A universal guide for China studies

Chinese Literature

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Thematical index of Chinese literature

Literature A to Z
Literature by time
Literature by theme
Literature by the 4 Categories
  • Confucian Literature
  • Legist Literature
  • Writings of Han, Wei, Jin
  • Daoist Literature
  • Hundred Schools
  • Buddhist Literature
  • Historical Sources
  • Historiography
  • Scientific Writings
  • Encyclopedias
  • Anthologies and Compendia
  • Essays
  • Poetry
  • Stories
  • Novels
  • Theatre and Opera
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(C) Ulrich Theobald 2000-2004

u>B[top]
Bai hu tong, "Comprehensive discussions the White Tiger Hall", a manifest of Confucianism (Later Han)
bai hua, "plain language", 1) a movement during late Qing/Republic to use everyday language instead of classical language wen yan, 2) modern everyday language
Bai mao nü, "The White Haired Girl", a revolutionary theatre play
Bai she zhuan, "The White Snake", a Yuan theatre play
Bamboo annals = Zhushu jinian
Ban Gu: Hanshu
Bao Pu zi, a Taoist book by Ge Hong (Division)
Ben cao gang mu, "Outline and details of roots and herbs", a medical tractate by Li Shizhen (Ming)
Ben cao jing, "Classic of Roots and Herbs", a medical tractate by Tao Hongjing (Division)
bi ji, "brush record" essays, a literaty style popular Song time on, e.g. Meng qi bi tan
Book of Changes = Yijing
Book of Documents = Shangshu
Book of Songs or Poetry= Shijing
Book of Rites = Liji
Buddhist literature and sutras see Buddhism

C[top]
Cai Yong: Duduan
Cao Xueqin: Hongloumeng
Cao Yu: Leiyu
Ce fu yuan gui, "Prime turtle of the record bureau", political encyclopedia by Wang Qinruo (Song)
Cha guan, "The Teahouse", a theatre play by Lao She (Republic/PRC)
Chang hen ge, "Lament everlasting", a poem by Bai Juyi (Tang)
Chang sheng dian, "The Hall of Everlasting life", a theatre play by Hong Sheng (Qing)
Chen Shou: Sanguozhi
Chong you lun, "Priority of the Being", a metaphysical work by Pei Wei (Division)
Chu ci, "Poetry of the South", poems by Qu Yuan (Warring States)
Chun qiu, "Spring and Autumn", chronicle of Lu, one of the Five Confucian Classics (Spring and Autumn)
Chun qiu fan lu, "Abundant dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals", a metaphysical book by Dong Zhongshu (Former Han)
ci , a musical poetry style, contrafactury to an already existing melody, very popular during Song dynasty (see Song ci poems )
Confucian Classics, a collection of 5+4 to 13 canonical writings of Confucianism
Confucius = see Kongzi page
cong shu, collections of a books often a particular thematical sphere, as a comprehensive or an anthological composition
Creation of the Gods = Fengshen yanyi

D[top]
Da Dai Li ji, "Records of Rites by Dai senior", a parallel to the Liji (Former Han)
Dai De (Dai Senior, Da Dai): Da Dai Liji
Dai Sheng (Dai Junior): Liji
Dao de jing, the Daoist Classic, said to be written by Laozi (Warring States)
Da xue, "The Great Learning", a Confucian Classic, one of the Four Books (Warring States to Han)
di fang zhi, geographical histories of particular areas
Dian lun, a literature critic by Cao Pei (Three Kingdoms)
Dong Zhongshu: Chunqiu fanlu
Dong jing meng hua lu, a description of Kaifeng by Meng Yuanlao (Song)
Dream of the Red Chamber = Hongloumeng
Du duan, a political tractate by Cai Yong

E[top]
Er nü ying xiong zhuan, "Story of a Hero boy and Hero girls", novel the late 19th century
Er shi wu shi, the 25 (or 22, 23, 24) official dynastic histories
Er ya, a philosophical synonym dictionary, a Confucian Classic (Former Han)
Er ya yi

