Pinyin

For other uses, see Pinyin (disambiguation).

had been to Japan and observed the stunning eect of

the kana syllabaries and Western learning there. This
galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one
Pinyin, or Hanyu Pinyin, is the ocial phonetic system
for transcribing the Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese of the most important being reform of the script. While
Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling
characters into the Latin alphabet in China, Taiwan,* [1]
and Singapore. It is often used to teach Standard Chi- Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile *and led to
a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. [9]
nese and a pinyin without diacritic markers is often used
in foreign publications to spell Chinese names familiar to
non-Chinese and may be used as an input method to enter
1.1 Sin Wenz
Chinese characters into computers.
The Hanyu Pinyin system was developed in the 1950s
based on earlier forms of romanization. It was published
by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several
times.* [2] The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as an international standard
in 1982.* [3] The system was adopted as the ocial standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is used for romanization
alone rather than for educational and computer input purposes.* [4]* [5]

In the early 1930s, Communist Party of China leaders

trained in Moscow introduced a phonetic alphabet using
Roman letters which had been developed in the Soviet
Oriental Institute of Leningrad and originally intended to
improve literacy in the Russian Far East.* [10] This Sin
Wenz orNew Writing* [11] was much more linguistically sophisticated than earlier alphabets, with the major
exception that it did not indicate tones.* [12]

In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published

Xizi Qiji (; Xz Qj ; Hsi-tzu Ch'i-chi;Miracle of Western Letters) in Beijing.* [7] This was the
rst book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese
language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China,
Nicolas Trigault, issued his Xi Ru Ermu Zi (
; Hsi Ju Erh-mu Tzu; Aid to the Eyes and Ears of
Western Literati) at Hangzhou.* [8] Neither book had
much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese
thought about their writing system, and the romanizations
they described were intended more for Westerners than
for the Chinese.* [9]

In 1940, several thousand members attended a Border

Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and
Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy (in characters) for the masthead of the Sin Wenz
Society's new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sen's son, Sun Fo; Cai
Yuanpei, the country's most prestigious educator; Tao
Xingzhi, a leading educational reformer; and Lu Xun.
Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz,
plus large numbers of translations, biographies (including Lincoln, Franklin, Edison, Ford, and Charlie Chaplin), some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks. In 1940, the movement reached an
apex when Mao's Border Region Government declared
that the Sin Wenz had the same legal status as traditional
characters in government and public documents. Many
educators and political leaders looked forward to the day
when they would be universally accepted and completely
replace characters. Opposition arose, however, because
the system was less well adapted to writing regional languages, and therefore would require learning Mandarin.
Sin Wenzi fell into relative disuse during the following
years.* [13]

One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty
scholar-ocial, Fang Yizhi (; Fng Yzh; Fang
I-chih; 16111671).

2 History of Hanyu Pinyin (1949 to

present)

The word Hny (simplied Chinese: ; traditional

Chinese: ) means the spoken language of the
Han people and pnyn (Chinese: ) literally means
spelled-out sounds.* [6]

History of romanization of Chinese characters before 1949

The rst late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt

a system of spelling was Song Shu (18621910). A stu- Pinyin was developed as part of a Chinese government
dent of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song project in the 1950s. One of the prominent gures was
1

OVERVIEW

Zhou Youguang, who is often called the father of

pinyin,* [14]* [15] as he led a government committee
in developing the romanization system.* [16]* [17] Zhou
was working in a New York bank when he decided to
return to China to help rebuild the country after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Zhou became an economics professor in Shanghai, and
in 1954, when China's Ministry of Education created a
Committee for the Reform of the Chinese Written Language, Zhou was assigned the task of helping to develop A school slogan asking elementary students to speak Putonghua
is annotated with pinyin, but without tonal marks.
a new romanization system.
Hanyu Pinyin was based on several preexisting systems:
(Gwoyeu Romatzyh of 1928, Latinxua Sin Wenz of 1931,
and the diacritic markings from zhuyin).* [18]Im not
the father of pinyin,Zhou said years later, Im the
son of pinyin. Its [the result of] a long tradition from
the later years of the Qing dynasty down to today. But we
restudied the problem and revisited it and made it more
perfect.* [19]
A rst draft was published on February 12, 1956. The
rst edition of Hanyu Pinyin was approved and adopted
at the Fifth Session of the 1st National People's Congress
on February 11, 1958. It was then introduced to primary
schools as a way to teach Standard Chinese pronunciation
and used to improve the literacy rate among adults.* [20]

Families outside of Taiwan who speak Mandarin as a

mother tongue use pinyin to help children associate characters with spoken words which they already know. Chinese families outside of Taiwan who speak some other
language as their mother tongue use the system to teach
children Mandarin pronunciation when they learn vocabulary in elementary school.* [1]* [26]
Since 1958, pinyin has been actively used in adult education as well, making it easier for formerly illiterate people
to continue with self-study after a short period of pinyin
literacy instruction.* [27]
Pinyin has become a tool for many foreigners to learn
the Mandarin pronunciation, and is used to explain both
the grammar and spoken Mandarin coupled with Chinese
characters (; ; Hanzi). Books containing both
Chinese characters and pinyin are often used by foreign
learners of Chinese; pinyin's role in teaching pronunciation to foreigners and children is similar in some respects to furigana-based books (with hiragana letters written above or next to kanji, directly analogous to zhuyin)
in Japanese or fully vocalised texts in Arabic (vocalised
Arabic).

Beginning in the early 1980s, Western publications addressing Mainland China began using the Hanyu Pinyin
romanization system instead of earlier romanization systems;* [21] this change followed the normalization of
diplomatic relations between the United States and the
PRC in 1979.* [22] In 2001, the PRC Government issued the National Common Language Law, providing a
legal basis for applying pinyin.* [20] The current specication of the orthographic rules is laid down in the National Standard GB/T 16159-2012.* [23]
The tone-marking diacritics are commonly omitted in
popular news stories and even in scholarly works. This
results in some degree of ambiguity as to which words
are being represented.
3 Usage
Pinyin superseded older romanization systems such as
Wade-Giles (1859; modied 1892) and Chinese postal
map romanization, and replaced zhuyin as the method
of Chinese phonetic instruction in mainland China. The
ISO adopted pinyin as the standard romanization for
modern Chinese in 1982 (ISO 7098:1982, superseded
by ISO 7098:1991); the United Nations followed suit in
1986.* [24] It has also been accepted by the government
of Singapore, the United States' Library of Congress, the
American Library Association, and many other international institutions.* [25]
The spelling of Chinese geographical or personal names
in pinyin has become the most common way to transcribe
them in English. Pinyin has also become the dominant
method for entering Chinese text into computers in Mainland China, in contrast to Taiwan where Bopomofo is
most commonly used.

4 Overview
When a foreign writing system with one set of sounds
and coding/decoding system is taken to write a language,
certain compromises may have to be made. The result
is that the decoding systems used in some foreign languages will enable non-native speakers to produce sounds
more closely resembling the target language than will the
coding/decoding system used by other foreign languages.
Native speakers of English will decode pinyin spellings
to fairly close approximations of Mandarin except in the
case of certain speech sounds that are not ordinarily produced by most native speakers of English: j, q, x, z, c,
s, zh, ch, sh, and r exhibiting the greatest discrepancies.
(When Chinese speakers call out these letters, they read
them as: ji, qi, xi, zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi, and ri. The i in

3
in a similar way to vowels in Romance languages.
The pronunciation and spelling of Chinese words are generally given in terms of initials and nals, which represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language,
rather than letter by letter. Initials are initial consonants, while nals are all possible combinations of medials (semivowels coming before the vowel), the nucleus
vowel, and coda (nal vowel or consonant).

