Historic background

Pinyin (Hanyu Pinyin in full name) was officially declared by the government of the People's Republic of China in 1958.

The explanation of Hanyu Pinyin

What is Hanyu Pinyin?

Hanyu Pinyin is a type of transliteration for the Chinese language, a tonal language, where accents are used to show tones. It is the official form of the Latin alphabet transliteration used for the People's Republic of China and most of the world. And it is the standard form of Chinese Romanization for the United Nations.

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Pronunciation

Vowels

Pinyin	IPA
a	[a]
e	[ə]
ê	[ɛ]
i	[i]
-i (after zh,ch,sh,r)	[ʅ]
-i (after z,c,s)	[ɿ]
o	[o]
u	[u]
ü	[y]

"u" after "j, q, x, y" is pronounced as "ü" (the two dots is omitted in spelling)
"e" after "i, u, ü, y" is pronounced as "ê" (the hat "^" is omitted in spelling)
"e" before "i" is pronounced as "ê" (the hat "^" is omitted in spelling)
"o" before "ng" is pronounced as "u" ("u" is written as "o" in spelling)

Consonants

b	p	m	f	w
d	t	n		l
g	k	ng	h
j	q		x	y
zh	ch		sh	r
z	c		s

Basic combinations of vowels and consonants

ai	ei	ao	ou
an	en	ang	eng	ong

"ei" is pronounced as "êi" ("êi" is written as "ei" in spelling)
"ong" is pronounced as "ung" ("ung" is written as "ong" in spelling)

Pronunciation of vowels

Pinyin	IPA	Explanation	Examples
a	[a]	as the vowel in "star" without the "r" sound	bàba (papa)
e	[ə]	as the vowel in "stir"	gēge (elder brother)
ê	[ɛ]	as the vowel in "their"	xièxie (thank)
i	[i]	as the vowel in "bit"	dìdi (younger brother)
-i (after zh,ch,sh,r)	[ʅ]	similar to the consonant "r" in "rank", but with the lips spread and with the tongue curled upwards	zhīchí (support)
-i (after z,c,s)	[ɿ]	similar to the consonant in "zoo"	zìsī (selfish)
o	[o]	as the vowel in "law"	lǎopo (wife)
u	[u]	as the vowel in "food"	mǔqin (mother)
ü	[y]	as in German "üben" or French "lune" (To get this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)	yǔyán* (language)

The two dots of ü is omitted after "j, q, x, y".

Pronunciation of consonants

Pinyin	IPA	Explanation	Examples
b	[b]	b, as in bit	Běijīng (capital of China)
p	[p]	as in English	piányi (cheap), piàoliang (beautiful)
m	[m]	as in English	miàntiáo (noodles)
f	[f]	as in English	fācái (get rich)
d	[d]	d, as in dark	dà (big)
t	[t]	as in English	tàipíng (peace)
n	[n]	as in English	nánrén (man)
l	[l]	as in English	lǎorén (old man)
g	[g]	g, as in gill, never as ~~large~~	guójiā (country)
k	[k]	as in English	kèrén (guest)
h	[x]	like the English h if followed by "a"; otherwise it is pronounced more roughly (not unlike the Scots ch)	hēshuǐ (drink water)
j	[tɕ]	like q, but unaspirated. (To get this sound, first take the sound halfway between joke and check, and then slowly pass it backwards along the tongue until it is entirely clear of the tongue tip.) While this exact sound is not used in English, the closest match is the j in ajar, not the s in Asia; this means that "Beijing" is pronounced like "bay-jing", not like "beige-ing". You may simply pronounce it as zh and a Chinese may understand it.	jiàotáng (church), jiā (home or family)
q	[tɕʰ]	like church, but with less of the "ch"/"h" sound; pass it backwards along the tongue until it is free of the tongue tip	shēngqì (get angry)
x	[ɕ]	like sh, but with less of the "s" sound. Take the sound and pass it backwards along the tongue until it is clear of the tongue tip; very similar to the final sound in German ich, Portuguese enxada, luxo, xícara, puxa, and to huge or Hugh in some English dialects	xiǎohái (child), Xizang (Tibet)
zh	[tʂ]	ch with no aspiration (take the sound halfway between joke and church and curl it upwards); very similar to merger in American English, but not voiced	Zhōngguó (China), zháohuǒ (be on fire)
ch	[tʂʰ]	as in chin, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to nurture in American English, but strongly aspirated	chīfàn (have a meal), chǎojià (quarrel)
sh	[ʂ]	as in shinbone, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to undershirt in American English	shāmò (desert), Shànghǎi (a big city in China)
r	[ɻ]	similar to the English r in rank, but with the lips spread and with the tongue curled upwards	rè (hot), rèqíng (passion)
z	[ts]	unaspirated c (halfway between beds and bets), (more common example is suds)	zǎoshànghǎo (good morning!), qīzi (wife), Zhāng Zǐyí (name of a Chinese actress)
c	[tsʰ]	like ts, aspirated (more common example is cats)	cǎo (grass), cì, time
s	[s]	as in sun	Lhasa (capital of Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region), Suzhou (capital of the province of Jiansu, near Shanghai)
y	[j]	as in English	yuèliang (moon)
w	[w]	as in English	wàiguórén (foreigner)
ng	[ŋ]	as in English	ng (What?, Huh?)