F[top]
Fa yan, "Words of measure", a philosophical writing by Yang Xiong (Former Han)
Fan Ye: Houhanshu
Fang yan, a dialect dictionary by Yang Xiong (Han)
Feng shen bang = Fengshen yanyi
Feng shen yan yi, "The investiture of the Gods", a 16th century novel
Feng su tong yi, "Comprehensive meanings of customs and habits" (Han)
Five Classics = Wujing, the Five Confucian Classics Yijing, Shangshu, Shijing, Chunqiu-Zuozhuan, and Liji
Four Books = Sishu, the Four Confucian Books Mengzi, Lunyu, Daxue, Zhongyong
fu, rhapsody or prose-poetry, a lengthy type of throne offering poetry popular during Han
Fu xing shu, "Revival of the human nature", an essay by Li Ao (Tang)

G[top]
Gan Bao: Soushenji
Gao Ming: Pipaji
Gao seng zhuan, "Biographies of Eminent Monks", by Huijiao (Tang)
Ge Hong: Baopuzi
Gong yang zhuan, commantary to the Chunqiu by Gongyang Gao, a Confucian Classic (Warring States)
Gu hua pin, "Old paintings", a painting critic and teaching by Xie He (Division)
Gu jin tu shu ji cheng, "Complete collection of pictures and books of old and new times", encyclopedia (Qing)
Gu liang zhuan, commentary to the Chunqiu by Guliang Shu or Xi, a Confucian Classic (Warring States)
Gu shi shi jiu shou, 19 antique poems the Han dynasty
gu wen, "old literature", 1) Confucian Classics claimed to be older than the early Han time jin wen texts, 2) a simple prose style revived during Tang dynasty to end the complicated parallelism of -see- pian wen "paired word" texts
Gu wen guan zhi, "Best admiring of old literature", a prose anthology by Wu Chucai and Wu Tiaohou (Qing)
guai ji, "reports of strange events", see anthologies like Liexianzhuan, Shanhaijing, Soushenji, Taiping guangji
Guan zi, a politico-oeconomical tractate by Guan Zhong (Spring and Autumn to Warring States)
Guang ya, a semantic dictionary (Han)
Guo yu, "Discourses of the States", historical anecdotes (Spring and Autumn)

H[top]
Hai Rui ba guan, "Dismission of Hai Rui", a theatre play by Wu Han (PRC)
Han Fei zi, Legist philosophical tractate by Han Fei (Warring States)
Han gong qiu, "Autumn in the Han Palace", a theatre play by Ma Zhiyuan (Yuan)
Han shi wai zhuan, a commentary and complement to the Shi jing (Han)
Han shu, the History of Former Han by Ban Gu (Later Han)
Han yue fu, an elegic style of poems during the Han dynasty, collected by the Bureau of Music
histories, see the page of standard histories (Shi ji) and that of new historiographic styles (Zi zhi tong jian)
Hong lou meng, "Dream of the Red Chamber", a 18th century novel by Cao Xueqin
Hong ming ji, a Buddhist anthology by Sengyou (Division)
Hong Sheng: Changshengdian
Hou Han shu, the History of Later Han by Fan Ye (Southern Dynasties)
Huai nan zi, a metaphysical collection (Han)
Huang di nei jing, "The Yellow Emperor's classic of medecine" (Division)
Huang di si jing, "The Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor", a non-canonical Daoist collection (Warring States)
Huang ji jing shi, "Generic canon of the Imperial Extreme", a philosophical writing by Shao Yong (Song)
Huang liang meng, "The dream of yellow millet", a theatre play by Ma Zhiyuan (?; Yuan)
Huang shi gong san lüe, "Three Strategies of Master Yellow Stone", a military tractate (Zhou to Han)