5 Initials and nals

Unlike European languages, clusters of letters initials
(; ; shngm) and nals (; ; ynm)
and not consonant and vowel letters, form the fundamental elements in pinyin (and most other phonetic systems
the last four sounds more like r and the use of i is purely used to describe the Han language). Every Mandarin syllable can be spelled with exactly one initial followed by
a matter of convention.)
one nal, except for the special syllable er or when a trailing -r is considered part of a syllable (see below). The latThe diagrams below are not anatomically correct. They are
intended to indicate how things feel in your mouth when you
ter case, though a common practice in some sub-dialects,
make these sounds.
is rarely used in ocial publications. One exception is
the city Harbin (; ), whose name comes
from the Manchu language.
In Yiling, Yichang, Hubei, text on road signs appears both in Chinese characters and in Hanyu Pinyin

ji, qi, xi

zhi, chi, shi, ri

Ji, zhi, zi: full stop is made and gently

released at arrow point.
Qi, chi, ci: full stop is made and then
blown away forcefully from the arrow
point.
Xi, shi, si: narrow constriction at arrow
point, but no actual stoppage; gradual
opening.
Ri: less narrow constriction at arrow
point, no gradual opening. Tongue tip
vibrates. (Sometimes you can feel the
vibration in your lower front teeth.)

zi, ci, si

Tongue tip scrapes

down the backs of
the middle front
two upper teeth.

Most native speakers of English nd these sounds dicult.

In this system, the correspondence between the Roman

letter and the sound is sometimes idiosyncratic, though
not necessarily more so than the way the Latin script is
employed in other languages. For example, the aspiration
distinction between b, d, g and p, t, k is similar to that of
English (in which the two sets are however also dierentiated by voicing), but not to that of French. Z and c also
have that distinction, pronounced as [ts] and [ts]. From s,
z, c come the digraphs sh, zh, ch by analogy with English
sh, ch. Although this introduces the novel combination
zh, it is internally consistent in how the two series are related, and reminds the trained reader that many Chinese
pronounce sh, zh, ch as s, z, c (and English-speakers use zh
to represent // in foreign languages such as Russian anyway). In the x, j, q series, the pinyin use of x is similar to
its use in Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Basque and Maltese; and the pinyin q is akin to its value in Albanian; both
pinyin and Albanian pronunciations may sound similar to
the ch to the untrained ear. Pinyin vowels are pronounced

Even though most initials contain a consonant, nals are

not always simple vowels, especially in compound nals
(; ; fynm), i.e., when a medialis
placed in front of the nal. For example, the medials
[i] and [u] are pronounced with such tight openings at
the beginning of a nal that some native Chinese speakers (especially when singing) pronounce y (, clothes,
ocially pronounced //) as /j/ and wi (; , to enclose, ocially pronounced /ui/) as /wi/ or /wui/. Often these medials are treated as separate from the nals
rather than as part of them; this convention is followed in
the chart of nals below.

5.1 Initials
In each cell below, the bold letters indicate pinyin, and the
brackets enclose the symbol in the International Phonetic
Alphabet.
1

r may phonetically be [] (a voiced retroex fricative) or [] (a retroex approximant). This pronunciation

varies among dierent speakers and is not two dierent
phonemes.
2
y is pronounced [] (a labial-palatal approximant) before u.
3
the letters w and y are not included in the table of initials
in the ocial pinyin system. They are an orthographic
convention for the medials i, u and when no initial is
present. When i, u or are nals and no initial is present,
they are spelled yi, wu, and yu, respectively. The conventional order (excluding w and y), derived from the zhuyin
system, is:

5.2

RULES GIVEN IN TERMS OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

Finals

Standard Chinese vowels (with IPA and Pinyin)

The following chart gives the combinations of medials
and nals based on an analysis that assumes just two
vowel nuclei, /a/ and //;* [28] various allophones result
depending on phonetic context.

is no initial consonant in order to mark a new syllable:

fanguan is fan-guan, while fangwan is fang-wan (and
equivalent to *fang-uan). With this convention, an apostrophe only needs to be used to mark an initial a, e, or
o: Xi'an (two syllables: [i.an]) vs. xian (one syllable:
[in]). In addition, y and w are added to fully vocalic i,
u, and when these occur without an initial consonant,
so that they are written yi, wu, and yu. Some Mandarin
speakers do pronounce a [j] or [w] sound at the beginning
of such wordsthat is, yi [i] or [ji], wu [u] or [wu], yu
[y] or [y],so this is an intuitive convention. See below
for a few nals which are abbreviated after a consonant
plus w/u or y/i medial: wen C+un, wei C+ui, weng
C+ong, and you C+iu.

In each cell below, the rst line indicates IPA, the second
indicates pinyin for a standalone (no-initial) form, and
the third indicates pinyin for a combination with an initial. Other than nals modied by an -r, which are omitted, the following is an exhaustive table of all possible ** Note on the apostrophe
nals.1* [29]
The only syllable-nal consonants in Standard Chinese The apostrophe (') is used before a syllable starting with
are -n and -ng, and -r, which is attached as a grammatical a vowel (a, o, or e) in a multiple-syllable word when the
sux. A Chinese syllable ending with any other conso- syllable does not start the word (which is most commonly
nant either is from a non-Mandarin language (a southern realized as []), unless the syllable immediately follows
*
Chinese language such as Cantonese, or a minority lan- a hyphen or other dash. [31] This is done to remove amguage of China), or indicates the use of a non-pinyin ro- biguity that could arise, as in Xi'an, which consists of the
manization system (where nal consonants may be used two syllables xi ("") an (""), compared to such words
as xian (""). (This ambiguity does not occur when tone
to indicate tones).
marks are used: The two tone marks in Xn unambigu1
[] is written er. For other nals formed by the sux ously show that the word consists of two syllables. How-r, pinyin does not use special orthography; one simply ever, even with tone marks, the city is usually spelled with
appends r to the nal that it is added to, without regard an apostrophe as X'n.)
for any sound changes that may take place along the way.
For information on sound changes related to nal r, please
see Erhua#Rules.
6.2 Pronunciation of nals
2
is written as u after j, q, x, or y.
3
uo is written as o after b, p, m, or f.
4
weng is pronounced [] (written as ong) when it follows
an initial.
Technically, i, u, without a following vowel are nals,
not medials, and therefore take the tone marks, but they
are more concisely displayed as above. In addition, []
(; ) and syllabic nasals m (, ), n (, ), ng (,
) are used as interjections.

Rules given in terms of English

pronunciation

All rules given here in terms of English pronunciation are

approximations, as several of these sounds do not correThis table may be a useful reference for IPA vowel symbols
spond directly to sounds in English.

6.1

Pronunciation of initials

* Note on y and w
Y and w are equivalent to the semivowel medials i, u, and
(see below). They are spelled dierently when there

The following is a list of nals in Standard Chinese, excepting most of those ending with r.
To nd a given nal:
1. Remove the initial consonant. Zh, ch, and sh count
as initial consonants.

7.2

Word formation, capitalization, initialisms and punctuation

2. Change initial w to u and initial y to i. For weng,

wen, wei, you, look under ong, un, ui, iu.
3. For u after j, q, x, or y, look under .

Orthography

7.1

ng has the uncommon shorthand of .

The letter v is unused (except in spelling foreign
languages, languages of minority nationalities, and
some dialects), despite a conscious eort to distribute letters more evenly than in Western languages. However, sometimes, for ease of typing into
a computer, the v is used to replace a .

