Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese)

These guidelines mainly deal with the systematic naming of China-related articles. Please follow the conventions below. If you disagree with any of the conventions, please discuss in the talk page. Also

• see Wikipedia:Naming conventions for naming conventions in general
• see Wikipedia:Manual of Style for China-related articles for the style of China-related articles.
• see Wikipedia:History standards for China-related articles for notes on the style of history of China-related articles
• see Wikipedia:Chinese wikipedians' notice board for ongoing news and tasks relevant to China-related topics.

Please refer to the talk page for discussion before setting these conventions as standards.

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Characters

Any encyclopedia entries whose titles is a Chinese names SHOULD include both the Chinese characters and the Hanyu Pinyin representation for its name in the first sentence.

Chinese characters on the English Wikipedia should be encoded using HTML entities with Unicode numbers. Big5 and GB encoded characters are acceptable as a draft for people who have no other means of entering characters but should be converted to Unicode in HTML character entities when it is possible. After a Chinese text has been converted to Unicode, the Big5 or GB versions should be removed.

Romanization

Main discussion: Talk:Transcription of Chinese

Romanization presents some difficult issues in that it is a highly political issue. The most often used romanization is pinyin. Though many outside of the People's Republic of China dislike it because of its association with that government, pinyin is the most standard way of romanizing Mandarin Chinese words.

In general, Chinese entries should be in Hanyu Pinyin except when there is a more popularly used form in English (such as Taoism) or when the subject of the entry is likely to object to romanization in pinyin. When an entry is not in pinyin form, there should be a redirect to the article from the pinyin form.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are crucial in both Hanyu Pinyin and Wade-Giles.

The Library of Congress Guidelinesgive the following rules for using the apostrophe in Hanyu Pinyin:

1. Whenever a syllable begins with "a", "o", or "e", and follows another syllable: Bei'an (北安), Chang'e (嫦娥), Jian'ou (建瓯).
2. Whenever a syllable ends with "-n" and the next syllable begins with "g-": Jian'guo (建国).

However, the second rule isn't consistently applied on Wikipedia or elsewhere. For example, Anguo gives many more results than An'guo on Google. For now, just follow the first rule, and ignore the second. Discussion is welcome on the talk page.

Don't use the apostrophe in any other case: Henan (河南).

Hyphens

Copied from talk page

According to the Library of Congress Guidelines for Hanyu Pinyin:

• Join, without hyphen or space, multi-character proper nouns, e.g.,
  • Person's name
    • Family/clan name (姓)
    • Given name (名)
    • Style/Courtesy name (字)
    • Pseudonym
    • Buddhist name
  • Placename
    • But separate the following from the placename proper:
      • Jurisdictional name, e.g., 市 shi4 "city"
      • Topographical name, e.g. 山 shan1 "mountain"
  • Era name
  • Ethnic group name
  • Religion name
  • Language name

Names

Personal names in Chinese, unlike Western names, present the family/clan name first. Unlike other instances where this occurs, it is standard practice in English to also present a Chinese name last name first (e.g., Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping). Chinese names should be in Hanyu Pinyin unless there is a more common name used in English (e.g., Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Yat-sen) or when the subject of the article is likely to prefer a non-pinyin phonetization as is likely the case with personages from Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. (i.e. Lee Teng-hui, Tung Chee Hwa).

The encyclopedia should reference the name more familar to most English readers. For most historical figures the means that encyclopedia entry should reference the Chinese name rather than the English name, with a redirect from the English name. However, there are exceptions for figures whose English name is more familar (e.g. Confucius) and for figures who were raised in non-Chinese societies and whose Chinese names are unfamilar (e.g. Vera Wang and Maya Lin).

Another special case is for a figure whose Chinese name is familar but used English ordering (e.g. Wen Ho Lee). In this case, the primary entry should be under the English ordering with a redirect from the Chinese ordering.

When using pinyin for a Chinese name, pinyin spacing and capitalization conventions should be used. This includes keeping the last name separate and the given name capitalized with the different characters not indicated by spacing, hyphenization, or capitalization. There should be no space between the first and second given names. There are suitations when two pinyin syllables are joined together, they become ambiguous e.g. jingao can be jing ao or jin gao; xian can be xian or xi an. The pinyin convention adds a ' symbol to resolve ambiguity, e.g. jin'gao vs jing'ao. When using Wade-Giles, a dash should be put between the first and last given names, and the second given name should not be capitalised. (e.g. Lee Teng-hui, not Lee Teng Hui)

Names of groups

The main entry for a Chinese group should be under the name most familar to English speakers. In some cases, this will be the translated name (e.g. Communist Party of China). In other cases, this will be the transliterated name (Kuomintang and Falun Gong). When the name is transliterated, the name should use the spelling conventionally used by English speakers (e.g. Kuomintang). Where this is not the pinyin transliteration there should be a link from the article from the pinyin name.