I[top]
Investiture of the Gods = Fengshen yanyi

J[top]
ji shi ben mo, historiographic category, describing historic eventy in their entirety and arranged thematically
Jie zi yuan, "Mustard seed garden", a painting manual (Ming)
Jin gang jing, "Diamont cutter sutra"
Jin gu qi guan, "Wonderful stories of old and modern times", a short novel anthology (Ming/Qing)
Jin Ping Mei, "Plums in a golden vase", a 17th century novel
jin wen, "modern texts", Confucian Classics that had survived the Qin dynasty and were in use during early Han
Jing hua yuan, "Flowers in a mirror", an early 19th century novel by Li Ruzhen
Journey to the West = Xiyouji

K[top]
Kang xi zi dian, dictionary of the Kangxi era (Qing)
Kong cong zi, "The Kong family Master's anthology" (Han)
Kong Shangren: Taohuashan
Kong shi jia yi "Family rituals of the Kong family"
Kong zi (Kong fu zi), Confucius, a late Spring and Autumn philosopher and purported author and compilator of some of the Confucian Classics
Kong zi jia yu, "School sayings of Confucius", a complement to the Lun yu (Han)
Kong zi ji yu, "Collected sayings of Confucius", a collection of scattered citations (Song)

L[top]
Lao Can you ji, "The Travels of Lao Can", a late 19th century novel by Liu E
Lao She: Chaguan
Lao zi: Daodejing
Lei yu, "The Thunderstorm", a theatre play by Cao Yu (PRC)
Li Ruzheng: Jinghuayuan
Li Wei gong wen dui, "Li Weigong answers the questions (of emperor Tang Taizong)", a military tractate by Li Jing (Tang)
Liao zhai zhi yi, "Strange stories the Leisure Studio", a novel collection by Pu Songling (Qing)
Lie nü zhuan, Stories of outstanding women, by Liu Xiang (Former Han)
Lie xian zhuan, stories of fairies and saints by Liu Xiang (Former Han)
Lie zi, a Daoist anthology (Warring States)
Li ji, "Records of Rites", a Confucian Classic, one of the Five Classics (Warring States to Han)
Liu E: Lao Can youji
Liu tao, "The six stratagems", a strategic classic (Warring States)
Liu Xiang: Shuoyuan, Xinxu, Lienüzhuan
Liu Yiqing: Shishuo xinyu
Liu Zhiji: Shi tong
Lotus sutra (Miao fa lian hua jing), see also Buddhism
Lü shi chun qiu, "Spring and Autumn of Lü Buwei", cosmological tractate (Qin, Han)
Lun heng, "Discussive Weighing", a rationalistic writing by Wang Chong (Later Han)
Lun yu, "The Analects", the sayings of Confucius, a Confucian Classic, one of the Four Books (Warring States)
Luo Guanzhong: Sanguo yanyi
Lute = Pipaji

M[top]
Ma Zhiyuan: Hangongqiu, Huangliangmeng
Mao shi = Shi jing
Meng gu mi shi (Menggu bishi), "Secret History of the Mongols", biography of Chinggis Qaghan in Mongol language (Yuan)
Meng qi bi tan, "Brush discussion at the creek of dreams", a technical-scientific essay by Shen Gua (Song)
Meng zi, book of the second Confucian, Meng Ke, a Confucian Classic, one of the Four Books (Warring States)
Mo zi, Mohist philosophical tractate by Mo Di (Warring States)
Mou zi li hou lun, "Master Mou dispelling doubts", a Buddhist manifesto (Division)
Mu dan ting, "The Peony Pavillion, a theatre play by Tang Xianzu (Ming)

N[toptop][bottom]

During the 19th century many Chinese went to Japan for educational purposes. Like in Europe where scholars created artificial Latin or Greek words, Japanese and Korean scholars created artificial Chinese words that came to China when the foreign Chinese students went back to their country. In our times, when hundreds of new words rush into China, there is also a need either to describe them with sounds or to translate them. Some loanwords use describing syllables that have also a meaning: 黑客 heike "black host = computer hacker", 雷射 leishe "thunder stroke = Laser". A very famous example of marketing is that of Coca-Cola company, in Chinese called 可口可勒 Kekou-kele "tasty and funny". Other examples are 跑車 paoche "racing car = Porsche" or the word for "taxi", 的士 dishi (Cantonese pronunciation: diksi) "targeting Sirs". Other characters of loanwords have no real meaning in that combin, Tang poetry, Song poetry, Yuan airs)

