Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津), who campaigned to be her party’s candidate in the Tainan mayoral election, proposed abolishing Mandarin phonetic symbols — also known as zhuyin fuhao (注音符號, commonly known as Bopomofo) — and adopting romanized spelling — also called pinyin (拼音) — as one of her platform policies.
Taiwan is the only nation that uses Mandarin phonetic symbols, while Chinese-language education around the world uses “romanization,” she said, adding that Taiwan’s practice puts more of a burden on schoolchildren, while failing to connect with the international community.
I largely agree with Yeh and support most of her political views. However, adopting romanized spelling is one thing, but abolishing Mandarin phonetic symbols is a more radical idea and no trivial matter. If such a policy were to ever be adopted, it would likely have considerable repercussions.
First, there is something that Yeh needs to clarify: namely, what she means by “romanization.” Does she mean the dominant Chinese spelling system used worldwide, Hanyu pinyin (漢語拼音), or Tongyong pinyin (通用拼音), which was a flash in the pan some time ago? Or does she mean the Wade-Giles spelling system, which used to have pride of place, or some other system of romanization?
“Romanization” is an umbrella term that means using Latin letters, or the Roman alphabet, to transliterate other kinds of script. There are many romanization systems for Chinese. The process was started by Western missionaries, and after several centuries of competition and evolution, Hanyu pinyin eventually emerged the winner.
Hanyu pinyin is the international standard for spelling Chinese and is now the main system used in the international community.
Before that, Wade-Giles was for a long time the dominant system, while other kinds of romanization, such as the postal system, Gwoyeu Romatzyh, Yale romanization, Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II, Tongyong pinyin and so forth, have all taken the stage for a while, but have later gone quiet and been relegated to history.
If what Yeh means by romanization is Hanyu pinyin, that is the standard in Taiwan. However, after the DPP got into government in 2000, it adopted Tongyong pinyin, a system designed by Yu Bor-chuan (余伯泉), who at the time was an associate researcher at Academia Sinica, as Taiwan’s official romanization system.
It is reasonable to think that Tongyong pinyin was derived from China’s Hanyu pinyin, with certain adjustments and revisions. The purpose of these changes was to make it different, thereby expressing the difference between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
When the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) got back into office in 2008, it stopped using Tongyong pinyin and started using Hanyu pinyin instead, in an attempt to be more similar to China. In part, it was done for the sake of cross-strait integration and aligning more with international standards.
After the DPP in 2016 got back into power, it has continued the policy of its predecessor. It remains to be seen what will happen, but Yeh’s policy proposal might guide official attitudes.
Taiwan uses Hanyu pinyin mainly to transliterate the names of streets and other places. Not all counties and municipalities use it and it has very little impact on the general public.
If Yeh’s Hanyu pinyin policy ends up being implemented, thereby establishing a unified system instead of Taiwan’s spelling mess, it would be a boon.
However, Mandarin phonetic symbols have been a foundation of education in Taiwan for decades. Abolishing them would be an enormous challenge and any attempt to do so would no doubt provoke a powerful backlash from many quarters.
The upside is that Yeh is a well-known DPP politician, so she need not worry about the pan-green camp painting her as pro-Chinese for wanting to use Hanyu pinyin. At the same time, by calling for Mandarin phonetic symbols to be abandoned, she can “de-blue” the idea by drawing a line between her proposal and the KMT, and standing on her own authority.
When Premier William Lai (賴清德) was mayor of Tainan, he called for English to become Taiwan’s second official language. Now Yeh, although she failed in her bid for Tainan mayoral candidacy, has been calling for Mandarin phonetic symbols to be abolished in favor of romanized spelling. Tainan deserves a round of applause for its courage and determination.
Hugo Tseng is an associate professor and former chair of Soochow University’s Department of English Language and Literature.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry