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1341

Appendix I

Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography

(GB/T 16159-1996)

National Standard of the People's Republic of China (ICS 01.140.10). Approved and issued by the State Technology

Supervision Bureau on January 22, 1996; effective on July 1, 1996.

1. Main Topics and Applications

This Standard sets the regulations for alphabetic spelling of modern Chinese using the \Scheme for the Chinese

Phonetic Alphabet." It contains rules for separating and joining words; rules for spelling fused phrase expressions (chengyu),

foreign loan words, and personal and place names; rules for representing tones; rules for hyphenation at the ends of lines;

etc. It also provides some methods for making technical modications for special purposes.

As the unied regulations for alphabetic spelling of modern Chinese using the \Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic

Alphabet," this standard is applicable to the elds of education, publication, information processing, and other domains.

2. Terminology

Hanyu Pinyin Orthography. The standard for spelling Hanyu Pinyin and norms for its written forms.

\The Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet" provides rules for alphabetic spelling of syllables. \Basic Rules for

Hanyu Pinyin Orthography" comprise a rm foundation for further consolidation of the standard writing of words (c).

3. Principles for Formulation of the Rules

3.1 To make the word (c) the basic spelling unit of Hanyu Pinyin, while taking into consideration the phonological,

semantic, and other such factors, as well as an appropriate degree of word length.

3.2 These rules are described according to the different grammatical parts of speech.

3.3 Each rule should be as simple and concise as possible, in order to facilitate mastery of application.

4. Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography

4.1 General Guidelines

4.1.1 The alphabetized transcription of Putonghua (modern standard Chinese) in principle takes the word (c

) as the unit

of spelling.

ren `person' pao `run'

hao} `good' he `and'

hen `quite' furong `cottonrose hibiscus'

qiaokelK `chocolate' pengyou `friend'

yuedu `reading' dzhen0 `earthquake'

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Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography 1342 Appendix I

nianqngt{ `young' zhongsh `to value'

wanhuZ `evening meeting' qianmng~ `to sign'

shwei: `to demonstrate' niuzhuanml `to turn round'

chuanzh9 `ships' danshF/ `but'

feichang^8 `extraordinarily' dianshj5: `television set'

tushuguanf `library'

4.1.2 Structures of two or three syllables which express an integral concept are to be written together as one word.

gangtie `steel' wendaT `questions and answers'

dahu' `plenary session' hongq `red ag'

zhongtian0 `to till land' quanguoh `the whole nation'

dapoS4 `to break' kaihu `to hold a meeting'

hushuo `to talk nonsense' zoulaipe `to come on'

qiuhaitangw `begonia' danxiao `timid'

dubuqw `ask pardon' ainiaozhou1h `bird preservation week'

haifengw `sea breeze' chdexiao `able to stand'

4.1.3 Terms of four or more syllables which express an integral concept are to be divided on the basis of word boundaries

or juncture. If this is not possible, then the term should be written as one word.

wufeng gangguan `seamless steel tube'

huanjng baohu guhua `environmental protection'

jngtguan gongl

fangdaqvS>'h `transistor power amplier'

Zhonghua Renmn Gongheguo-Nq `People's Republic of China'

Zhongguo Shehu Kexueyuan->fb `Chinese Academy of Social Sciences'

yanjiushengyuanvb `post-graduate school'

hongshzhuAW `the Red Cross'

yuxngcaosu|eI `cordate houttuynia'

gushengwuxuejiaif `paleontologist'

4.1.4 Monosyllabic words when reduplicated are written together as one word; bisyllabic words when reduplicated are

written separately as two words.

renren `everyone' nianniantt `every year'

kankan `have a look' shuoshuo `say something'

dada'' `very large' honghong de `reddish'

gege** `every one' tiaotiaoaa `every stripe'

yanjiu yanjiuvv `to study and consider' changsh changsh `to have a try'

xuebai xuebai}} `snow white' tonghong tonghong `thoroughly red'

AABB type reduplicative constructions are to be written with a hyphen between, AA-BB.

lailai-wangwangee `walk to and fro' shuoshuo-xiaoxiao `chatting and laughing'

qngqng-chuchuZZ `very clear' wanwan-ququ// `twisting and turning'

jiajia-huhu77 `each and every family' qianqian-wanwanCC `numerously'

