional Chinese. Like Pinyin in mainland China, Zhuyin is also used in Taiwan as a method to enter information into computers and cellular phones.

The Taiwanese education ministry has attempted to replace the Zhuyin Chinese alphabet with a pinyin Chinese alphabet. This transition has been very slow due, in part, to the teachers’ lack of familiarity with Pinyin.

Besides Zhuyin, there are several other Chinese alphabets or writing systems in common use today.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2007 11:28PM by Guilinbog.

There are two standard sets of contemporary written Chinese, Traditional and Simplified. Simplified Chinese refers to the set of written Chinese characters developed and used in the People’s Republic of China.

Chinese language reform was promoted to encourage literacy and modernization. The Simplified characters are based upon the Traditional Chinese characters. The Traditional characters were modified and stroke counts reduced. In some cases the Simplified character no longer resembles the original Traditional character.

The first round of Simplified characters was issued in 1956 and 1964. A second round was issued in 1977, but most of these changes were retracted. Since retraction the PRC has stated that it does not plan any further reforms nor does it plan to restore any previously Simplified characters to the original, Traditional forms.

Simplified Chinese is used in China and has been adopted by Singapore and Malaysia. Under the One-Country-Two-Systems model, China has not forced Hong Kong or Macau to switch over from Traditional Chinese.

Some view Simplified Chinese as a failure to reform the written language into a more efficient phonetic alphabet. People with this view note that literacy has not increased since the introduction of Simplified Chinese. Furthermore, the Chinese literary world is now divided by the two sets of characters.

Deciding whether to learn Simplified or Traditional Chinese would depend on where the student intends to use the language. By population there are more users of Simplified Chinese in China. Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan and many overseas Chinese communities.

- Learn about Chinese Romanized and phonetic alphabets:

Hanyu Pinyin Chinese alphabet
Bopomofo (Zhuyin Fuhao) Chinese alphabet



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2007 11:21PM by Guilinbog.

There are two standard sets of written contemporary Chinese, Simplified and Traditional. Traditional Chinese refers to the written characters used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, as opposed to the Simplified Chinese characters used in China.

Traditional Chinese is based upon the Clerical script that was developed during the Han Dynasty in the 5th century. Since that time the characters have stayed relatively stable. However, this does not mean that contemporary Traditional Chinese is written in the same way as the earliest Clerical script.

Classical Chinese, the written form of Chinese since the time of Confucius, is incomprehensible to the average, modern Chinese reader. Since the late 1920s, Traditional Chinese has replaced Classical Chinese in most types of printed materials and written communication. As opposed to Classical Chinese, Traditional Chinese is sometimes referred to as Vernacular Chinese. It more closely resembles the spoken language of standard Mandarin. Generally speaking, the more formal the tone that written Chinese assumes, the closer it resembles Classical Chinese.

In addition to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, Traditional Chinese is found in many overseas Chinese communities.

- Learn about Chinese Romanized and phonetic alphabets:

Hanyu Pinyin Chinese alphabet
Bopomofo (Zhuyin Fuhao) Chinese alphabet



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2007 11:26PM by Guilinbog.

Excluding ancient Chinese alphabets and proposed alphabets that were never implemented, there are four main alphabets used in modern Chinese communication. There are two primary sets of contemporary written Chinese, Traditional and Simplified. And, the two predominant phonetic alphabets, Pinyin and Bopomofo, are used in education and in some other forms of communication.

The Traditional Chinese alphabet, consisting of thousands of characters, is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and many overseas Chinese communities.

The Simplified Chinese alphabet was developed and adopted starting in 1956 by mainland Communist China. A sizeable number of Traditional characters were modified. Simplified Chinese has also been adopted by Singapore and Malaysia.

The Hanyu Pinyin Chinese alphabet, commonly called Pinyin, is a Chinese phonetic alphabet using Roman letters. There are other pinyin alphabets, but Hanyu Pinyin is the main one used in the People’s Republic of China and accepted by many international institutions.

The Zhuyin Fuhao Chinese alphabet, most often referred to as Bopomofo, is another Chinese phonetic alphabet which consists of thirty-seven characters that represent all Mandarin Chinese sounds. This alphabet is used in Taiwan.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2007 11:19PM by Guilinbog.