Wikipedia:WikiProject China/Chinese-language entertainment/Naming Conventions

Choosing the article name

Cantonese, Wade-Giles, Pinyin... Some even have English names! How do we choose?

1. The name that the artist uses to release his/her/their albums.
2. The Google rule: Do a search for each possible name next to the keyword -wikipedia. This eliminates all Wikipedia entries, as well as equivalent forks. Whichever name appears most commonly will be the one used as the article's title.
3. In the case where an artist has produced his or her works and is known by two different names, choose the current official name of the artist. For example, although Jasmine Leong first released her albums without a stage name, her current official English stage name is Fish Leong.

Within the article itself

In the first mention of the artist in the article's text, priority shall be as follows:

1. English name. If the name hasn't been used since the artist's debut (e.g. Alexander Lee-Hom Wang and Wayne "J.J." Lin), then do not use it.
2. Romanizations used in the industry in question. Faye Wong is from Beijing, but she sings in Hong Kong. Her birth name is thus spelt in Pinyin, but she will be introduced in the first line of the article as Faye Wong, not Faye Wang. Same goes for Yumiko Cheng (not Yumiko Zheng). For Mandopop artists, Taiwanese artists will have their birth names spelt in Wade-Giles, while Mainland artists will have birth names spelt in Pinyin.
3. Do not use nicknames (e.g. HOCC). Those are reserved for the infoboxes.

If an artist is credited only with an English name and no last name (e.g. Selina), then a Pinyin or Wade-Giles last name may be used to disambiguate. Similarly, you can attach the words (Taiwanese/Chinese/Hong Kong singer).

Locale conventions

As a workgroup in WikiProject China, we will abide by the naming conventions posted there. However, within the text of the article (i.e. excluding templates and infoboxes), the terms China/Taiwan/Hong Kong shall refer to the industries that are dominant in those regions. The reason for this is because most Taiwanese awards are given to Taiwanese artists. Likewise, Hong Kong awards mostly go to Hong Kong artists. The word "Taiwanese" can be used interchangeably to describe:

1. the Taiwanese music industry.
2. someone from the Republic of China (Taiwan)

For those editors who are changing Republic of China (Taiwan) to Taiwan: the Republic of China encompasses Taiwan, and is the current official name of the political entity governing that region. Yes, the common name for the area is "Taiwan" -- that's why the common name is in parentheses. That way, we recognize the common name and the official name.

What to put in an infobox's Origin field

• If artists working in Hong Kong were born in the United States, please do not say that they were born in Hong Kong. This works for all solo artists. According to the infobox's documentation, "Origin" is the city where individual performers started their career, should it not match the location of their birth. Expats who perform in China/Taiwan/HK are born in Country A and originate from Region B. In the article, they will be indicated as "<nationality> singers based in China/Taiwan/Hong Kong."
• For the Born field in the infobox, indicate their birthplace, and the name it was referred to at time of birth. I call this the Stalin Rule; Stalin was born in present-day Georgia, but at the time of his birth, the area was known as the USSR. Keep this in mind for Taiwanese artists. In the same vein, Hong Kong artists should use the old name to indicate birthplace, e.g. Hong Kong instead of Hong Kong SAR.
• Groups are not "born" ; they are formed. This is where official names (i.e. PRC, ROC) would come into play. Solo artists, however, should be stated to be born in "Taiwan, ROC" considering there are also outlying islands to account for. For example, a person could be born in Dongyin, Matsu Islands, ROC. An acceptable, NPOV alternative is "Republic of China, (Taiwan)" because it is a convention reached by consensus on the WP:CHINA discussion pages, and it displays both the political entity's current official name (Republic of China) as well as the common name (Taiwan).

The term "Greater China"

Usually, this term is used to encompass all three regions, and is used primarily for award shows. Greater China is usually described as either "the entire nation" (simplified Chinese: 全国; traditional Chinese: 全國; pinyin: quán guó) or "the entire world/planet" (Chinese: 全球; pinyin: quán qiú). The term may seem politically charged, especially for supporters of Taiwan independence, but it's really just a collective term for all three Chinese pop regions.

When geographical information is missing

• If only the province is known e.g. Guangxi, then after writing down the province, place "China" afterwards (for Mainland singers) or "ROC" (for their Taiwanese counterparts). Province-level municipalities i.e. Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing are followed only by "China" because they are technically not part of any provinces.
• That being said, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore are all city states. Do not refer to them as Hong Kong, Hong Kong or Singapore, Singapore.

In Hong Kong's case, you may use region names to disambiguate the part of Hong Kong that is being referred to e.g. Kowloon.

• If an artist's city of origin is not known, then use "China" for Mainland singers, and "Republic of China" for Taiwanese singers.

Traditional vs. Simplified, Pinyin vs. Cantonese

For artists working in Hong Kong or Taiwan:

• Traditional Chinese always comes first. This applies even for Singaporeans/Malaysians who sing in Taiwan (e.g. Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin). Song and album titles will be, first and foremost, in Traditional Chinese. You can always add the simplified equivalent after. For cantopop artists, Cantonese will always come before Pinyin. Use either Yale or Jyutping, but specify which one you are using.

For artists working in Mainland China, Singapore or Malaysia:

• This applies to Singaporean and Malaysian artists who are not working in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Simplified Chinese always comes first. Song and album titles will be, first and foremost, in Simplified Chinese. You can always add the Traditional equivalent later.

For crossover artists coming from South Korea (or elsewhere):

• If the album was intended for release in China (as signified by Simplified Characters), then apply the rules for Mainland Chinese artists. An example would be Jang Nara. Otherwise, apply the HK/TW rules.

Group vs. Band

For the purposes of this project:

• A band will be defined as a musical group that relies on instruments for the purpose of public performance.
• A group will be a musical group that sings most of the time without the help of other instruments.

From this definition, Mayday is a band. Fahrenheit is a group.

Label conventions

• If an artist was signed under a subsidiary label of a parent company (e.g. MusicPlus and Emperor Entertainment Group), list the subsidiary.
• If an artist moves from a subsidiary label to its parent label, do not put years for the subsidiary label because the artist is technically within the same organization.
• If the artist has several distribution labels, include an extra break line to separate domestic from foreign. Or, you may choose not to include foreign distribution labels at all.

Album conventions

Please attach (<artist name> album) when creating album pages. This makes the page specific from the get-go.

Genres

TBD