4.1.5 Hyphens may be used to link words together in order to facilitate reading and understanding.

huan-bao (ab. for huanjng baohu){ `environmental protection'

gong-guan (ab. for gonggong guanxi)ls{lqs `public relations'

ba-jiu tiank]) `eight or nine days'

shq-ba suAk `17-18 years old'

ren-j duhua: `man-machine dialogue'

zhong-xiaoxue-f `primary and middle schools'

lu-hai-kongjunFwz `army-navy-airforce'

bianzheng-weiwuzhuy/i;I `dialectical materialism'

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Appendix I 1343 Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography

4.2 Nouns

4.2.1 Nouns plus prexed or sufxed monosyllables are to be written together as one unit. (Some common prexes are fu-

o `vice-', zong-; `general', fei-^ `non-', fan- `anti-', chao- `sur-', lao- `Old', A-? `Ah', ke-

`-able', wu- `-less', etc. Some common sufxes are the noun sufxes -ziP, -r?, -tou4, as well as -xing'

`-ness', -zhe, -yuanX `-er', -jia `-ist', -shouK `-or', -hua `-ize', the pluralizing sufx -men, etc.)

fubuzhango `vice-minister' zonggongchengsh; `chief engineer'

feijnshu^^ `non-metal' chaoshengbo `ultra-sonic waves'

zhuoziLP `table' mutou(4 `wood'

chengwuyuanXX `train attendant' yshujiaz/ `artist'

kexuexngf' `scientic(ness)' xiandaihua `modernization'

haizimeniP `children' tuolajshou:K `tractor driver'

fandandao daodan9S9 `anti-ballistic missile'

feiyewu renyuan^X `non-professional personnel'

4.2.2 Position words which occur after nouns are to be written separately.

shan shangq `on the mountain' shu xia `under the tree'

men wai `outside the door' men waimianb `outside of the door'

he li `in the river' he lmianb `in the river'

huoche shangmiankfb `on the train' Yongdng He shang8 `on the Yongding River'

xuexiao pangbianf! `beside the school' Huanghe ynanW `south of the Yellow River'

Note, however, that fused expressions such ashaiwaiw `overseas' are to be written as one word. (Haiwaiw

is not equivalent to hai de waimianwb.)

tianshang) `in the sky' dxia0 `underground'

kongzhongz- `in the air' haiwaiw `overseas'

4.2.3 Chinese people's names are to be written separately with the surname rst, followed by the personal name written

as one word, with the initial letters of both capitalized. Pen names and other aliases are to be treated in the same

manner.

L HuaNN Wang Jianguo

Dongfang Shuo Zhuge Kongmng[T

Lu Xun Mei Lanfangp

Zhang San Wang MaziP

Professional titles or other forms of address are to be written separately after names and are to be written entirely in

small letters.

Wang buzhang `Minister Wang' Tian zhuren0; `Director Tian'

L xianshengNH `Mr. Li' Zhao tongzhu `Comrade Zhao'

The initial letters of the terms of address Lao, Xiao, Da', and A? are all to be capitalized.

Xiao Liu `Young Liu' Lao Qian `Old Qi

an' (seniority)

Da L'N `Big Li' A San? `Ah San'

Wu Lao4 `Elder Wu' (respectful)

Certain proper names and titles have already fused and are written as one word with the initial letter capitalized.

KongzTP (Master Confucius) Baogongl (Duke Bao)

Xsh (an historical gure) Mengchangjun_(an historical gure)

4.2.4 Chinese place names should be alphabetized according to the \Spelling Rules for Chinese Geographical PlaceNames,"

document no. 17 (1984) of the State Committee on Chinese Geographical Place Names.

Separate the geographical proper name from the geographical feature name and capitalize the rst letter of both.

Beijng Sh (Beijing Municipality) Hebei Sheng (Hebei Province)

Yalu Jiang-_ (Yalu River) Tai Shanq (Tai Shan Mountain)

Dongtng HuV (Dongting Lake) Taiwan Haixia~w (Taiwan Straits)

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Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography 1344 Appendix I

If a geographical proper name or geographical feature name has a monosyllabic adjunct, write them together as one

word.