Pinyin syllable table

	a	e	i	o	u/ü*	ai	ei	ao	ou	an	en	ang	eng	ong	n	ng
	a	e		o		ai	ei	ao	ou	an	en	ang	eng		n	ng
b	ba		bi	bo	bu	bai	bei	bao		ban	ben	bang	beng
p	pa		pi	po	pu	pai	pei	pao	pou	pan	pen	pang	peng
m	ma	me	mi	mo	mu	mai	mei	mao	mou	man	men	mang	meng
f	fa			fo	fu		fei		fou	fan	fen	fang	feng
w	wa			wo	wu	wai	wei			wan	wen	wang	weng
d	da	de	di		du	dai	dei	dao	dou	dan		dang	deng	dong
t	ta	te	ti		tu	tai		tao	tou	tan		tang	teng	tong
n	na	ne	ni		nu/nü*	nai	nei	nao		nan	nen	nang	neng	nong
l	la	le	li	lo	lu/lü*	lai	lei	lao	lou	lan		lang	leng	long
g	ga	ge			gu	gai	gei	gao	gou	gan	gen	gang	geng	gong
k	ka	ke			ku	kai	kei	kao	kou	kan	ken	kang	keng	kong
h	ha	he			hu	hai	hei	hao	hou	han	hen	hang	heng	hong		hng
j			ji		ju*
q			qi		qu*
x			xi		xu*
y	ya	ye	yi	yo	yu*			yao	you	yan		yang		yong
zh	zha	zhe	zhi		zhu	zhai	zhei	zhao	zhou	zhan	zhen	zhang	zheng	zhong
ch	cha	che	chi		chu	chai		chao	chou	chan	chen	chang	cheng	chong
sh	sha	she	shi		shu	shai	shei	shao	shou	shan	shen	shang	sheng
r		re	ri		ru			rao	rou	ran	ren	rang	reng	rong
z	za	ze	zi		zu	zai	zei	zao	zou	zan	zen	zang	zeng	zong
c	ca	ce	ci		cu	cai	cei	cao	cou	can	cen	zang	zeng	zong
s	sa	se	si		su	sai		sao	sou	san	sen	sang	seng	song
bi		bie						biao		bian					bin	bing
pi		pie						piao		pian					pin	ping
mi		mie						miao		mian					min	ming
di		die						diao		dian						ding
ti		tie						tiao		tian						ting
ni		nie						niao		nian		niang			nin	ning
li	lia	lie			liu			liao		lian		liang			lin	ling
ji	jia	jie			jiu			jiao		jian		jiang		jiong	jin	jing
qi	qia	qie			qiu			qiao		qian		qiang		qiong	qin	qing
xi	xia	xie			xiu			xiao		xian		xiang		xiong	xin	xing
du				duo						duan					dunn
tu				tuo						tuan					tun
nu		nue		nuo						nuan
lu		lue		luo						luan					lun
gu	gua		gui	guo		guai				guan		guang			gun
ku	kua		kui	kuo		kuai				kuan		kuang			kun
hu	hua		hui	huo		huai				huan		huang			hun
ju*		jue								juan					jun
qu*		que								quan					qun
xu*		xue								xuan					xun
yu*		yue								yuan					yun
zhu	zhua		zhui	zhuo		zhuai				zhuan		zhuang			zhun
chu	chua		zhui	chuo		chuai				chuan		chuang			chun
shu	shua		shui	shuo		shuai				shuan		shuang			shun
ru			rui	ruo						ruan					run
zu			zui	zuo						zuan					zun
cu			cui	cuo						cuan					cun
su			sui	suo						suan					sun

"u" after "j, q, x, y" is pronounced as "ü" (the two dots is omitted in spelling), but the two dots of "nü" and "lü" cannot be omitted.

Tones

There are four tone marks in Hanyu Pinyin and they are essential to correct pronunciation: ā, á, ǎ, à, written above the first vowel of the word (the vowel "a" in this example), or written as a1, a2, a3, a4, respectively. (See also the Chinese wikibook page on using tones).

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Orthography

We should divide Pinyin text by words and write syllables connectedly, such as "I am a foreigner" should be written as "Wǒ shì wàiguórén" in Pinyin.

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Syllable-dividing mark

Syllable-dividing mark is the mark for dividing syllables, used before the syllables starting with vowels "a", "o", or "e", such as "pí'ǎo".

The application of Pinyin

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To spell Chinese language

Phonetic notation of Hanzi

To spell Putonghua

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Application technology

Indexing

Indexing problems

There is no particular order to Hanzi, because Hanzi don't use Roman alphabet (i.e. ABC), so in indexing application is inconvenient. There are currently many indexing methods to Hanzi, including character stroke, character radical, Four-Corner System, Zhuyin, Hanyu Pinyin and etc. The structural problems of Hanzi make indexing difficult.

Solutions to indexing problems

Related governments together stipulate a unified Hanzi strokes and radicals standard.

Suggestion to use Pinyin as indexing method, because Hanyu Pinyin adopts internationally used Roman alphabet, making file order convenient. Pinyin uses phonetic, avoiding traditional and simplified character strokes non-unified problem.