Q[top]
Qi xia wu yi = Sanxia wuyi
Qian fu lun, "Comments of a Recluse", a political-metaphysical writing by Wang Fu (Later Han)
Qian Han ji, alternative history of the Former Han by Xun Yue (Later Han)
Qian jia shi, "Poems of a thousand masters", an anonymous Southern Song anthology
Qie yun, "Cut rimes", a rime dictionary by Lu Fayan (Tang)
qu, a musical poetry style, often translated as "air", very popular as part of Yuan dramas, but also isolated as "san qu" (see Yuan qu poetry)
Quan Tang shi, "All shi poems of the Tang dynasty", a Qing compilation
Quan Tang wen, "All prose literature of the Tang dynasty", a Qing compilation

R[top]
Ren wu zhi, "Research on human abililtes", a psychological work by Liu Shao (Division)
Ru lin wai shi, "The scholars", a 18th century novel by Wu Jingzi

S[top]
San cai tu hui, "Collected illustrations of the three realms", encyclopedia by Wang Qi (Ming)
San guo zhi, the History of the Three Kingdoms, by Chen Shou (Jin)
San guo yan yi (Sanguozhi yanyi), "The Three Kingdoms", a 15th century novel by Luo Guanzhong
san qu, "Scattered songs", fragments Yuan time theatre plays
San shi liu ji, "The 36 Stratagems", a military tractate
San xia wu yi, "Three heroes and five gallants", a 19th century novel
Scholars, the = Rulin waishi
Shan hai jing, "Classic of Mountains and Rivers", Geographical-mythical report (Han)
Shang jun shu, "The book of Lord Shang Yang", a legist tractate (Warring States)
Shang shu or Shu jing, "Book of Documents", one of the Five Confucian Classics (Western Zhou)
Shang shu da zhuan, a tradition by Fu Sheng (Han)
Shang Yang: Shang jun shu
Shen jian, a tractate by Xun Yue (Later Han)
Shen Dao: Shenzi
Shen xian zhuan, biographies of fairies and saints by Ge Hong (Division)
Shen zi, a legist tractate partially lost, by Shen Dao (Warring States)
shi, a poetry form, like gu shi "old style poems" (see Yu tai xin yong) or lüshi "regular poems" (see Tang shi poems)
Shi guo chun qiu, "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", history of China's southern kingdoms during Five Dynasties
Shi ji, "Records of the Great Historian" universal history by Sima Qian (Former Han)
Shi jing, "Book of Songs/Poetry", collected by Mao, one of the Five Confucian Classics (Western Zhou)
Shi ming, a semantic dictionary (Han)
Shi Naian: Shuihuzhuan
Shi pin, a literature critic by Zhong Rong (Division)
Shi san jing, the Thirteen Confucian Classics
Shi shuo xin yu, "New account of tales of the world", an anthology by Liu Yiqing (Divison)
Shi tong, "Comprehensive Treatises about Historiography", by Liu Zhiji (Tang)
Shui hu zhuan, "The Water Margin", a 15th century novel by Shi Naian
Shu jing = Shang shu
Shui jing zhu "Comments of the Water Classic", a geographical work by Li Taoyuan (Division)
Shuo wen jie zi, a character dictionary by Xu Shen (Later Han)
Shuo yuan, "Garden of explanations", a tractate by Liu Xiang (Former Han)
Si ku quan shu, "The whole books of the four storehouses", literature compendium (Qing)
Si ma fa, "The Methods of the Minister of War", a military tractate by Sima Rangju (Warring States)
Sima Guang: Zizhi tongjian
Sima Qian: Shi ji
Si shu, the Four Confucian Books Meng zi, Lun yu, Da xue, Zhong yong
Song ci san bai shou, "300 Song poems", a Qing anthology
Sou shen hou ji
Sou shen ji, "Report of Searching for Ghosts", a taoist anecdotical collection by Gan Bao (Division)
Spring and Autumn = Chun qiu
Spring and Autumn of Lü Buwei = Lüshi chunqiu
Spring and Autumn of Master Yan = Yanzi chunqiu
Sun zi bing fa, "The Art of War", military tracate by Sun Wu (Warring States)