Letters

Most of the above are used to avoid ambiguity when writPinyin diers from other romanizations in several aspects, ing words of more than one syllable in pinyin. For example, uenian is written as wenyan because it is not clear
such as the following:
which syllables make up uenian; uen-ian, uen-i-an and uen-i-an are all possible combinations whereas wenyan is
Syllables starting with u are written as w in place of u
unambiguous because we, nya, etc. do not exist in pinyin.
(e.g., uan is written as wan). Standalone u is written
See the pinyin table article for a summary of possible
as wu.
pinyin syllables (not including tones).
Syllables starting with i are written as y in place of i
(e.g., ian is written as yan). Standalone i is written
7.2 Word formation, capitalization, inias yi.

tialisms and punctuation

Syllables starting with are written as yu in place of

(e.g., e is written as yue).
Although Chinese characters represent single syllables,
Mandarin Chinese is a polysyllabic language. Spacing
is written as u when there is no ambiguity (such
in pinyin is based on whole words, not single syllables.
as ju, qu, and xu), but written as when there are
However, there are often ambiguities in partitioning a
corresponding u syllables (such as l and n). In such
word. The Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphasituations where there are corresponding u syllables,
bet Orthography ( ;
it is often replaced with v on a computer, making it
; Hny Pnyn Zhngcf Jbn
easier to type on a standard keyboard.
Guz) were put into eect in 1988 by the National Ed When preceded by a consonant, iou, uei, and uen are ucational Commission (;
simplied as iu, ui, and un (which do not represent ; Guji Jioy Wiyunhu) and the National Language Commission (;
the actual pronunciation).
; Guji Yyn Wnz Gngzu
As in zhuyin, what are actually pronounced as buo, Wiyunhu).* [32] These rules became a Guobiao stanpuo, muo, and fuo are given a separate representa- dard in 1996* [32] and were updated in 2012.* [33]
tion: bo, po, mo, and fo.
The apostrophe (') is used before a syllable starting
with a vowel (a, o, or e) in a multiple-syllable word
when the syllable does not start the word (which is
most commonly realized as []), unless the syllable
immediately follows a hyphen or other dash.* [31]
This is done to remove ambiguity that could arise,
as in Xi'an, which consists of the two syllables xi
(" ") an (" "), compared to such words as xian
(" "). (This ambiguity does not occur when tone
marks are used: The two tone marks inXnunambiguously show that the word consists of two syllables. However, even with tone marks, the city is
usually spelled with an apostrophe as X'n.)
Eh alone is written as ; elsewhere as e. Schwa is
always written as e.
zh, ch, and sh can be abbreviated as , , and (z,
c, s with a circumex). However, the shorthands
are rarely used due to diculty of entering them
on computers, and are conned mainly to Esperanto
keyboard layouts.

1. General
(a) Single meaning: Words with a single meaning, which are usually set up of two characters (sometimes one, seldom three), are written together and not capitalized: rn (, person); pngyou (, friend); qiokl (
, chocolate)
(b) Combined meaning (2 or 3 characters):
Same goes for words combined of two words
to one meaning: hifng ( ; , sea
breeze); wnd ( ; , question and
answer); qungu (; , nationwide);
chngyngc ( ; ,common
words)
(c) Combined meaning (4 or more characters):
Words with four or more characters having
one meaning are split up with their original
meaning if possible: wfng gnggun (
; , seamless steel-tube); hunjng boh guhu ( ;

7
, environmental protection planning); gomngsunji ( ;
, potassium permanganate)
2. Duplicated words
(a) AA: Duplicated characters (AA) are written
together: rnrn ( , everybody), knkan
(, to have a look), ninnin (, every
year)
(b) ABAB: Two characters duplicated (ABAB)
are written separated: ynji ynji (
, to study, to research), xubi xubi (
, white as snow)
(c) AABB: Characters in the AABB schema are
written together: liliwngwng (;
, come and go), qinqinwnwn
(; , numerous)
3. Prexes (; qinf chngfn) and Suxes
(; ; huf chngfn): Words accompanied by prexes such as f (, vice), zng
(; , chief), fi (, non-), fn (, anti-), cho
(, ultra-), lo (, old), (, used before names
to indicate familiarity), k (, -able), w (; ,
-less) and bn (, semi-) and suxes such as zi (,
noun sux), r (; , diminutive sux), tou (;
, noun sux), xng (, -ness, -ity), zh (, er, -ist), yun (; , person), ji (, -er, -ist),
shu (, person skilled in a eld), hu (, -ize)
and men (; , plural marker) are written together:
fbzhng (; , vice minister), chngwyun (; , conductor), hizimen (
; , children)
4. Nouns and names (; ; mngc)
(a) Words of position are separated: mn wi (
; , outdoor), h li (; , under
the river), huch shngmian (;
, on the train), Hung H ynn (
; , south of the Yellow River)
i. Exceptions are words traditionally connected: tinshang ( , in the sky or
outerspace), dxia (, on the ground),
kngzhng (, in the air), hiwi (
, overseas)
(b) Surnames are separated from the given names,
each capitalized: L Hu (; ), Zhng
Sn (; ). If the surname and/or given
name consists of two syllables, it should be
written as one: Zhg Kngmng (;
).
(c) Titles following the name are separated and
are not capitalized: Wng bzhng (;
, Minister Wang), L xinsheng (
, Mr. Li), Tin zhrn (, Director
Tian), Zho tngzh (; , Comrade Zhao).

ORTHOGRAPHY

(d) The forms of addressing people with suxes

such as Lo (), Xio (), D () and
() are capitalized: Xio Li (; ,
[young] Ms./Mr. Liu), D L (, [great;
elder] Mr. Li), Sn (, Ah San), Lo
Qin (; , [senior] Mr. Qian), Lo
W (; , [senior] Mr. Wu)
i. Exceptions are:
Kngz ( ,
Confucius), Bogng (, Judge Bao),
Xsh (, Xishi), Mngchngjn (
; , Lord Mengchang), among
others
(e) Geographical names of China: Bijng Sh (
, city of Beijing), Hbi Shng (,
province of Hebei), Yl Jing (;
, Yalu River), Ti Shn (, Mount Tai),
Dngtng H (, Dongting Lake), Tiwn Hixi (; , Taiwan
Strait)
i. Monosyllabic prexes and suxes are
written together with their related part:
Dngs Shtio ( ; ,
Dongsi 10th Alley)
ii. Common geographical nouns that have
become part of proper nouns are written
together: Hilngjing (; ,
Heilongjiang)
(f) Chinese names of Non-Chinese names are
written in Hanyu Pinyin: pi wngjnmi
(; , Ngapoi
Ngawang Jigme); Dngjng ( ; ,
Tokyo)
5. Verbs (; ; dngc): Verbs and their sufxes -zhe (; ), -le () or -guo ((; ) are written as one: knzhe (; , seeing), jnxngguo
(; , have been implemented). Le as it
appears in the end of a sentence is separated though:
Huch do le. (; , The train
[has] arrived).
(a) Verbs and their objects are separated: kn xn
(, read a letter), ch y (; , eat
sh), ki wnxio (; , to be kidding).
(b) If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic, they are written together; if not, they
are separated: gohui (; , to make
broken), ds (, hit to death), huwi (
; , to become), zhngl ho (,
to sort out), gixi wi (; , to
rewrite as)
6. Adjectives (; ; xngrngc): A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as
one: mngmngling (, dim), lingtngtng
(, shining bright)

7.2

Word formation, capitalization, initialisms and punctuation

(a) Complements of size or degree such as xi
(), yxi ( ), dinr ( ; ) and
ydinr ( ; ) are written separated: d xi ( ), a little bigger), kui
ydinr (; , a bit faster)

7. Pronouns (; ; dic)
(a) Personal pronouns and interrogative pronouns
are separated from other words: W i Zhnggu. ( ; , I love
China); Shi shu de? (;
, Who said it?)
(b) The demonstrative pronoun zh (; , this),
n (, that) and the question pronoun n (,
which) are separated: zh rn (; ,
this person), n c huy (;
, that meeting), n zhng bozh (
; , which newspaper)
i. ExceptionIf zh, n or n are followed
by dinr ( ; ), bn (), bin
(; ), sh (; ), hur (; ),
l (; ), me (; ) or the general
classierge (; ), they are written together: nl (; , there), zhbin
(; , over here), zhge (;
, this)
8. Numerals (; ; shc) and measure words
(; ; lingc)
(a) Numbers and words like g (, each), mi (,
each), mu (, any), bn (, this), gi (;
, that), w (, my, our) and n (, your)
are separated from the measure words following them: ling ge rn (; , two
people), g gu (; , every nation),
mi nin (, every year), mu gngchng
(; , a certain factory), w xio
(, our school)
(b) Numbers up to 100 are written as single words:
snshsn (, thirty-three). Above that,
the hundreds, thousands, etc. are written
as separate words: jiy qwn rqin snbi wshli ( ;
, nine hundred
million, seventy-two thousand, three hundred
fty-six). Arabic numerals are kept as Arabic
numerals: 635 fnj (635 ; 635 , extension 635)
(c) The d () of ordinal numerals is hyphenated:
d-y (, rst), d356 ( 356, 356th).
The ch () in front of numbers one to ten is
written together with the number: chsh (
, tenth day)
(d) Numbers representing month and day are hyphenated: w-s (, May fourth), yr-ji
(, December ninth)