When a group uses a translated name, the Chinese characters should always be included. For example, this is especially needed in the entry for President of the People's Republic of China because the name used for President (zhuxi) is not the standard term used for President.

Similarly Chinese characters should be included for the Democratic Progressive Party because the standard term used for the party (min-jin-dang) is a contraction of the full name (min-zhu jin-bu dang). Characters should also be included for National People's Congress because there are a number of different Chinese terms to translate Congress, and the entry should identify which one is used.

Names of emperors

Please see Wikipedia:History standards for China-related articles.

The general principle is to use the name which is most familar to Chinese readers. This violates the Wikipedia principle that the name most familiar to English readers should be used, because English readers are not usually familiar with any of the emperors.

Summary of principles used:

1. Emperors before the Tang dynasty: use posthumous names, e.g. Emperor Wu of Han China (漢武帝)
2. Emperors between Tang dynasty and Ming dynasty: use temple names, e.g. Emperor Taizong of Tang China (唐太宗)
3. Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty: use era names (same as reign names), e.g. Kangxi Emperor (康熙帝)

The above is a rough guide and there are many exceptions. See Table of Chinese monarchs for a complete list of all Chinese monarchs, and follow the conventions given there.

Because these are reign names are not personal names, the correct phrasing for emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty is the "Kangxi Emperor" rather than "Emperor Kangxi".

Place names

Mainland China place names should be in Hanyu Pinyin. Place names in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas (e.g. Singapore) should be romanized in whatever way is commonly used for those places. Same goes for non-Han Chinese place names. So use Hohhot, Kashgar, and Shigatse, not Huhehaote, Kashi, and Rikaze. (呼和浩特、喀什、日喀则)

These conventions are guidelines only, and there are examples of exceptions, so please use your discretion. As always, all discussion is welcome on the talk page.

Topographical

Type	char.	Normal	Disambiguate
			by location	by type
Mountain Range 山脉 山脈	1	Qinling Mountains 秦岭	no example yet	no example yet
	>1	Taihang Mountains 太行山 Daxingan Mountains 大兴安岭	no example yet	no example yet
Mountain Peak 山峰	1	Mount Taishan 泰山	Mount Hengshan (Shanxi) 恒山	Mount Huangshan 黄山
			Mount Hengshan (Hunan) 衡山	Huangshan City 黄山市
	>1	Mount Emei 峨嵋山 Mount Wutai 五台山	no example yet	Mount Wuzhi 五指山
				Wuzhishan City 五指山市
River 河流	1	Huaihe River 淮河 Xiangjiang River 湘江	Minjiang River (Sichuan) 岷江	Lijiang River 漓江
			Minjiang River (Fujian) 闽江	Lijiang 丽江市
	>1	Jinsha River 金沙江	no example yet	Mudan River 牡丹江
				Mudanjiang 牡丹江市
Lake 湖泊	1	Lake Taihu 太湖	Lake Tianchi (Changbai) 长白山天池	Lake Chaohu 巢湖
			Lake Tianchi (Tianshan) 天山天池	Chaohu City 巢湖市
	>1	Lake Hongze 洪泽湖	no example yet	Lake Poyang 鄱阳湖
				Poyang County 鄱阳县