Xiliao He (West Liao River) Jngshan HoujieoqW (Jingshan Back Street)

Chaoyangmennei Nanxiaojie3WW (South Street inside Chaoyangmen Gate)

The names of smaller villages and towns and other place names in which it is not necessary to distinguish between

the proper place name and the geographical feature name are to be written together as one unit.

WangcunQ (Wang Village) JiuxianqiaoRe (a place name)

Zhoukoudianh (an historical site) Santanynyuemp (a scenic spot)

4.2.5 In accordance with the principle of adhering to the original, non-Chinese people's and place names are to be written

in their original roman (Latin) spelling. While people's and place names from non-romanized scripts are to be spelled

according to the rules for romanization for that language. For reference, Chinese characters or their Hanyu Pinyin

equivalent may be noted after the original name. Under certain conditions, the Hanyu Pinyin may precede or replace

the original spelling.

UlanhuLp+ Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme?-?K

Seypidin[ MarxlK

Darwin Newton[

Einstein1f Akutagawa RyunosukeK

UrumqiL(P Hohhot|iy

Lhasa( London&f

Paris WashingtonN

Tokyo

Transliterated names which have already become Chinese words are to be spelled according to their Chinese pro-

nunciation.

Feizhou^2 (Africa) NanmeiW (South America)

Deguo (Germany) DongnanyaW (Southeast Asia)

4.3 Verbs

Verbs plus the aspectual sufxes -zhe@, -le, and -guo are to be written together as one unit.

kanzhe@ `keep watching' jnxngzheL@ `be carrying out'

kanle `have seen' jnxngleL `carried out'

kanguo `have already seen' jnxngguoL `carried out already'

The sentence-nal particle le is to be written as a separate unit.

Huoche dao le.kf0`The train has arrived.'

4.3.2 Verbs and their objects are to be written separately.

kan xn `read a letter' ch yu| `eat sh'

kai wanxiao `to make a joke' jiaoliu jngyanA `exchange experiences'

Verb-object compound verbs are to be written separately when other elements are inserted within them.

jule y ge gong* `bowed once' lguo san c fa! `have had three haircuts'

When both a verb (or adjective) and its complement are monosyllabic, they are to be written together; otherwise the

two are to be separated.

gaohuaiO `to break' dasS{ `to beat to death'

shutou `completely ripe' jiancheng `to build to be'

huawei: `become' dangzuoSZ `to treat as'

zou jnlaipe `to come into' zhengl haot} `to put in order'

jianshe cheng `to construct to be' gaixie wei9: `to rewrite as'

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Appendix I 1345 Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography

4.4 Adjectives

4.4.1 A monosyllabic adjective and a preceding or following reduplicated adjunct are to be written together as a unit.

mengmengliang `rst glimmer of dawn' liangtangtang `very bright'

Complements of extent such as xie, yxie, dianr, ydianr `somewhat, a little' after adjectives are to be written sepa-

rately.

da xie' `somewhat bigger' da yxie' `a little bigger'

kuai dianr? `quicker' kuai ydianr? `a little quicker'

4.5 Pronouns

4.5.1 The pluralizing sufx -men is to be written together with the preceding pronoun as one word.

women `we' tamen `they'

4.5.2 The demonstrative pronouns zhe `this', na `that', and the interrogative pronoun na `which' are to be

written separately from most nouns or classiers which follow them.

zhe ren `this person'

na c huy! `that meeting'

zhe zh chuan9 `this ship'

na zhang baozh `which newspaper?'

When the morphemes xie, -meH, yang7, ban,, l, bian, hur? and the general classier -

ge* occur immediately after the demonstrative pronouns zhe `this', na `that', or the interrogative pronoun

na `which', they are to be written together with that pronoun as one unit.

zhexie `these' zhemeH `so'

nayang 7 `like that' zheban, `this way, so'

nali `there' nali `where'

zhebian `here' zhehur? `this time, now'

zhege* `this' zhemeyangH7 `in this way'

4.5.3 Words such as ge `each', mei `every', mou `some', ben `this', gai `that', wo `our', n `your', etc. are to be written

separately from the nouns or classiers which follow them.