7
(e) Words of approximations such as du (), li
(; ) and j (; ) are separated from numerals and measure words: ybi du g (
; , around a hundred); sh li
wn g (; , around a hundred thousand); j ji rn (; , a
few families)
i. Shj ( ; , more than ten) and
jsh (; , tens) are written together: shj g rn (;
, more than ten people); jsh (
; , tens of steel pipes)
(f) Approximations with numbers or units that are
close together are hyphenated: sn-w tin (
, three to ve days), qin-bi c (,
thousands of times)

9. Other function words (; ; xc) are separated from other words, including:
(a) Adverbs (; ; fc): hn ho (,
very good), zu kui (, fastest), fichng
d (, extremely big)
(b) Prepositions (; ; jic): zi qinmin
(, in front)
(c) Conjunctions (; ; linc): n h w
(, you and I/me), N li hishi b li?
(; , Are you
coming or not?)
(d)Constructive auxiliaries(;
; jigu zhc) such as de (//), zh
() and su (): mnmn de zou (
), go slowly)
i. A monosyllabic word can also be written
together with de (//): w de sh /
wde sh (; , my book)
(e) Modal auxiliaries at the end of a sentence: N
zhdo ma? (; , Do you
know?), Kui q ba! (, Go quickly!)
(f) Exclamations and interjections: ! Zhn mi!
(), Oh, that's so beautiful!)
(g) Onomatopoeia: m do huhu (,
honing a knife), hnglng y shng (
; , rumbling)
10. Capitalization
(a) The rst letter of the rst word in a sentence is
capitalized: Chntin li le. (;
, Spring has arrived.)
(b) The rst letter of each line in a poem is capitalized.
(c) The rst letter of a proper noun is capitalized:
Bejng (, Beijing), Guj Shdin (
; , International Bookstore),
Guji Yyn Wnz Gngzu Wiyunhu (
;
, National Language Commission)

8 TONES
i. On some occasions, proper nouns can
be written in all caps: BIJNG, GUJ
SHDIN, GUJI YYN WNZ
GNGZU WIYUNHU
(d) If a proper noun is written together with a
common noun to make a proper noun, it is
capitalized. If not, it is not capitalized: Fjio
(, Buddhism), Tngcho (, Tang dynasty), jngj ( ; , Beijing opera),
chunxing (, Szechuan lovage)

11. Initialisms
(a) Single words are abbreviated by taking the rst
letter of each character of the word: Bejng
(, Beijing) BJ
(b) A group of words are abbreviated by taking the
rst letter of each word in the group: guji
biozhn ( ; , Guobiao
standard) GB
(c) Initials can also be indicated using full stops:
Bejng B.J., guji biozhn G.B.
(d) When abbreviating names, the surname is
written fully (rst letter capitalized or in all
caps), but only the rst letter of each character
in the given name is taken, with full stops after
each initial: L Hu (; ) L H. or
L H., Zhg Kngmng (;
) Zhg K. M. or ZHG K. M.
12. Line Wrapping
(a) Words can only be split by the character:
gungmng (, bright) gungmng, not gungmng
(b) Initials cannot be split:
Wng J. G. (; ) Wng
J. G., not Wng J.G.
(c) Apostrophes disappear in line wrapping:
X'n (, Xi'an) Xn, not X'n
(d) When the original word has a hyphen, the hyphen is added at the beginning of the new line:
chshu-mlng (; , heavy
trac: carriage, water, horse, dragon)
chshu-mlng
13. Hyphenation: In addition to the situations mentioned above, there are four situations where hyphens are used.

gng-jin (, bow and arrow), kui-mn

(, speed: fast-slow), shq-b su (
; , 1718 years old), d-m
(; , beat and scold), Yng-Hn (;
, English-Chinese [dictionary]), Jng-Jn
(, Beijing-Tianjin), l-hi-kngjn (
; , army-navy-airforce).
(b) Abbreviated compounds (; ; luy):
gnggng gunx (; , public relations) gng-gun (; , PR),
chngt dinhu (; , longdistance calling) chng-hu (; ,
LDC).
Exceptions are made when the abbreviated
term has become established as a word in its
own right, as in chzhng ( ) for chj
zhngxu (; , junior high
school). Abbreviations of proper-name compounds, however, should always be hyphenated: Bijng Dxu (; ,
Peking University) Bi-D (, PKU).
(c) Four-syllable idioms: fngpng-lngjng (
; ), calm and tranquil: wind
calm, waves down), hujn-rt (;
, spend money like water: throw
gold like dirt), zh-b-m-yn (;
, paper-brush-ink-inkstone [four coordinate words]). (The AA-BB reduplication
above is an instance of this.)* [34]
i. Other idioms are separated according to
the words that make up the idiom: bi
higu ( ; , to be made
a scapegoat: to carry a black pot),
zh x zhugun fnghu, b x bixng
dindng (
;
, Gods may do what cattle may not:
only the ocial is allowed to light the
re; the commoners are not allowed to
light a lamp)
14. Punctuation
(a) The Chinese full stop () is changed to a
western full stop (.).
(b) The hyphen is a half-width hyphen (-).
(c) Ellipsis can be changed from 6 dots () to
3 dots ().
(d) The enumeration comma () is changed to a
normal comma (,).
(e) All other punctuation marks are the same as
the ones used in normal texts.

8 Tones

(a) Coordinate and disjunctive compound words,

where the two elements are conjoined or op- The pinyin system also uses diacritics to mark the four
posed, but retain their individual meaning: tones of Mandarin. The diacritic is placed over the let-

8.1

Numerals in place of tone marks

1st tone

d
2n

e
on

ton
to

4th
3r
d

4
3

4. The fourth tone (Falling or High-Falling Tone) is

represented by a grave accent ():
( )
5. The fth tone (Neutral Tone) is represented by a
normal vowel without any accent mark:
a () e i o u A E I O U
(In some cases, this is also written with a dot
before the syllable; for example, ma.)
These tone marks normally are only used in Mandarin
textbooks or in foreign learning texts, but they are essential for correct pronunciation of Mandarin syllables, as
exemplied by the following classic example of ve characters whose pronunciations dier only in their tones:

2
ne

1
Relative pitch changes of the four tones

ter that represents the syllable nucleus, unless that letter

is missing (see below). Many books printed in China use
a mix of fonts, with vowels and tone marks rendered in a
dierent font from the surrounding text, tending to give
such pinyin texts a typographically ungainly appearance.
This style, most likely rooted in early technical limitations, has led many to believe that pinyin's rules call for
this practice and also for the use of a Latin alpha ()
rather than the standard style of the letter (a) found in
most fonts. The ocial rules of Hanyu Pinyin, however,
specify no such practice.

The four main tones of Standard Mandarin, pronounced

with the syllable ma.
The words aremother,hemp,horse,scold
and a question particle, respectively.