Jurisdictional

Type	char.	Normal	Disambiguate
			by location	by type
Province 省	>1	Zhejiang 浙江省 Rehe 热河省	no example yet	Heilongjiang 黑龙江省
				Heilong River 黑龙江
Aut. Region 自治区	>1	Ningxia 宁夏回族自治区	no example yet	Tibet Autonomous Region 西藏自治区
				Tibet 藏区 / 吐蕃 (see Talk:Tibet)
Municipality / City (plc / clc / pc / ccc) 直辖、地级、县级市 直轄、省轄、縣轄市	>1	Beijing 北京市 Nanjing 南京市 Yiwu 义乌市 ROC: Taipei 台北市 ROC: Keelung 基隆市 ROC: Banciau 板橋市	Yichun, Heilongjiang 伊春市	Jilin City 吉林市
			Yichun, Jiangxi 宜春市	Jilin 吉林省
League / Banner 盟旗	>1	Yeke Juu League 伊克昭盟 Harqin Banner 喀喇沁旗	no example yet	Naiman Banner 奈曼旗
				Naiman (people) 奈曼部
(Aut.) Prefecture 地区 / 自治州	>1	Haidong Prefecture 海东地区 Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture 延边朝鲜族自治州	no example yet	Shigatse Prefecture 日喀则地区
				Shigatse 日喀则市
(Aut.) County 县 / 自治县 縣	1	Pan County 盘县	She County, Anhui 歙县	no example yet
			She County, Hebei 涉县
	>1	Fugou County 扶沟县 Dachang Hui Autonomous County 大厂回族自治县 ROC: Hsinchu County 新竹縣	no example yet	Poyang County 鄱阳县
				Lake Poyang 鄱阳湖
District 区 區	1	Dongqu District, Panzhihua 攀枝花市东区	Jiaoqu District, Jiamusi 佳木斯市郊区	no example yet
			Jiaoqu District, Yangquan 阳泉市郊区
	>1	Chongwen District 崇文区 but also: Pudong 浦东新区 ROC: Beitou 北投區	Chaoyang District, Beijing 北京市朝阳区	Hebei District 天津市河北区
			Chaoyang District, Changchun 长春市朝阳区	Hebei 河北省
Town / Township 乡镇 鄉鎮	>1	Zhouzhuang Town 周庄镇	Chengguan Town, Fugou County 扶沟县城关镇	Huairou Town 怀柔镇
			Chengguan Town, Taikang County 太康县城关镇	Huairou District 怀柔区

Historical

Type	char.	Normal	Disambiguate
			by location	by type
states of Zhou Dynasty 東周列國		state of Qin 秦國 state of Chu 楚國	no example yet	state of Zhongshan 中山國
				Zhongshan City 广东省中山市
Commandery 郡	1	Nan Commandery 南郡	no example yet	no example yet
	>1	Lelang Commandery 樂浪郡	no example yet	no example yet
Province or zhou (up to Sui) 州（漢至隋）	1	Yizhou Province 古益州	Liangzhou Province (Hanzhong) 古梁州	Yangzhou Province 古揚州（今江浙闽）
			Liangzhou Province (Gansu) 古涼州	Yangzhou 今扬州市
	>1	Nanxuzhou Province 古南徐州	no example yet	no example yet
Prefecture or zhou / fu / ting (up to Qing) 府州廳（唐至清）	no need for separate articles
Circuit 道 / 路	>1	Jingxinan Circuit 京西南路	no example yet	Hebei Circuit 河北道（唐）
				Hebei 今河北省

Established translations elsewhere

Here are some established translations, officially used in China or frequently employed in Sinology literature.

• Political divisions of China
• Political divisions of the Republic of China
• History of the political divisions of China
• Classical political divisions

Transportation

As expressways and railways follow the {abr.[1]abr.[2] Expressway/Railway} format, ex (Jingshi Expressway for 京石高速公路), use abbreviations of the first and second cities as one word, followed by Expressway/Railway, please use first capital letter format.

• Jingcheng Expressway (京承高速公路) for Beijing - Chengde
• Shitai Expressway (石太高速公路) for Shijiazhuang - Taiyuan

Major railways follow the same format:

• Jingjiu Railway (京九铁路) for Beijing - Kowloon
• Jingguang Railway (京广铁路) for Beijing - Guanzhou
• Qingzang Railway (青藏铁路) for Qinghai - Tibet

As do major Highways:

• Ninghuai Highway (宁淮公路) for Ningbo - Huainan

National Highways that are numbered simply follow the format {China National Highway [number]}:

• China National Highway 102 (102国道), to be abbreviated with G{no. of highway}, ex. G105 with redirect.

Railway Station articles should have the city's name (or in some cases the station's unique name - ie. 北京丰台火车站) followed by a direction if applicable(North, South etc.), then [Railway Station]:

• Beijing Railway Station (北京站)
• Beijing West Railway Station (北京西站)
• Fengtai Railway Station (in Beijing) (北京丰台火车站)

Airport articles should have the city's name followed by the [airport's name] if applicable, followed by [International Airport] or [Airport] for domestic:

• Beijing Capital International Airport (北京首都国际机场)
• Shanghai Pudong International Airport (上海浦东国际机场)
• Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (广州白云国际机场)

Culture

For the cuisine of China, use established terms that are understandable. Try to avoid abbreviations.

• Sichuan cuisine or Szechuan cuisine (川菜) not Chuancai or Chuan cuisine
• Cantonese cuisine (粤菜) not Yuecai or Yue cuisine
• Mandarin cuisine or Beijing cuisine (京菜) not Jingcai or Jing cuisine

For the various Chinese operas or other performance arts, use an established translation, or, if that is not available (which is usual), use pinyin.

