Pinyin

Pinyin (pīnyīn) is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters (汉字 / 漢字, hànzì) into computers.

The system was developed from earlier versions by Zhou Youguang who led a government committee in developing the system in China (PRC) in the 1950s. The system was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is generally referred to as the New Phonetic System.

In Chinese language education, pinyin is the common name to refer to the system. The more official name Hanyu Pinyin (汉语拼音 / 漢語拼音) is sometimes used, where Hànyǔ means the spoken language of the Han (pu tong hua) and pinyin literally means "spelled sound" (phonetics)

Chinese families who speak Mandarin as a mother tongue use pinyin to help children associate characters with spoken words which they already know. Chinese families who speak some other language as their mother tongue use the system to teach children Mandarin pronunciation when they learn vocabulary in elementary school.

Pinyin has become a tool for many foreigners to learn the Mandarin pronunciation, and is used to explain the grammar and spoken Mandarin together with hanzi. Books containing both Chinese characters and pinyin are often used by foreign learners of Chinese; pinyin's role in teaching pronunciation to foreigners and children is similar in some respects to furigana-based books (with hiragana letters written above or next to kanji) in Japanese or fully vocalised texts in Arabic

Number added to end of Example Example Tone Tone Mark syllable using using in place of tone mark tone mark number

First ( ¯ ) Flat 1 mā ma1

Second ( ´ ) Rising 2 má ma2

Third ( ˇ ) Falling-Rising 3 mǎ ma3

Fourth ( ` ) Falling 4 mà ma4

"Neutral" No mark Neutral Tone no number ma ma 5 ma ma5 0 ma0