Pinyin, or Pin Yin or 拼音 or more officially Hanyu Pinyin is the official (endorsed by the Chinese government) way of transliterating Mandarin Chinese.¹ Therefore it is the most widely used method of transliteration, except in Bejing, where they are stubbornly sticking to the Wade-Giles system.

The History of Pinyin

Pinyin literally means "Spell Sound", and is the most modern way of transliterating Mandarin. It shows 4 tones by their equivalent marks (such as _ / V \). A neutral tone is shown with no mark overhead. Pinyin is used like Furigana to show children how to pronounce a word without the knowledge of Hanzi.

Pinyin was adopted by the PRC in 1958, and superseded older systems of transliteration (Wade-Giles, Zhuyin etc.).

Pinyin Lyrics

Lyrics of popular Chinese music is often written in pinyin because it is easier to read for non-native Chinese speakers and those learning Chinese.

• Chinese pinyin song lyrics - a site that specializes in pinyin versions of popular Chinese music lyrics.
• My Pinyin Lyrics - a blog that regularly posts lyrics in pinyin

Related Pages

• Chinese
• Furigana
• Pingyam
• Hanzi
• Transliteration
• Wade-Giles
• Zhuyin

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