The Introduction of Chinese Pinyin

The Introduction of Chinese Pinyin

Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means "spell" and yin means "sound".

The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音方案; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音方案; pinyin: Hànyǔ Pīnyīn fāng'àn), also known as scheme of the Chinese phonetic alphabet ((Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; pinyin: Hànyǔ Pīnyīn).

Hanyu Pinyin was approved in 1958 and adopted in 1979 by the government in the People's Republic of China. It superseded older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles (1859; modified 1892) and Postal System Pinyin, and replaced Zhuyin as the method of Chinese phonetic instruction in mainland China. Hanyu Pinyin was adopted in 1979 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the standard romanization for modern Chinese (ISO-7098:1991). It has also been accepted by the Government of Singapore, the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and many other international institutions. It has also become a useful tool for entering Chinese language text into computers.

Pinyin is a romanization and not an anglicization; that is, it uses Roman letters to represent sounds in Standard Mandarin. The way these letters represent sounds in Standard Mandarin will differ from how other languages that use the Roman alphabet represent sound. For example, the sounds indicated in pinyin by b and g correspond more closely to the sounds indicated by p and k in Western use of the Latin script. Other letters, like j, q, x or zh indicate sounds that do not correspond to any exact sound in English. Some of the transcriptions in pinyin, such as the ang ending, do not correspond to English pronunciations, either.

By letting Roman characters refer to specific Chinese sounds, pinyin produces a compact and accurate romanization, which is convenient for native Chinese speakers and scholars. However, it also means that a person who has not studied Chinese or the pinyin system is likely to severely mispronounce words, which is a less serious problem with some earlier romanization systems such as Wade-Giles.

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A Spring Dayc春日 [Zhu Xi](Song Dynasty)

From:http://www.learnchinesewithme.com/learn_chinese/chinese_culture/chinese_history/chinesepoetry/20080109/143.html

A Spring Dayc春日

shèng rì xún fāng sì shuǐ bīn，wú biān guāng jǐng yì shí xīn。
胜 日 寻 芳 泗 水 滨 ， 无 边 光 景 一 时 新。

děng xián shí dé dōng fēng miàn，wàn zǐ qiān hóng zǒng shì chūn。
等 闲 识 得 东 风 面 ， 万 紫 千 红 总 是 春。

Zhu Xi (Song)

When along the River Si I seek blooms of the brilliant day,
Before my eyes stretches away a boundless scene of beauty.
A glance at the visage of vernal breeze, and I know,
A thousand flowers of purple and red set spring aglow.

Comment

On a spring outing along the river, the poet discovers to his delight that everything in sight has taken on an entirely new look. How come? The vernal wind is blowing across the land. It has opened a thousand of spring flowers which, in turn, has presented a riot of color to man, thereby the poet eulogizes the luminous beauty of spring with the vernal wind as the mother of all charms in spring. Hence, "I glance at the visage of vernal breeze, and I know a thousand flowers of purple and red set spring aglow" has all along been popular as a line of lasting beauty.

Spring Morning春晓 [Meng Haoran](Tang Dynasty)

From:http://www.learnchinesewithme.com/learn_chinese/chinese_culture/chinese_history/chinesepoetry/20080109/144.html

Spring Morning
春 晓
chūn mián bú jué xiǎo ， chù chù wén tí niǎo。
春 眠 不 觉 晓 ， 处 处 闻 啼 鸟。

yè lái fēnɡ yǔ shēng，huā luò zhī duō shǎo。
夜 来 风 雨 声 ， 花 落 知 多 少 。

Meng Haoran (Tang)

Into my slumber in spring steal beams of morning light,
And now to my ears come the voices of birds all around.
Yet I heard the sounds of winds and rains in the night,
I wonder how many flowers are fallen down to the ground.

Comment

The unique poem starts with the singing of the birds, the blowing of wind, the pattering of rain and the falling of petals on a spring night;then by virtue of synesthesia the reader can visualize spring scenes after a windy and rainy night with his own imagination. It is a great joy to read the poem for its simple lucid style and the ringing message-another spring morning has arrived unnoticed and another cycle of life has finished unawares, as is shown in the opening and falling of spring flowers. Thinking of spring that comes once a year, one cannot help feeling pathetic about the flight of time.

On the Stork Tower登鹳雀楼 [Wang Zhihuan](Tang Dynasty)

from:http://www.learnchinesewithme.com/learn_chinese/chinese_culture/chinese_history/chinesepoetry/20080109/145.html

On the Stork Tower

bái rì yī shān jìn，huáng hé rù hǎi liú。
白 日依 山 尽 ， 黄 河 入 海 流。

yù qióng qiān lǐ mù ，gèng shàng yì céng lóu。
欲 穷 千 里目 ， 更 上 一 层 楼。

Wang Zhihuan(Tang)

Along the mountains sink the last rays of sun,
Towards the sea the Yellow River does forward go.
If you would fain command a thousand miles in view,
To a higher storey you are expected to go.

Comment

This poem shows what the poet sees and feels about as he ascends the high Tower. In the first two lines, he turns his eyes from the setting sun beyond the high mountains in the distance to the Yellow River at his feet, which flows out of sight eastward into the sea. What a sublime, anoramic picture of the vast land! Then he comes up with the masterful line "If you would fain command a thousand miles in view, To a higher storey you are expected to go" and its allegorical meaning by blending landscape, emotion and philosophical thinking in the short verse.