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Chinese
RULES OF APPLICATION
Romanization
- ALA-LC romanization of ideographic characters used for the Chinese language follows
the principles of the Pinyin (“spell sound”) system. The Pinyin system was developed in
the mid 20th century for creating Latin script readings for Chinese script ideographic characters. It replaces the Wade-Giles system of romanization specified in earlier
editions of theALA-LC Romanization Tables. The Pinyin system as outlined inHan yu
pin yin fang an 汉语拼音方案 (1962) is followed closely for creating romanizations except
that the ALA-LC guidelines do not include the indication of tone marks.
- Standard Chinese national (PRC) pronunciation is used as the basis for creating the Latin script reading of a character. When it is necessary to make semantic distinctions between multiple readings of a single character, rely upon the usage of the most recent
comprehensive edition ofCi hai 辞海 (published in China by Shanghai ci shu chu ban
she). To determine contemporary pronunciation, or when there is a conflict in pronunciation between different sources, it is appropriate to follow the guidance of a more
recent dictionary (such asXian dai Han yu ci dian 现代汉语词典,Zhonghua da zi dian 中
華大字典 ,Han yu da ci dian 漢語大詞典, and/orXin Hua zi dian 新华字典). More
specialized dictionaries (such asZhongguo li dai yi jia zhuan lu 中國歷代醫家傳錄 ,
published 1991) may be consulted if necessary. Judgment should be used in choosing between modern authoritative dictionaries and older standard dictionaries.
- Romanize words of non-Chinese origin systematically in all cases, even though normalized non-systematic romanizations are known or the word comes from a Latin script language.
乌鲁木齐 Wulumuqinot Urumchi
哈尔滨市 Haerbin Shinot Harbin
芝加哥 Zhijiagenot Chicago
東京 Dongjingnot Tokyo
Separation of Syllables
Separate the romanization of each Chinese character with a space. This includes corporate names, terms of address and titles of royalty. Do not join syllables of general, non-specific geographic terms.
明清小说比较研究 Ming Qing xiao shuo bi jiao yan jiu
李白和他的诗歌 Li Bai he ta de shi ge 地震文化与社会发展 Di zhen wen hua yu she hui fa zhan 商務印書館 Shang wu yin shu guan 李登輝先生言論集 Li Denghui xian sheng yan lun ji 塔尔寺修缮工程报告 Ta er si xiu shan gong cheng bao gao 中国老年文物研究学会 Zhongguo lao nian wen wu yan jiu xue hui 西北国棉四厂 Xi bei guo mian si chang
- Terms of address. A term of address may follow a surname, a courtesy name, or another appellation. Separate syllables in the term of address. If a term appearing as an integral part of a name is not a title or term of address, romanize the name in running form, as a forename (see below). 林老师 Lin lao shi 韋大夫 Wei dai fu 白沙先生 Baisha xian sheng 晦菴先生 Huian xian sheng 蔣經國先生 Jiang Jingguo xian sheng
- Titles, and titles of royalty. Syllables in a title should be separated and written in lower- case. If a term appearing as an integral part of a name is not a title or term of address, romanize the name in running form, as a forename. An epithet is separated from the name of a person, using lower case letters and separated syllables. 董鄂妃 Donge fei 慈禧皇后 Cixi huang hou 秦始皇帝 Qin shi huang di 楊太后 Yang tai hou
- General, non-specific geographic terms. Some terms have both general and specific usage, depending upon context. For example, when the term 东北 refers to the direction northeast, or, in a general way, to the Northeast, separate syllables; when it is used to refer specifically to Manchuria, capitalize and join syllables. 华东 Hua dong 西北 xi bei 东北 dong bei 陕北 Shan bei
But:
东北林学院 Dongbei lin xue yuan
中山大學 Zhongshan da xue 《刘少奇研究论文集》编辑组 “Liu Shaoqi yan jiu lun wen ji” bian ji zu 周恩来研究学术讨论会 Zhou Enlai yan jiu xue shu tao lun hui
- Join together (without spaces or hyphens) the syllables associated with multi-character geographic names. Do not join the names of jurisdictions and topographical features to geographic names, but separate them from the proper name by a space. 中华人民共和国史稿 Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo shi gao 臺灣省立博物館 Taiwan Sheng li bo wu guan 西藏自治区文物管理委员会 Xizang Zizhiqu wen wu guan li wei yuan hui 东北林学院 Dongbei lin xue yuan 扬子江 Yangzi Jiang 广州市 Guangzhou Shi 安徽省 Anhui Sheng 商丘地区 Shangqiu Diqu 鹿港镇 Lugang Zhen 纽约市 Niuyue Shi 甘南藏族自治州 Gannan Zangzu Zizhizhou 翠亨村 Cuiheng Cun 浦棠乡 Putang Xiang 海南岛 Hainan Dao
2A. Names of countries. Connect syllables according to the practice followed by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. 中华人民共和国 Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo 朝鲜民主主义人民共和国 Chaoxian Minzhu Zhuyi Renmin Gongheguo 中華民國 Zhonghua Minguo 民国档案与民国史学术讨论会论 Minguo dang an yu Minguo shi xue shu tao lun hui lun 文集 wen ji 俄国戏剧史概要 Eguo xi ju shi gai yao
2B. Generic terms for geographical features are capitalized and separated from the names of the features. The syllables of the name of a jurisdiction or geographic feature that are included within another place name are connected together. These practices are also followed when geographic names appear within corporate names. In case of doubt, separate.
海南岛 Hainan Dao 太平洋 Taiping Yang 长江 Chang Jiang
长江口 Changjiang Kounot Chang Jiang Kou
长江大饭店 Chang Jiang da fan diannot Changjiang da fan dian
珠江水产研究所 Zhu Jiang shui chan yan jiu suo 汾河 Fen He 汾河水库 Fenhe Shuiku 梵净山 Fanjing Shan 梵净山自然保护区 Fanjingshan Ziran Baohuqu 黑龙江省 Heilongjiang Sheng 黄土高原 Huangtu Gaoyuan 印度半島 Yindu Bandao
2C. Two-syllable place names, in which the second syllable is a generic term. Separate and capitalize a generic term for the jurisdiction. 吳縣 Wu Xian 祁縣 Qi Xian
2D. Place names consisting of more than two syllables. Separate and capitalize a generic term for the jurisdiction. 安徽省 Anhui Sheng 广州市 Guangzhou Shi 高雄市 Gaoxiong Shi 宝山区 Baoshan Qu 鹿港镇 Lugang Zhen 翠亨村 Cuiheng Cun 商丘地区 Shangqiu Diqu 甘南藏族自治州 Gannan Zangzu Zizhizhou
2E. Obsolete terms for administrative units are romanized in the same manner as the names of contemporary places. 福寧州 Funing Zhou 昌平州 Changping Zhou 錦州府 Jinzhou Fu 安順府 Anshun Fu
鲁迅公园 Luxun Gongyuan
- Join together transliterations of two or more characters comprising the names of racial,
linguistic, or tribal groupings of mankind. Join the termzu (for tribe or people) to a name
only in proper names of places. 基督徒 Jidu tu 桐城派 Tongcheng pai 毛南族 Maonan zu 美国人 Meiguo ren 客家话 Kejia hua 苗族风情录 Miao zu feng qing lu
But:
德宏傣族景颇族自治州 Dehong Daizu Jingpozu Zizhizhou
- Add an apostrophe before joined syllables that begin with a vowel in cases of ambiguity. For example:
長安市 Chang’an Shito distinguish it from Changan Shi
延安市 Yan’an Shito distinguish it from Yanan Shi
张章昂 Zhang Zhang’angto distinguish it from
张占钢 Zhang Zhangang
劉正安 Liu Zheng’anto distinguish it from
刘镇干 Liu Zhengan
王健安 Wang Jian’anto distinguish it from
王佳南 Wang Jianan
Capitalization
- Capitalize the first word of a proper noun.
- Capitalize the first word of a corporate name. Capitalize the first word of the name of a corporate subdivision appearing in conjunction with the name of the larger body only when the subdivision is used in headings.
- Capitalize each separately written word of a geographical name. Capitalize the first word of the names of a dynasty.
- Capitalize the first word of the title of a book, periodical, or series.