• Beijing opera (京剧) not Jingju
• Pingju (评剧) not Hebei Opera (that term is also used for Hebei Bangzi 河北梆子)

And as always, work individual articles out on a case by case basis rather than let these conventions constrain you!

For the various spoken varieties of Chinese, simply use the name itself if there is no ambiguity. If there is, then use "xxx (linguistics)" if there's dispute over whether to call it a language or dialect — this includes all the first-level divisions, the second-level divisions of Min, and Taiwanese. Use "xxx dialect" otherwise:

• Mandarin (linguistics) (北方话)
• Standard Mandarin (普通话/國語)
• Cantonese (linguistics) (粤語)
• Min Nan (閩南語)
• Taiwanese (linguistics) (台語)
• Beijing dialect (北京话)
• Shanghai dialect (上海话)

Political NPOV

Wikipedia entries should avoid taking sides on controversial sovereignty issues such as the status of Taiwan and Tibet. Although the United Nations and most sovereign states in the world have recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole government of China, Wikipedia should reflect the neutral reality and not use the term "China" to coincide with any particular state or government. In particular, the word "China" should not be used to be synonymously with areas under the current administration of the People's Republic of China or with Mainland China. As a general rule of thumb, the official political terms "People's Republic of China" or "PRC" and "Republic of China" or "ROC" should be used in political contexts (i.e., to describe the existing regimes or governments) rather than the imprecise and politically charged terms "China" and "Taiwan." For example, "Hu Jintao is the President of the People's Republic of China" is preferred over "Hu Jintao is the President of China." Likewise, one should write "one must be an ROC citizen to vote in the ROC presidential election" as opposed to "one must be a Taiwanese citizen to vote in the Taiwanese presidential election."

Taiwan should not be described either as de jure independent or as a part of the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia should merely state the de facto situation that Taiwan is an independent state currently administered by the "Republic of China." It should be noted that Taiwan and ROC are not necessarily equivalent with: 1) The PRC viewing the ROC as a defeated and illegitimate regime and 2) Some Taiwanese independence supporters arguing that the ROC is illegitimate and that a new Republic of Taiwan should be established. When it is necessary to describe the political status of Taiwan, special note should be made of Taiwan's complex position. Thus, the term "Taiwan" is used when referring to the place while the ROC is used when referring to the government. Furthermore, the term "province of Taiwan" can be offensive and should only be used when attributed to its source or referring specifically to the existing division under the ROC (e.g. "James Soong was the only popularly elected governor of Taiwan Province").

For organizations and international events, such as the Olympic Games or APEC, official terms should be used. In the case of the Olympics, one refers to the Chinese Taipei team, instead of the "Taiwanese team" or the "ROC team." Special care should be taken to put these terms in context - the "China" team in the 1952 Olympics, for example, should not be called the "Chinese Taipei" team as the latter term did not exist yet.

The term "mainland China" is a term which can be used when a comparison is to be made with Taiwan for non-political purposes. Hong Kong and Macau are generally not considered part of Mainland China, though under the jurisdiction of the PRC. Thus, it is more appropriate to write "many tourists from Hong Kong and Taiwan are visiting mainland China" than "many tourists from Hong Kong and Taiwan are visiting China" as the latter could imply that Hong Kong and Taiwan are not part of China. "China proper" is used refer to parts of Mainland China except Tibet, Xinjiang, and other regions associated with non-Han ethnicities. Although the use of the term "Manchuria" is considered by some to be somewhat objectionable when used in Chinese, it is largely considered a non-political and non-objectionable term when used in English.

Also note that there are potential landmines when using the term "Chinese." In particular, some find a distinction between "Chinese" and "Tibetans" or between "Chinese" and "Taiwanese" to be objectionable and the terms "Han Chinese"/"Tibetans" and "Mainland Chinese"/"Taiwanese" are more politically neutral and use will depend on the context. For example, "Mainland Chinese businessmen look forward to meeting their Taiwanese counterparts" is more accurate and acceptable than with the word "Mainland" left out.

The term "Mainlander" poses some issues. It is used both when refering to a resident of Mainland China or a member of the group that fled with the KMT to Taiwan in 1949. In refering to the latter group, the name is mildly objectionable when used in English and strongly objectionable when translated literally in Chinese. Preferred unambigous names for the two groups are "mainland Chinese" and "wai sheng ren".

Hakka is the preferred name for that group even though the Mandarin word for that is something completely different phonetically.

In general, one should avoid using the term "Chinese" to be synonymous with the spoken Mandarin Chinese.