MOST COMMONLY USED SYSTEMS

Chuyin Fuhao:

Chuyin Fuhao (注音符号, ‘sound transcribing signs’, popularly known as bopomofo) first appeared in 1918. It was used in Mainland China until the 50's when Pinyin came out. It is still used in Taiwan and some overseas communities. It is the only system not using the Latin alphabet. It is also different from the other systems in its binary breakdown of the syllable into the initial and the final. For conversion tables between it and the Pinyin system, please read the file named bopomofo.

Gwoyeu Romatzyh:

Gwoyeu Romatzyh System （国语罗马字）was devised by Chinese linguists such as Y.R. Chao （赵元任）and adopted by the government in 1932. It is found in such dictionaries as Kuo-yin Ch'ang-yung Tzu-hui (国音常用字汇，A Dictionary of common characters with Mandarin pronunciation). Its most distinct characteristic is the spelling of tones with letters.

Pinyin:

The Pinyin (拼音，spell sound) system was created in the 1950's in Mainland China, following a precursor named Latinhua sin wenz (拉丁化新文字，Latinized New Orthography) developed in the Russian Far East for illiterate Chinese workers in the 40s. It has been recently adopted by international news agencies and official publications. The Library of Congress and all the library systems are in the process of converting all other system to Pinyin.

Wade-Giles:

The Wade-Giles system was created by Sir Thomas Wade (1818-1895) and revised by H.A. Gi]es (1845-1939) and further modified by R.H. Matthews in his Matthew's Chinese-English Dictionary (1963). It was until recently used by the Library of Congress and all news organizations. The Chinese books in our library may still be spelled with it.

Yale:

The system was devised at the Institute of Far Eastern Languages of Yale University during WWII and has been used in all Chinese textbooks published by Yale University.