8.1 Numerals in place of tone marks

1. The rst tone (Flat or High Level Tone) is repreBefore the advent of computers, many typewriter fonts
sented by a macron () added to the pinyin vowel:
did not contain vowels with macron or caron diacritics.
( )
Tones were thus represented by placing a tone number
at the end of individual syllables. For example, tng is
2. The second tone (Rising or High-Rising Tone) is de- written tong2. The number used for each tone is as the
noted by an acute accent ():
order listed above, except the neutral tone, which is either
not numbered, or given the number 0 or 5, e.g. ma5 for
( )
/, an interrogative marker.
3. The third tone (Falling-Rising or Low Tone) is
marked by a caron/hek (). It is not the rounded
breve (), though a breve is sometimes substituted 8.2 Rules for placing the tone mark
due to font limitations.
Briey, the tone mark should always be placed by the or ( )
dera, o, e, i, u, , with the only exception being iu,

10

9 THE SOUND

where the tone mark is placed on the u instead. Pinyin

tone marks appear primarily above the nucleus of the syllable, for example as in kui, where k is the initial, u the
medial, a the nucleus, and i the coda. The exception is
syllabic nasals like /m/, where the nucleus of the syllable
is a consonant, the diacritic will be carried by a written
dummy vowel.

of a syllable), the rst and third letters coincide with nearsemi-vowels and hence do not receive the tone marker (as
in iao or uai or iou). But if no letter is written to represent
a triphthong's middle (non-semi-vowel) sound (as in ui or
iu), then the tone marker goes on the nal (second) vowel
letter.

When the nucleus is // (written e or o), and there is both

a medial and a coda, the nucleus may be dropped from
writing. In this case, when the coda is a consonant n or
ng, the only vowel left is the medial i, u, or , and so this
takes the diacritic. However, when the coda is a vowel,
it is the coda rather than the medial which takes the diacritic in the absence of a written nucleus. This occurs
with syllables ending in -ui (from wei: (wi -u) and
in -iu (from you: yu -i.) That is, in the absence of
a written nucleus the nals have priority for receiving the
tone marker, as long as they are vowels: if not, the medial
takes the diacritic.

8.3 Using tone colors

An algorithm to nd the correct vowel letter (when there

is more than one) is as follows:* [35]
1. If there is an a or an e, it will take the tone mark.
2. If there is an ou, then the o takes the tone mark.
3. Otherwise, the second vowel takes the tone mark.
Worded dierently,
1. If there is an a, e, or o, it will take the tone mark; in
the case of ao, the mark goes on the a.
2. Otherwise, the vowels are -iu or -ui, in which case
the second vowel takes the tone mark.

In addition to tone number and mark, tone color has been

suggested as a visual aid for learning. Although there are
no formal standards, there are a number of dierent color
schemes in use.
Dummitt's color scheme was one of the rst to be
used. It is tone 1 - red, tone 2 - orange, tone 3 green, tone 4 - blue and neutral tone - black.* [36]
The Unimelb color scheme is tone 1 - blue, tone 2
- green, tone 3 - purple, tone 4 - red, neutral tone grey
The Hanping color scheme is tone 1 - blue, tone 2
- green, tone 3 - orange, tone 4 - red, neutral tone grey.* [37]
The Pleco color scheme is tone 1 - red, tone 2 green, tone 3 - blue, tone 4 - purple, neutral tone
- grey
The Thomas color scheme is tone 1 - green, tone 2 blue, tone 3 - red, tone 4 - black, neutral tone - grey

8.4 Third tone exceptions

In spoken Chinese, the third tone is often pronounced as a

half third tone,in which the pitch does not rise. AddiIf the tone is written over an i, the tittle above the i is tionally, when two third tones appear consecutively, such
omitted, as in y.
as in (nho, hello), the rst syllable is pronounced
with the second tone. In pinyin, words like helloare
still written with two third tones (nho).
8.2.1 Phonological intuition
The placement of the tone marker, when more than one
of the written letters a, e, i, o, and u appears, can also be
inferred from the nature of the vowel sound in the medial
and nal. The rule is that the tone marker goes on the
spelled vowel that is not a (near-)semi-vowel. The exception is that, for triphthongs that are spelled with only two
vowel letters, both of which are the semi-vowels, the tone
marker goes on the second spelled vowel.
Specically, if the spelling of a diphthong begins with i
(as in ia) or u (as in ua), which here serves as a near-semivowel, this letter does not take the tone marker. Likewise,
if the spelling of a diphthong ends with o or u representing
a near-semi-vowel (as in ao or ou), this letter does not
receive a tone marker. In a triphthong spelled with three
of a, e, i, o, and u (with i or u replaced by y or w at the start

9 The sound
An umlaut is placed over the letter u when it occurs after
the initials l and n in order to represent the sound [y]. This
is necessary in order to distinguish the front high rounded
vowel in l (e.g. ; ; donkey) from the back high
rounded vowel in lu (e.g. ; ;oven). Tonal markers
are added on top of the umlaut, as in l.
However, the is not used in the other contexts where it
could represent a front high rounded vowel, namely after the letters j, q, x and y. For example, the sound of
the word / (sh) is transcribed in pinyin simply as
y, not as y. This practice is opposed to Wade-Giles,
which always uses , and Tongyong Pinyin, which always

11
uses yu. Whereas Wade-Giles needs to use the umlaut to
distinguish between ch (pinyin ju) and chu (pinyin zhu),
this ambiguity cannot arise with pinyin, so the more convenient form ju is used instead of j. Genuine ambiguities
only happen with nu/n and lu/l, which are then distinguished by an umlaut.
Many fonts or output methods do not support an umlaut for or cannot place tone marks on top of . Likewise, using in input methods is dicult because it is not
present as a simple key on many keyboard layouts. For
these reasons v is sometimes used instead by convention.
For example, it is common for cellphones to use v instead
of . Additionally, some stores in China use v instead of
in the transliteration of their names. The drawback is
that there are no tone marks for the letter v.
This also presents a problem in transcribing names for use
on passports, aecting people with names that consist of
the sound l or n, particularly people with the surname
(L), a fairly common surname, particularly compared
to the surname (L), (L), (L) and (L).
Previously, the practice varied among dierent passport
issuing oces, with some transcribing asLVandNV
while others usedLUandNU. On 10 July 2012,
the Ministry of Public Security standardized the practice
to use LYUand NYUin passports.* [38]* [39]
Although ne written as nue, and le written as lue are
not ambiguous, nue or lue are not correct according to the
rules; ne and le should be used instead. However, some
Chinese input methods (e.g. Microsoft Pinyin IME) support both nve/lve (typing v for ) and nue/lue.

10

the order and converted to Hanyu Pinyin before the January 1, 2009 national-level switch,* [4]* [5] though with a
slightly dierent capitalization convention than mainland
China. Most areas of Taiwan adopted Tongyong Pinyin,
consistent with the national policy. Many street signs in
Taiwan today still display Tongyong Pinyin but some, especially in northern Taiwan, display Hanyu Pinyin. It is
still not unusual to see spellings on street signs and buildings derived from the older Wade-Giles, MPS2 and other
systems.
The adoption of Hanyu Pinyin as the ocial romanization
system in Taiwan does not preclude the ocial retention
of earlier spellings. International familiarity has led to
the retention of the spelling Taipei (Taibeiin pinyin
systems) and even to its continuation in the name of New
Taipei, a municipality created in 2010. Personal names
on Taiwanese passports honor the choices of Taiwanese
citizens, who often prefer the Wade-Giles romanization
of their personal names. Transition to Hanyu Pinyin in
ocial use is also necessarily gradual. Universities and
other government entities retain earlier spellings in longestablished names, budget restraints preclude widespread
replacement of signage and stationery in every area, and
questions remain about the ability of the national government to enforce the standard island-wide.* [40] Primary
education in Taiwan continues to teach pronunciation using zhuyin (MPS or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols).