T[top]
Tai ji tu shuo, "Explanations of the chart of the Highest Extreme", a philosophical essay by Zhou Dunyi (Song)
Tai ping guang ji, "Extensive records of the Taiping era", anthology of fairy tales (Song)
Tai ping jing, "Classic of the Highest Peace", a Daoist writing (Later Han)
Tai ping yu lan, "Imperial overview of the Taiping era", encyclopedia (Song)
Tai xuan jing, "Classic of the Great Mystery", a philosophical writing by Yang Xiong (Former Han)
Tan jing, "The Altar Sutra", a writing by Huineng (Tang)
Tang cai zi zhuan, "Biographies of outstanding people of the Tang dynasty"
Tang lü shu yi, "Then "j", the sound [ç] is "hs". A great problem to find a word in an index is that the Wade-Giles system makes no difference between the consonants [tç] and [t] - both "ch'", [d] and [dj], both "ch". Only in their syllable context, these sounds are recognizable as two different sounds: the vowel-less syllables are added by an "ih", like "ch'ih" for [t] and "chih" for [d]. The syllables [tçi] and [dji] are written "ch'i" resp. "chi". The syllables [dz] and [dzu] are written "tzu" resp. "tsu".
The tone pitches are marked by one of four numbers added to the transsciption, like hsiao3. In spite of these shortcomings, the transscription system Wade-Giles has been used for a long time and has been very widespread, especially in the United States where it is still used today by Sinologists.
The table below gives an overview over the Wade-Giles transscription of the Chinese sounds, the brackets include the pronunciation according to the international sound transscription, after the brackets Wade-Giles.
[b] p[d] t[g] k[dj] ch[d] ch[dz] ts, tz
[p] p'[t] t'[k] k'[tç] ch'[t] ch'[ts] ts', tz'
[m] m[n] n[x, h] h[ç] hs[] sh[s] s
[f] f[l] l[] j
The vowel-less syllables [d][t][][],[dz][ts][s] are written chih, ch'ih, shih, jih, tzû, tz'û, szû. The simple vowels [i][u][y] are written i, wu, yü. The syllables of two-syllable words are separated by a dash: "Chung-kuo".
[a]
a
[o]
o
[ə]
o
[ε]
eh
[ai]
ai
[tary tractate by Wu Qi (Warring States)

X[top]
Xi jing za ji, "Miscellaneous records the western capital", historical anecdotes Western Han
Xi ming, "Western inscriptions", a philosophical writing by Zhang Zai (Song)
Xi xiang ji, "The West Chamber", a theatre play by Wang Shifu (Yuan)
Xi you ji, "The journey to the West", 1) a 16th century novel by Wu Cheng'en; 2) a Yuan time theatre play
(Da Tang) Xi yu ji, geographical "Report of the western regions (during the Great Tang dynasty)",
Xiao jing, "Classic of Filial Piety", a Confucian Classic (Warring States to Han)
Xin lun, "New discourses", a political tractate by Huan Tan (Han)
Xin shu, "New Writings", a political tractate by Jia Yi (FormerHan)
Xin xu, "New order", a tractate by Liu Xiang (Former Han)
Xin yu, "New words", a political tractate by Lu Jia (Former Han)
Xun Yue: Qianhanji, Shenjian
Xun zi, late Confucian philosophical tractate by Xun Qing/Kuang (Warring States)

