The Romanization of Chinese Language

Abstract

The Chinese writing form is not a phonetic system and the Chinese characters do not represent the phonology, which, in part, hampers the mass education in China. For a long time to transliterate Chinese sound, native Chinese as well as the westerners have produced quite a number of phonetic systems, which can be divided into two schools: one is composed of Latin Alphabet, most commonly accepted writing letters in the west, and the other is of Chinese writing strokes, more traditional in China. However in terms of initials, finals and tones, each system has its special set of marks. Until now, Hanyu Pinyin has been accepted as the only standard of Chinese Romanization scheme, and has also been acknowledged as the international standard. The creation and adaptation of Hanyu Pinyin is also viewed as the process of acculturation, that is, to adapt the western form of writing letters to the traditional Chinese language.