11 Comparison with other orthographies

Pinyin in Taiwan

Taiwan (Republic of China) adopted Tongyong Pinyin, a

modication of Hanyu Pinyin, as the ocial romanization system on the national level between October 2002
and January 2009, when it switched to Hanyu Pinyin.
Tongyong Pinyin (ocial phonetic), a variant of
pinyin developed in Taiwan, was designed to romanize
languages and dialects spoken on the island in addition
to Mandarin Chinese. The Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) resisted its adoption, preferring the Hanyu
Pinyin system used in Mainland China and in general use
internationally. Romanization preferences quickly became associated with issues of national identity. Preferences split along party lines: the Kuomintang and its
aliated parties in the pan-blue coalition supported the
use of Hanyu Pinyin while the Democratic Progressive
Party and its aliated parties in the pan-green coalition
favored the use of Tongyong Pinyin.
Tongyong Pinyin was made the ocial system in an administrative order that allowed its adoption by local governments to be voluntary. A few localities with governments controlled by the Kuomintang (KMT), most
notably Taipei, Hsinchu, and Kinmen County, overrode

Pinyin is now used by foreign students learning Chinese

as a second language.
Pinyin assigns some Latin letters sound values which are
quite dierent from that of most languages. This has
drawn some criticism as it may lead to confusion when
uninformed speakers apply either native or English assumed pronunciations to words. However this is not a
specic problem of pinyin, since many languages that use
the Latin alphabet natively assign dierent values to the
same letters. A recent study on Chinese writing and literacy concluded, By and large, pinyin represents the
Chinese sounds better than the Wade-Giles system, and
does so with fewer extra marks.* [41]
Because Pinyin is purely a representation of the sounds of
Mandarin, it completely lacks the semantic cues and contexts inherent in Chinese characters. Pinyin is also unsuitable for transcribing some Chinese spoken languages
other than Mandarin, languages which by contrast have
traditionally been written with Han characters allowing
for written communication which, by its unied semantophonetic orthography, could theoretically be readable in
any of the various vernaculars of Chinese where a phonetic script would have only localized utility.

12

11.1
11.2

14

Chart of comparison with other romanizations

Erhua ()

Computer input systems

Legge romanization

Simple computer systems, able to display only 7-bit

ASCII text (essentially the 26 Latin letters, 10 digits and
punctuation marks), long provided a convincing argument in favor of pinyin over Chinese characters. Today,
however, most computer systems are able to display characters from Chinese and many other writing systems as
well, and have them entered with a Latin keyboard using
an input method editor. Alternatively, some PDAs, tablet
computers and digitizing tablets allow users to input characters directly by writing with a stylus.

REFERENCES

Jyutping (most similar to IPA)

List of ISO romanizations

Pe h-e-j
Pinyin input method
Pinyin table
Romanization of Japanese
Simplied Wade
Tibetan pinyin

12

Other languages

See also: SASM/GNC romanization and Tibetan pinyin

Tone number
Tongyong Pinyin
WadeGiles

Pinyin-like systems have been devised for other variants

of Chinese. Guangdong Romanization is a set of romanizations devised by the government of Guangdong
province for Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka (Moiyen dialect), and Hainanese. All of these are designed to use
Latin letters in a similar way to pinyin.
In addition, in accordance to the Regulation of Phonetic
Transcription in Hanyu Pinyin Letters of Place Names in
Minority Nationality Languages (
;
) promulgated in 1976, place names in
non-Han languages like Mongolian, Uyghur, and Tibetan
are also ocially transcribed using pinyin in a system
adopted by the State Administration of Surveying and
Mapping and Geographical Names Committee known as
SASM/GNC romanization. The pinyin letters (26 Roman letters, , ) are used to approximate the non-Han
language in question as closely as possible. This results
in spellings that are dierent from both the customary
spelling of the place name, and the pinyin spelling of the
name in Chinese:
Tongyong Pinyin was developed in Taiwan for use in rendering not only Mandarin Chinese, but other languages
and dialects spoken on the island such as Taiwanese,
Hakka and aboriginal languages.

13

See also

Transcription into Chinese characters

Bopomofo
Chinese postal map romanization
Combining character

14 References
[1] Snowling, Margaret J.; Hulme, Charles (2005). The science of reading: a handbook. Blackwell handbooks of developmental psychology) 17. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 320
22. ISBN 1-4051-1488-6.
[2] Pinyin celebrates 50th birthday. Xinhua News Agency.
2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
[3] ISO 7098:1982 Documentation Romanization of
Chinese. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
[4] Hanyu Pinyin to be standard system in 2009. Taipei
Times. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
[5] Government to improve English-friendly environment
. The China Post. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
[6] The on-line version of the canonical Guoyu Cidian (
) denes this term as:
(A system
of symbols for notation of the sounds of words rather
than for their meanings that is sucient to accurately
record some language.) See http://dict.revised.moe.edu.
tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?cond=++%AB%F7%AD%
B5&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&ukey=2123466121&
serial=1&recNo=2&op=f&imgFont=1, accessed 14
September 2012.
[7] Sin, Kiong Wong (2012). Confucianism, Chinese History
and Society. World Scientic. p. 72. ISBN 9814374474.
Retrieved 13 July 2014.
[8] Brockey, Liam Matthew (2009). Journey to the East: The
Jesuit Mission to China, 15791724. Harvard University
Press. p. 261. ISBN 0674028813. Retrieved 13 July
2014.

13

[9] Chan, Wing-tsit; Adler, Joseph (2013). Sources of Chinese Tradition. Columbia University Press. pp. 303, 304.
ISBN 0231517998. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
[10] Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese, Cambridge Language
Surveys. Cambridge University Press. p. 261. ISBN
0521296536. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
[11] Jensen, Lionel M.; Weston, Timothy B. (2007). China's
Transformations: The Stories Beyond the Headlines. Rowman & Littleeld. p. XX. ISBN 074253863X.
[12] Chen, Ping (1999). Modern Chinese: History and
Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0521645727. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
[13] John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984), pp. 246247.
[14] Father of pinyin. China Daily. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009. Reprinted in part as Simon, Alan
(2127 Jan 2011). Father of Pinyin. China Daily
Asia Weekly (Hong Kong). Xinhua. p. 20.

[26] R.F. Price (2005). Education in Modern China. Volume

23 of China : history, philosophy, economics. (2, illustrated ed.). Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 0-415-36167-2.
[27] Price (2005), pp. 206208
[28] Hashimoto, Mantaro (1970). Notes on Mandarin
Phonology. In Jakobson, Roman; Kawamoto, Shigeo.
Studies in General and Oriental Linguistics. Tokyo: TEC.
pp. 207220
[29] You can hear recordings of the Finals here
[30] http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Chinese/topics/pinyin/pinyin.
html
[31] Apostrophes in Hanyu Pinyin: when and where to use
them.
[32] "Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography". Qingdao Vocational and Technical College of Hotel Management (in Chinese). Department of Educational
Administration. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 11 August
2014.

[16] Tag: Zhou Youguang. Chinadigitaltimes.net. 201110-19. Retrieved 2012-04-06.

[33] Release of the National Standard Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography". China Education
and Research Network (in Chinese). China Education and
Research Network. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 11 August
2014.

[17] Branigan, Tania (2008-02-21).Sound Principles. London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-09-20.

[34] Use of the Hyphen; Abbreviations and Short Forms.

Pinyin.info. Retrieved 2012-04-06.

[15] Zhou Youguang. China Digital Times. China.

[18] Rohsenow, John S. 1989. Fifty years of script and written

language reform in the PRC: the genesis of the language
law of 2001. In Zhou Minglang and Sun Hongkai, eds.
Language Policy In The People's Republic Of China: Theory And Practice Since 1949, p. 23
[19] Branigan, Tania (2008-02-21).Sound principles. The
Guardian (London).
[20] Hanyu Pinyin system turns 50. Straits Times. 200802-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
[21] Terry, Edith. How Asia Got Rich: Japan, China and the
Asian Miracle. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 632. Retrieved from
Google Books on August 7, 2011. ISBN 0-7656-0356-X,
9780765603562.
[22] Terry, Edith. How Asia Got Rich: Japan, China and the
Asian Miracle. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 633. Retrieved from
Google Books on August 7, 2011. ISBN 0-7656-0356-X,
9780765603562.
[23] New Pinyin Standards (2012). On Derk Zechs blog,
with links to PDF documents. 2012-12-31. Retrieved
2013-11-10.
[24] Lin Mei-chun (2000-10-08).Ocial challenges romanization. Taipei Times.
[25] Ao, Benjamin (1997-12-01). History and Prospect of
Chinese Romanization. Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal (Internet Chinese Librarians
Club) (4). ISSN 1089-4667. Retrieved 2008-09-20.

[35] Swoord, Mark. Where do the tone marks go?".

Pinyin.info. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
[36] Nathan Dummitt, Chinese Through Tone & Color (2008)
[37] Hanping Chinese Dictionary color scheme. 2013-0110. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
[38] Huang, Rong. " ""
"YU"". Retrieved 29 August 2012.
[39] Li, Zhiyan. "" "
"LYU"". Retrieved 23 August 2012.
[40] Google Reader. Google.com. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
[41] Taylor, Insup and Maurice M. Taylor (1995), Writing and
literacy in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, Volume 3 of
Studies in written language and literacy, John Benjamins,
p. 124.

15 Further reading
Yin Binyong/ and Mary Felley (1990). Chinese Romanization. Pronunciation and Orthography
(Hanyu Pinyin he zhengcifa ).
Beijing: Sinolingua. ISBN 7-80052-148-6 / ISBN
0-8351-1930-0.
Gao, J. K. (2005). Pinyin shorthand: a bilingual
handbook = [Pinyin su ji fa]. Dallas, TX: Jack Sun.
ISBN 1-59971-251-2

14

16

Kimball, R. L. (1988). Quick reference Chinese: a

practical guide to Mandarin for beginners and travelers in English, Pinyin romanization, and Chinese
characters. San Francisco, CA: China Books & Periodicals. ISBN 0-8351-2036-8
Uy, Dr. Tim and Jim Hsia (ed.) (2009). Webster's Digital Chinese Dictionary: Advanced Reference Edition. Mountain View, CA: Loqu8 Press.
Wu, C.-j. (1979). The Pinyin ChineseEnglish dictionary. Hong Kong: Commercial Press. ISBN 0471-27557-3

15.1

Pinyin reading matters

Pinyin reading matters from Wikibooks

Pinyin reading matters from Wikimedia

16

External links

Pinyin Chart with Audios

(Proper sound of pinyin from zdic.net with sounds,
require java script turned on)
Pinyin-Hanzi-English Chinese-English dictionary
Pinyin-English news summary for learners of Chinese language
Free Pinyin Tutorial (Chinese & Beyond)
Basic Rules of Hanyu Pinyin Orthography by Zhou
Youguang (Pinyin.info. Now superseded by GB/T
16159-2012 below.)
Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography (National Standard of the People's Republic of China
(ICS 01.140.10), 1996. Now superseded by GB/T
16159-2012 below.)
Basic rules of the Chinese phonetic alphabet orthography (The ocial standard GB/T 16159-2012 in
Chinese. PDF version from the Chinese Ministry
of Education.)
The Chinese phonetic alphabet spelling rules for
Chinese names (The ocial standard GB/T 280392011 in Chinese. PDF version from the Chinese
Ministry of Education.)
Interactive Pinyin Table
Mandarin Chinese Pinyin Table
pinyinAID
Table of Combinations of Initials and Finals
(Pinyin.info)