Y[top]
Yan shi jia xun, "School teachings of Master Yan", a Confucian tractate by Yan Zhitui (Division-Sui)
Yan tie lun, "Discourses on Salt and Iron", debate over state monopole by Huan Kuan (Former Han)
Yan zi chun qiu, "Master Yan's Spring and Autumn", historical anecdotes (Warring States)
Yi jing, "Book of Changes", one of the Five Confucian Classics (Western Zhou to Han)
Yi li, "Etiquette and Rites", a Confucian Classic (Warring States to Han)
Yi tong = Tong shu
Yi wen lei ju, "Varied collection of Classics and other literature", an encyclopedia by Ouyang Xun et.al. (Tang)
Yi Zhou shu, "The Lost book of Zhou", a political and historical account (Western Zhou)
Yu hai, "Jade ocean", encyclopedia by Wang Yinglin (Song, published under Yuan)
Yu liao zi = Weiliaozi
Yu tai xin yong, "New songs the jade terrace", a collection of poems Han to Sui
Yuan dao, "Going to the sources of the way", an essay by Han Yu (Tang)
Yuan qu san bai shou, "300 Yuan airs", a Qing time anthology
Yuan qu xuan, "Selected theatre plays the Yuan dynasty"
Yuan xing, "Going to the sources of human nature", an essay by Han Yu (Tang)
yue fu, "(Songs of the) Music Bureau", a ballad style popular during Han dynasty (see Yu tai xin yong)
Yue jue shu, "The end of the kingdom of Yue", history (Warring States)

Z[top]
Zhan guo ce, "Stratagems of the Warring States"
Zheng dian, "Manual of politics", an encyclopedia by Liu Zhi (Tang)
Zheng guan zheng yao, a political tractate of the Zhenguan era (Tang)
Zheng meng, "Correcting the ignorant", a philosophical writing by Zhang Zai (Song)
Zhong yong, "Doctrine of the Mean", a Confucian Classic, one of the Four Books (Warring States to Han)
Zhou li, "Rites of the Zhou", a Confucian Classic (Warring States to Han)
Zhou yi, a part of = Yi jing
Zhu shu ji nian, or "Bamboo annals", annalistic universal history of the state of Wei (Warring States)
Zhu Xi, a Song time Neo-Confucian philosopher: Tong jian gang mu
Zhu zi = Zhu Xi
Zhu zi jia li, "Family rituals of Zhu Xi", a ritual compendium (Song)
Zhu zi yu lei, "Manifold discussions of Master Zhu", a philosophical anthology of Zhu Xi's teachings (Song)
Zhuang zi, Daoist masterpiece by Zhuang Zhou (Warring States)
Zi zhi tong jian, masterpiece of annalistic historiography by Sima Guang (Song)
Zi zhi tong jian gang mu = Tongjian gangmu
Zuo Qiuming: Zuo zhuan
Zuo zhuan, a parallel writing to the Chunqiu by Zuo Qiuming, a Confucian Classic (Spring and Autumn)

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(C) Ulrich Theobald 2000-2003

mg src="Diverse/Oldcharacters/a.JPG" width="7" height="12">, bà). But the Pinyin system claims to be the correct pronunciation of the capital Beijing. In that sense, it should be more coherent to the northern pronunciation. Nevertheless, the Pinyin system should be accepted as an official transscription of Chinese words that becomes more and more common outside of China.
The table below gives an overview over the pinyin transscription of the Chinese sounds, the brackets include the pronunciation according to the international sound transscription, after the brackets pinyin transscription.
[b] b[d] d[g] g[dj] j[d] zh[dz] z
[p] p[t] t[k] k[tç] q[t] ch[ts] c
[m] m[n] n[x, h] h[ç] x[] ch[s] s
[f] f[l] l[] r
The vowel-less syllables [d][t][][],[dz][ts][s] are written zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci, si. The simple vowels [i][u][y] are written yi, wu, yu. The syllables of two-syllable words are written as one word: "Zhongguo".
[a]
a
[o]
o
[ə]
e
[ε]
ê
[ai]
ai
[ei]
ei
[aω]
ao
[ou]
ou
[an]
an
[ən]
en
[aŋ]
ang
[əŋ]
eng
[uŋ]
ong, eng
[ər]
er
[-i]
i
[-ja]
ia
[-jε]
ie
[-jaω]
iao
[-jou]
iu
[-jεn]
ian
[-in]
in
[-iaŋ]
iang
[-iŋ]
ing
[-juŋ]
iong
[-u]
u
[-ωa]
ua
[-ωo]
uo
[-ωai]
uai
[-ωei]
ui
[-ωan]
uan
[-n]
un
[-ωaŋ]
uang
[-ωəŋ]
eng
[-y]
ü
[-yε]
ue
[-yεn]
uan
[-yn]
un

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Zhuyin Transcription (Bo-Po-Mo-Fo)

A third system that has been in use only in Taiwan (and in mainland dictionaries, but only for completion) is the system called Zhuyin 注音 "Commented Sounds" or simply Bo-po-mo-fo, following the first four sounds of the alphabet. This system is very easy to learn, but it does not use Latin letters. Instead, it relies on simplified or very old forms of characters. In my opinion, it is the best system of transscription that exists, but it is not very widespread and will probably die out after Taiwan has started to use the mainland Pinyin system. The Zhuyin system simply puts together initial and final sound of one syllable, like ㄅㄠ "b+a" for [ba]. Syllables without initial sound are simply written with the final sound, like ㄨ "u" for [u]. Syllables without final vowel are simply written with their inital sound, like ㄓ "dz" for [dz]. Specialities are 1) the use of ㄣ "en" for the final sound [-in], like ㄒㄧㄣ "ç+i+en" for [çin], for the final sound [-un], like ㄍㄨㄣ "g+u+en" for [gun], and for the final sound [-yn], like ㄐㄩㄣ "dj+ü+en" for [djyn]; 2) the use of ㄥ "eng" for the final sound [-ing], like ㄐㄧㄥ "dj+i+e" for [dji] and for the final sound [-ung], like ㄌㄨㄥ "l+u+e" for [lu]; 3) the use of ㄢ "an" for the final sound of [-n], like ㄒㄧㄢ "ç+i+an" for [çin] (causing here the same problem like in the Pinyin transscription system); and 4) the use of "ü+eng" for the final sound of [-iu], like ㄐㄩㄥ "dj+ü+eng" for [dju].
The tone pitches are either indicated by accents like in the pinyin transscription - but without the high tone mark -or by points in the corner of the vowel: left upper for the low rising pitch, right upper for the falling pitch, left lower for high and rising pitch.
A hyperlinked table shows the Zhuyin alphabet and the characters the particular letters are deriving , transscribed with the international transscription system.
The final sound usage of the zhuyin transscription system is demonstrated in the table below. The vowel-less syllables [d-][t-][-][-],[dz][ts][s] are transscribed by the sole particular consonants: ㄓㄔㄕㄖ,ㄗㄘㄙ. As the zhuyin system is only used by Chinese to have a reading help, there are no rules for word separation.
[a]
[o]
[ə]
[ε]
[ai]
[ei]
[aω]
[ou]
[an]
[ən]
[aŋ]
[əŋ]
[uŋ]
ㄩㄥ
[-i]
[-ja]
ㄧㄚ
[-jε]
ㄧㄝ
[-jaω]
ㄧㄠ
[-jou]
ㄧㄡ
[-jεn]
ㄧㄢ
[-in]
ㄧㄣ
[-iaŋ]
ㄧㄤ
[-iŋ]
ㄧㄥ
[-juŋ]
ㄧㄩㄥ
[-u]
[-ωa]
ㄨㄚ
[-ωo]
ㄨㄛ
[-ωai]
ㄨㄞ
[-ωei]
ㄨㄟ
[-ωan]
ㄨㄢ
[-un]
ㄨㄣ
[-ωaŋ]
ㄨㄤ
[-ωəŋ]
ㄨㄥ
[-y]
[-yε]
ㄩㄝ
[-yεn]
ㄩㄢ
[-yn]
ㄩㄣ

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Gwoyeu Rwomaatzyh Transcription

Gwoyeu rwomaatzyh 國語羅馬字 (pinyin: Guoyu Luomazi "National language in Latin letters") is a transscription system published in 1928, but it is not very widespread and slowly dying out because the system is too complicated. It is the only system reflecting the tone pitches not by marking the tones with numbers or accents, but by inserting the tone pitch into the transscription.
The high tone is only marked for simple initial sound syllables with an inheriting "h" (mhau 貓, lha 拉), the rising tone is marked by an "r" (char 茶, torng 同; syllables with in initial m, n, l, and r don't change: ren 人) or by changing of "i" and "u" to "y" and "w" (chyn 琴, hwang 黃), the low tone by a doubling of the vowel (chii 起, faan 反, koou 口) and changing "i" to "e" and "u" to "o" (goan 管, sheu 許), and the falling tone by changing "i" to "y" and "u" to "w" (tzay 在, yaw 要) or a doubling or changing of the the final consonant (bann 半, jenq 正).
The Yale romanization of Cantonese also expresses the low tone pitches by inserting an "h" into the word: yáuh, fàhn, yeuhn.
[b] b[d] d[g] g[dj] j[d] j[dz] tz
[p] p[t] t[k] k[tç] ch[t] ch[ts] ts
[m] m[n] n[x, h] h[ç] sh[] sh[s] s
[f] f[l] l[] r
The vowel-less syllables [d][t][][],[dz][ts][s] are written jy, chy, shy, ry, tzy, tsy, sy. The simple vowels [i][u][y] are written yi, yu, yiu.
[a]
a
[o]
o
[ə]
e
[ε]
ê
[ai]
ai
[ei]
ei
[aω]
au
[ou]
ou
[an]
an
[ən]
en
[aŋ]
ang
[əŋ]
eng
[uŋ]
ong
[ər]
el
[-i]
i
[-ja]
ia
[-jε]
ie
[-jaω]
iau
[-jou]
iou
[-jεn]
ian
[-in]
in
[-iŋ]
iang
[-iŋ]
ing
[-juŋ]
iong
[-u]
u
[-ωa]
ua
[-ωo]
uo
[-ωai]
uai
[-ωei]
uei
[-ωan]
uan
[-n]
un
[-ωaŋ]
uang
[-ωəŋ]
ueng
[-y]
iu
[-yε]
iue
[-yεn]
iuan
[-yn]
iun
And there exists an abundancy of free style transscriptions in all places where Chinese people live, all without system and according to the native language of their living place, like "gong shee" for [guŋ çi]. Most oversees Chinese are of Cantonese or at least Southern origin, so the Mandarin Pinyin system could not be applied anyway.

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Chinese Language and Chinese Script

Every language has its own script, but not every script is suitable for a language. As a monosyllabic (one word is one syllable), non-flecting language (there exists no verbal conjugation or noun declination), a character script is very suitable for Chinese language. Korea and Japan had to develop their own writing systems because a character script was not able to reflect grammatical particles and suffixes of these languages. Vietnamese, although also a monosyllabic, non-flecting language, has a grammar that is quite different Chinese grammar. The Roman alphabet is a better system to write down words in Vietnamese. Cantonese speakers try to write their language although they have some problems because the different grammatical structure and word treasure of Cantonese makes it necessary to create many new characters.
In old Chinese, when there was still no systematization of characters, some writers used characters of a totally different word for a word they did not know the character, for example the character 辟 pi or bi that was simply used phonetically, that means as a sound for the words that should be written 僻, 闢, 避 or 劈. Still today, there are many characters that have two or more pronunciations (duoyinzi 多音字), like 便 pian "cheap" or bian "suitable, comfortable", or 重 zhong "heavy" or chong "double". Many characters of verbs can be pronounced with two different tone pitches to indicate a causative meaning, like 聽 ting (high pitch) "to hear", tìng (falling pitch) "to make obey"; or 看 kan (high pitch) "to look after", kàn (falling pitch) "to look"; or 種 zhŏng (low rising pitch) "seed", zhòng (falling pitch) "to sow". [top][bottom]

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