Punctuation
- Transcribe a centered point ( • ) indicating coordinate words as a comma. Represent a centered point indicating a space by a space. 索尔 • 呗娄 Suoer Bailou 理查 • M • 尼克逊 Licha M Nikexun 理想 • 劳动 • 幸福 li xiang, lao dong, xing fu
- Transcribe brackets (「 … 」) or angle brackets (《 … 》) used in the manner of quotation marks (“ ... ”) as quotation marks. 《淇 县 志》编 纂 委 员 会 “Qi Xian zhi” bian zuan wei yuan hui
Dates
- Romanize non-numerical dates as separated syllables, except for reign periods that are also the names of emperors. For example: 光緒己丑 [1889] Guangxu ji chou [1889] 清光緒 15 年 [1889] Qing Guangxu 15 nian [1889] 嘉靖乙卯 [1555] Jiajing yi mao [1555] 民國 79 [1990] Minguo 79 [1990] 康德 3 [1936] Kangde 3 [1936] 明治 1 [1868] Mingzhi 1 [1868] 一九九八年 [1998] yi jiu jiu ba nian [1998] 一九九零年 [1990] yi jiu jiu ling nian [1990]
Correspondence of Wade-Giles to Pinyin
The table below presents Wade-Giles syllabic readings found inDi ming Han zi yi yin biao 地名漢
字譯音表 (1971) and theALA-LC romanization tables (1997), and Pinyin equivalents based on
sounds and romanizations found inXian dai Han yu ci dian 現代 汉语词典 (1983). This table is
provided as a device to show the usual relationship between Wade-Giles and Pinyin romanizations. This list is not exhaustive but presents most of the Wade-Giles romanizations that are likely to be found in older cataloging records. Similarly, the syllables which are possible using the Pinyin system of romanization are not limited to those contained in this list.
Wade-Giles Pinyin
a a ai ai an an
Wade-Giles Pinyin
chiu jiu ch‘iu qiu chiung jiong ch‘iung qiong cho zhuo ch‘o chuo chou zhou ch‘ou chou chu zhu ch‘u chu chua zhua chuai zhuai ch‘uai chuai chuan zhuan ch‘uan chuan chuang zhuang ch‘uang chuang chui zhui ch‘ui chui chun zhun ch‘un chun chung zhong ch‘ung chong chü ju ch‘ü qu chüan juan ch‘üan quan chüeh jue ch‘üeh que chün jun ch‘ün qun en en erh er fa fa fan fan fang fang
Wade-Giles Pinyin
fei fei fen fen feng feng fo fo fou fou fu fu ha ha hai hai han han hang hang hao hao hei hei hen hen heng heng ho he hou hou hsi xi hsia xia hsiang xiang hsiao xiao hsieh xie hsien xian hsin xin hsing xing hsiu xiu hsiung xiong hsü xu hsüan xuan hsüeh xue hsün xun hu hu hua hua huai huai huan huan huang huang hui hui
Wade-Giles Pinyin
k‘ou kou ku gu k‘u ku kua gua k‘ua kua kuai guai k‘uai kuai kuan guan k‘uan kuan kuang guang k‘uang kuang kuei gui k‘uei kui kun gun k‘un kun kung gong k‘ung kong kuo guo k‘uo kuo la la lai lai lan lan lang lang lao lao le le lei lei leng leng li li liang liang liao liao lieh lie lien lian lin lin ling ling liu liu lo luo
Wade-Giles Pinyin
lou lou lu lu luan luan lun lun lung long lü lü lüan luan lüeh lüe ma ma mai mai man man mang mang mao mao mei mei men men meng meng mi mi miao miao mieh mie mien mian min min ming ming miu miu mo mo mou mou mu mu na na nai nai nan nan nang nang nao nao nei nei nen nen neng neng ni ni niang niang
Wade-Giles Pinyin
pien bian p‘ien pian pin bin p‘in pin ping bing p‘ing ping po bo p‘o po pou bou pu bu p‘u pu sa sa sai sai san san sang sang sao sao se se sen sen seng seng sha sha shai shai shan shan shang shang shao shao she she shen shen sheng sheng shih shi shou shou shu shu shua shua shuai shuai shuan shuan shuang shuang shui shui shun shun
Wade-Giles Pinyin
shuo shuo so suo sou sou ssu si su su suan suan sui sui sun sun sung song szu si ta da t‘a ta tai dai t‘ai tai tan dan t‘an tan tang dang t‘ang tang tao dao t‘ao tao te de t‘e te teng deng t‘eng teng ti di t‘i ti tiao diao t‘iao tiao tieh die t‘ieh tie tien dian t‘ien tian ting ding t‘ing ting tiu diu to duo
Wade-Giles Pinyin
tsu zu ts‘u cu tsuan zuan ts‘uan cuan tsui zui ts‘ui cui tsun zun ts‘un cun tsung zong ts‘ung cong wa wa wai wai wan wan wang wang wei wei wen wen weng weng wo wo wu wu ya ya yai yai yang yang yao yao yeh ye yen yan yin yin ying ying yo yo yu you yung yong yü yu yüan yuan yüeh yue yün yun