ge guo `each country' ge ge* `every'

ge ren* `every person' ge xuekef `each eld of study'

mei niant `each year' mei c! `each time'

mou ren `a certain person' mou gongchang `a certain factory'

ben sh, `this municipality' ben bumen, `our department'

gai kan `that journal' gai gongsl `that company'

wo xiao! `our school' n danwei`UM `your organization'

4.6 Numbers and Classiers

4.6.1 Numbers from 11 to 99 are to be written as one word.

shyA `eleven' shwuA `fteen'

sanshsanA `thirty-three' jiushjiu]A] `ninety-nine'

4.6.2 The numbers bai~ `hundred', qianC'thousand',wan `ten thousand', and y `one hundred million' when

preceded by a single digit number are to be written as one unit. When the numberswan and y are preceded by any

number of ten or more, they should be written separately.

jiuy lng qwan erqian sanbai wushliu]C~Am `900,072,356'

liushsan y qqian erbai liushba wan sqian lng jiushwu

mAC~mAkC]A `6,372,684,095'

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Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography 1346 Appendix I

4.6.3 A hyphen is to be inserted between the ordinal prex d- and the number following it.

d-y, `rst'

d-shsan,A `thirteenth'

d-ershba,Ak `twenty-eighth'

d-sanbai wushliu,~Am `356th'

4.6.4 Numbers and classiers are to be written separately.

liang ge ren$* `two people'

y da wan fan'm `a big bowl of rice'

wushsan rencA! `53 man-times'

liang jian ban wuzi$JKP `two and a half rooms'

Numbers are to be written separately from words denoting approximation, such as duo, laie, and j.

ybai duo ge~* `more than one hundred'

sh lai wan renAe `some hundred thousand persons'

j jia ren `several families'

j tian gongfu)+ `a few days' time'

ShjA `ten and some' and jshA `several tens of' are to be written together as one unit.

shj ge renA* `ten and some persons'

jsh gen gangguanA9 `tens of steel tubes'

4.7 Function Words

Function words are to be written separately from other words.

4.7.1 Adverbs

hen hao} `quite good'

dou laie `all come'

geng mei `more beautiful'

zu da' `biggest'

bu laie `not coming'

yng bu ynggai `ought or not'

ganggang zoup `have just gone'

feichang kuai^8 `extraordinarily fast'

shfen gandongA `deeply touched'

4.7.2 Prepositions

zai qianmian(Mb `in front'

xiang dongbian qu `go east'

wei renmn fuwu: `serve the people'

cong zuotian q()w `since yesterday'

sheng yu 1940 nian1940t `born in 1940'

guanyu zhege wents* `on this question'

4.7.3 Conjunctions

gongren he nongmn `workers and peasants'

guangrong er jianjuIcp `glorious but arduous'

budan kuai erqie haoF} `not only quick but also good'

N lai haishi bu lai?`e/e? `Are you coming or not?'

4.7.4 The subordinating particles de (...'s, of ...), de0 (-ly), de (nominalizer), and zhK (of ...).

dad de n

'er'0s? `daughter of the earth'

Zhe sh wo de shu./f`This is my book.'

Women guozhe xngfu de shenghuo.@x;`We live a happy life.'

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Appendix I 1347 Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography

Shangdian l baimanle ch de, chuan de, yong de.

FF(`The store is full of things for eating, wearing, and daily use.'

mai qngcai luobo deVR\ `one who sells vegetables'

Ta zai dajie shang manman de zou.('Wbb0p`He is walking slowly on the street.'

Tanbai de gaosu n ba.f}J``Frankly speaking...'

Ta y bu y ge jiaoynr de gongzuozhe.e*p?0\@

`He works steadily with every step leaving its imprint.'

dasao de ganjngSkr `swept clean'

xie de bu hao} `not well written'

hong de hen `bright red'

leng de fadou `shivering with cold'

shaonian zh jiatK `home of the youths'

zu fada de guojia zh yK `one of the most well-developed countries'

Note: when necessary for technical purposes, the characters,0, and may be spelled as d, di, and de

respectively.

4.7.5 Modal Particles

N zhdao ma?`S? `Do you know?'

Zenme hai bu lai a?HeJ? `Why hasn't (she) come yet?'

Kuai qu ba!'! `Go at once!'

Ta shi bu hu lai de./e`Certainly he won't come.'

4.7.6 Interjections

A! Zhen mei!J!! `Oh! Really beautiful!'