EXTERNAL LINKS

Free Chinese Pronunciation Online

Pinyin Listening Test for 4 Tones
Pinyin Tone Recognition Test

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17.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Pinyin Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin?oldid=680843110 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, The Epopt, The Cunctator, Derek
Ross, Brion VIBBER, Alex.tan, Eclecticology, Kowloonese, Christian List, Roadrunner, Ktsquare, Zadcat, Youandme, Bernfarr, Olivier,
Leandrod, Stevertigo, Steverapaport, Voidvector, Dominus, Pnm, Menchi, Cyde, Ralmin, GrandVoivodOfErdely, SebastianHelm, Theresa
knott, Pratyeka, Benjaminong, Andres, Jiang, Kaihsu, Goododa, Tobias Conradi, Mxn, Vargenau, Mnementh, Crissov, Timwi, Jukeboksi,
Nohat, Lfh, N-true, WhisperToMe, Patrick0Moran, Tpbradbury, Furrykef, Taoster, Bjarki S, AnonMoos, Ortonmc, Jusjih, GPHemsley, Huangdi, Robbot, KeithH, Benwing, Naddy, Lowellian, Chris Roy, Babbage, Ashley Y, P0lyglut, Yacht, Hippietrail, Ashwin, DHN,
Gbog, Mheller~enwiki, Delpino, Wereon, Shannonr, JerryFriedman, Cyrius, Cordell, Alerante, DocWatson42, Jacoplane, Tarek, Nat
Krause, Jpta~enwiki, Tom harrison, Monedula, Bnn, Taibeiren~enwiki, Koyn~enwiki, Varlaam, Cantus, DO'Neil, Gilgamesh~enwiki,
Xwu, Chameleon, Pne, Esrogs, Wmahan, Vanished user wdjklasdjskla, Jrc, Pgan002, Toytoy, Sonjaaa, Ran, Antandrus, Beland, Evertype,
MarkSweep, Jiu, OwenBlacker, Bumm13, Ak301, Sam Hocevar, Daofeishi, Huaiwei, Laca, Tcpli, Frau Holle, Zeman, MementoVivere,
Abdull, Babelsch, Lacrimosus, Everlong, Zarxos, Felix Wan, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Florian Blaschke, Smyth, Paul
August, Bender235, ESkog, Zy26, Kjoonlee, Nabla, Livajo, Bennylin, El C, Kwamikagami, EmilJ, Moilleadir, Jlin, Shoujun, Stesmo,
Chtito, Shenme, Cmdrjameson, Dreikin, Yuje, La goutte de pluie, Jojit fb, MPerel, Helix84, Jhertel, Alfanje~enwiki, User6854, Gunslinger47, Ronline, Mlessard, Pedro Aguiar, Pfahlstrom, Woodstone, Itsmine, Chamaeleon, Instantnood, Dtobias, Gmaxwell, Jannex, CWH,
Sburke, StradivariusTV, Dsa, Miss Madeline, TarisWerewolf, GregorB, Karmosin, Umofomia, Waldir, Xiong, Calrfa Wn, Matturn,
Graham87, Deltabeignet, TAKASUGI Shinji, Qwertyus, Rjwilmsi, Nanami Kamimura, Adjusting, Mzhao, Binary, Seraphimblade, LjL,
Yug, Dar-Ape, Williamborg, Cassowary, Yamamoto Ichiro, Sky Harbor, SchuminWeb, Ubi, Gary Cziko, Hottentot, Wctaiwan, Ysw1987,
Xerrex, Atitarev, WouterBot, LiangHH, Chobot, DTOx, Benlisquare, Vmenkov, YurikBot, Wavelength, RobotE, Eraserhead1, Hairy Dude,
Jimp, Wikky Horse, John Quincy Adding Machine, Farnkerl, Kaottic97, Pigman, Manop, Rincewind42, Gaius Cornelius, Ksyrie, Anomalocaris, Herbertxu, Xunash, Aeusoes1, Dforest, Badagnani, Acalpixca, Syrthiss, S. Neuman, Psy guy, Bota47, Trainra, Nlu, ArneauSevignon,
Icedwater, Suredeath, Tvarnoe~enwiki, JuJube, Petri Krohn, GraemeL, Alasdair, Wikipeditor, GrinBot~enwiki, MrReaper, Hughitt1, A
bit iy, SmackBot, Pwt898, Reedy, Iopq, KocjoBot~enwiki, Hardyplants, Rnin, AnOddName, David G Brault, Kintetsubualo, Gilliam,
Ohnoitsjamie, Bluebot, Kurykh, Salvo46, Tree Biting Conspiracy, Stevage, The Rogue Penguin, Bazonka, Neo-Jay, Jerome Charles Potts,
Ikiroid, Octahedron80, Nberger, DHN-bot~enwiki, ToobMug, Hongooi, A. B., MyNameIsVlad, Teemeah, Taiwantay, Rrburke, SundarBot, Alton.arts, Khoikhoi, Cybercobra, Chrishyli, Nakon, Salt Yeung, Zzorse, LDHan, OneTopJob6, Murdocke, Soap, Euchiasmus, Iglew,
JorisvS, Ssbye, Bjankuloski06en~enwiki, RunningFool, Capmo, Slakr, A-cai, Abjad, Jose77, Keahapana, Hu12, DabMachine, Yes0song,
Norm mit, Tsharplm, Iridescent, Joseph Solis in Australia, JoeBot, Shoeofdeath, Fsotrain09, HongQiGong, Gnusmas, Ageoo, Meow,
Mirrorblade, Ko'oy, Jim Stinson, Dragonbones, Percyboy, John Riemann Soong, Vinty, Bottlegreen roses, ShelfSkewed, Talamus, Vanished
user fj0390923roktg4tlkm2pkd, FilipeS, HalJor, Cydebot, Aristophanes68, EmperorOfSevenSeas, Brownian, Xbeza, Lindsay658, Smiteri,
Mathpianist93, CieloEstrellado, Thijs!bot, GentlemanGhost, RevolverOcelotX, JustAGal, Mmiklas, Grayshi, CharlotteWebb, Niohe, Trlkly, G Purevdorj, Gdo01, Joelh, Washod, Kariteh, JAnDbot, STSC, Barek, MER-C, Seddon, Andonic, Rothorpe, Joshua, Hroulf, VoABot
II, Hihihi100, Objectivesea, Esalso, Sanket ar, ForestAngel, ArchStanton69, Mkdw, Swang20000, Leaderofearth, Franzean, R'n'B, ASDFGH, Rpclod, J.delanoy, Paul1953h, Love Krittaya, Mike.lifeguard, Nobuts, Silas S. Brown, Mjb1981, Tianyu, Balthazarduju, Aervanath,
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Webmastersubzero, Wolfrock, Nell bomber, Synthebot, VanBuren, Jobberone, Azza-bazoo, SieBot, Charlesxu, Tiddly Tom, Wizard of
re, Dawn Bard, Stevekass, Proud Ho, Perspicacite, Lightmouse, BenoniBot~enwiki, Gymshaw, Flwyd, Jiangyi178, Rosiestep, Longjiangg,
Calatayudboy, Ttbya,
~enwiki, Inafunk, JL-Bot, Kevang, ClueBot, Harry potter sucks a$$, Helenabella, Plastikspork, Hongthay, Abhinav, Wutsje, Der Golem, Sevilledade, Jasonmile, Woolters, Gneisenau~enwiki, Ocer781, Copyeditor42, Alexbot, ChinaTuna, Wprlh,
LonerXL, Doprendek, Mr. Shiny & New, NJGW, Balmacaan, Cghrugionugnifti, Vanished User 1004, DumZiBoT, 3CDS, XLinkBot, BodhisattvaBot, Junox, Elkin1, Sebastien.bruggeman, Addbot, JDTUCKER, Leszek Jaczuk, Douglas the Comeback Kid, Pirtskhalava, Operacenter, Ferronier, BabelStone, Download, Wyvernoid, FJorisK, AnnaFrance, Favonian, Pyl, Joe9320, Newfraferz87, Jarble, Sherpaderka,
Skpl2007, Legobot, Abc root, Luckas-bot, Yobot, DerechoReguerraz, Sillyvalley, Ptbotgourou, Fraggle81, Legobot II, Donfbreed, Tempodivalse, Synchronism, , AnomieBOT, Rjanag, Royote, LlywelynII, Arilang1234, ChristopheS, Customerservicethepurelanguage,
Mahmudmasri, Cababunga, Citation bot, DirlBot, Benylava, Xqbot, Jayarathina, Terry Kotter, DSisyphBot, Teamjenn, Jakwra, Tintinm,
See1gz, Anonymous from the 21st century, Nasa-verve, Book of Praxis, Omnipaedista, Richieclever~enwiki, RibotBOT, Wwbread, Dale
Chock, Natural Cut, Chongkian, Ken334, Benny White, FrescoBot, AlexanderKaras, EPOdata, Mistakender, Cntrational, Kdelwat, Citation bot 1, Shanghainese.ua, Krfgrtkgm, I dream of horses, Jonesey95, Eciency54WS, Yahia.barie, Takeshi0928, Adamlaskey, le
ottante, Janaa, Double sharp, TobeBot, Belchman, Lapinskicho, Zanhe, Lotje, Tanzhang, Dinamik-bot, Duoduoduo, ZhBot, Airbag190,
Jfmantis, RjwilmsiBot, TjBot, Ripchip Bot, , EmausBot, Goldenbrook, John of Reading, Kpuersh, Brently75, Dewritech, Britannic124, NotAnonymous0, Tochnik, ZroBot, Oncenawhile, Aeonx, Rspence1234, Rethliopuks, NYMets2000, TheChampionMan1234,
Saruman-the-white, Winstonlighter, Il Jani, Digirami2, ClueBot NG, Mrpinyin, Chibbert10, Jjj84206, JesseW900, Oneold, Jadeword,
CaroleHenson, LiliCharlie, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hktkokle, HMSSolent, Dhelmdach, BG19bot, Thaistory, Summer002, Calvin Marquess,
Zhongguy, Guiskilin, Fernandoj311, Earth Wikipedian, Jazb665, Chmarkine, BattyBot, Victor Yus, ChrisGualtieri, Givegrowgo, Dvd123,
Sdhdxgj, Critias1, , PereraD, Mogism, Cuihaoleo, Minime12358, Halah, Rajmaan, Saleswiki, Watchthewatchmen, Ibluesky,
Mevagiss, Kpintor, Justinrleung, Dsprc, Chng-koet, Lookingforalaska69, The Last Arietta, Drmmhmd, Efex3, Throne3d, Vam829, K.T.
McKay, KGB1988, W. W. Y. Merridor, KasparBot, Mr.Bob.298, Sexton05 and Anonymous: 511

17.2

Images

File:Blank_vowel_trapezoid.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Blank_vowel_trapezoid.svg License:

CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Blank_vowel_trapezoid.png Original artist: Blank_vowel_trapezoid.png: Denelson83 (talk contribs)
File:Dajia-shuo-Putonghua-2817.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Dajia-shuo-Putonghua-2817.
jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Vmenkov

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TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:DifficultChineseSpeechSounds.svg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/
DifficultChineseSpeechSounds.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Patrick Edwin Moran
File:First_tone_(Mandarin).png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/First_tone_%28Mandarin%29.png
License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Immanuel Giel
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Fourth_tone_(Mandarin).png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Fourth_tone_%28Mandarin%29.
png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Immanuel Giel
File:Gnome-speakernotes.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Gnome-speakernotes.svg License: GPL
Contributors: Self-made in Illustrator; Based o of image from the GNOME package, a free software (GPL) desktop environment. Original
artist: Gnome?
File:Hubei-S334-Entering-Yiling-4848.jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/
Hubei-S334-Entering-Yiling-4848.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Vmenkov
File:IPA_vowel_chart_2005.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/IPA_vowel_chart_2005.png License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Incubator-notext.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Incubator-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Meddie_Egg_horizontal_line.svg Original artist: NielsF
File:Parentesi_Quadre.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Parentesi_Quadre.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: GJo
File:Pinyin_Tone_Chart.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Pinyin_Tone_Chart.svg License: CC-BYSA-3.0 Contributors: Self-published work by Wereon Original artist: Wereon
File:Second_tone_(Mandarin).png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Second_tone_%28Mandarin%29.
png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Immanuel Giel
File:Speaker_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Third_tone_(Mandarin).png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Third_tone_%28Mandarin%29.png
License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Immanuel Giel
File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau
File:Zh-pinyin_tones_with_ma.ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Zh-pinyin_tones_with_ma.ogg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Karmosin
File:Zhongwen.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Zhongwen.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
? Original artist: ?

17.3

Content license

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