Ng, n shuo shenme?,`H? `Huh? What did you say?'

Hm, zouzhe qiao ba!,p@'! `Hmm, let's wait and see!'

4.7.7 Onomatopoetic Words

Pa!j `Bang!'

Huahua `whoosh'

jiji-zhazha (a twittering sound)

\honglong" y sheng \p" `a loud booming sound'

Da gongj wo-wo-t.'l!|`The big rooster crows, cockadoodle doo!'

\Du|" qd xiang le. \|"}`Woo! blew the steam whistle.'

4.8 Fused Phrase Idioms (Ch

engy

u)

4.8.1 Four-syllable fused phrase idioms which can be divided into two two-syllable parts will have one hyphen inserted

between the two parts.

cengchu-buqiongBw `to emerge in an endless stream'

fengpng-langjngsjY `calm and tranquil'

aizeng-fenmng1 `to be clear-cut in what ones loves and hates'

shudao-qucheng40 `when conditions are ripe, success will come'

yangyang-daguan' `a spectacular sight'

pngfen-qiusesr `to go fty-fty'

guangmng-leiluoI= `to be open and aboveboard'

diansan-daos `to turn things topsy-turvy'

4.8.2 Fused phrase idioms and other such proverbial phrases which cannot be divided should be written together as one

unit.

buylehuPN `extremely'

zong'eryanzh;K `to sum it up'

aimonengzhu1 `sympathetic but unable to help'

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Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography 1348 Appendix I

yydaishuc&4 `a narrow strip of water in between'

hulihutu `all in a muddle'

heibuliuqiu `swarthy'

diao'erlangdang?S `careless and casual'

4.9 Capitalization

4.9.1 Capitalize the rst letter of each sentence in prose, and capitalize the rst letter of each line of a poem. (No examples

given.)

4.9.2 Capitalize the rst letter of a proper noun.

Beijng `Beijing'

Changcheng `the Great Wall'

Qngmngjie `Qingming Festival' (at the fth solar term)

If a proper noun consists of two or more words, capitalize the rst letter of each word.

Guoj ShudianEf `International Bookstore'

Hepng Binguans `Peace Hotel'

Guangmng RbaoI `Guangming Daily'

4.9.3 Capitalize the rst letter of a combination of a proper noun and a common noun.

Zhongguoren- `the Chinese'

Mngsh `Ming dynasty history'

Guangdonghua `Guangdong dialect'

Terms which have already become common nouns are not capitalized.

guanggan `Cantonese orange'

zhongshanfu-q `a Chinese tunic'

chuanxiong (a medicinal rhizome grown in Sichuan)

zangqngguoR `chinko' (a species of olive grown on the Xizang plateau)

4.10 Hyphenation at the End of a Line

4.10.1 At the end of a line, words should be divided according to syllabication, and a hyphen placed after the syllable at

the end of the line.

guang-

mng `glorious' but not \gu-

angmng".

4.11 Tone Marking

4.11.1 Words are to be marked with their original tones; tone variations are not to be noted.

y jia `one...' y tian) `one day'

y tou4 `one head of' y wan `one bowl'

qwan `seventy thousand' q ben, `seven volumes'

ba gek* `eight...' qshang-baxiak `to be agitated'

bu qu `not going' bu du `not correct'

buzhyu `be unlikely to'

However, for the purpose of training in phonetics, tone variants may be marked as necessary.

Note: In addition to the normal tone symbols stipulated in the \Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet," when

necessary for certain technical purposes, the tones may be represented by numerals or Latin letters.

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Appendix I 1349 Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography

Additional Notes:

These basic rules were jointly promulgated and put into force in July 1988 by the State Education Commission and

the State Language Commission.

The Committee for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography was responsible for drafting the basic rules.

The main authors of the basic rules were Yin Binyong9, Li LeyiNP, and Jin Huishu.

Editor's Note: The sections numbered 4.1.1{4.11.1 are virtually identical to those numbered 0.1{10 in Appendix I of theABC

Chinese-English Dictionary (1996). They were translated into English by John S. Rohsenow and edited by Wang Jun of the

State Language Commission. The introduction and end notes are new. The most important change is that the rules have

now been given the ofcial stamp of approval as the standard procedures for writing pinyin text.