Wikipedia:Manual of Style/China- and Chinese-related articles

For the consistent naming of subjects related to China, especially in article titles, see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese).

These conventions should be followed when making edits involving Chinese-language text, or when editing articles concerning China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and other Chinese-speaking areas.

Lead section

Personal names

In articles on people known by a Chinese name, it may not be obvious to readers which part is the family name and which is the given name. Editors can add either a hatnote or a footnote identifying the family name (see Template:Family name explanation § Footnotes vs. hatnotes).

To add a footnote, use the {{family name footnote}} after the first bolded instance of a person's name. For example:

Markup	Renders as
'''Mao Zedong'''{{Family name footnote|[[Mao (surname)|Mao]]|lang=Chinese}} (December 26, 1893{{spaced ndash}}September 9, 1976) was a Chinese communist revolutionary...	Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) was a Chinese communist revolutionary...

To add a hatnote, place the {{family name hatnote}} at the top of the article. For example:

Markup	Renders as
{{family name hatnote|[[Mao (surname)|Mao]]|lang=Chinese}} '''Mao Zedong''' (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) was a Chinese communist revolutionary...	In this Chinese name, the family name is Mao. Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) was a Chinese communist revolutionary...

Providing the Chinese-language name

Any encyclopedia entry with a title that is a Chinese proper name should include both the Chinese characters and the Hanyu Pinyin representation for their names in either the first sentence or in an infobox clearly visible in the lead. The article title itself is normally the pinyin representation with the tone marks omitted: "Mao Zedong", not "Máo Zédōng", unless another spelling is common (see below).

Introductory sentences

The {{zh}} template may be used to add Chinese to articles' introductory sentences in a consistent manner. The template automatically converts ordinary tone numbers to superscripted ones for the Wade-Giles and Sidney Lau romanizations. For example:

Markup	Renders as
'''Zeng Guofan''' ({{zh|s=曾国藩|t=曾國藩|first=t|p=Zēng Guófān|w=Tseng1 Kuo2-fan1}})	Zeng Guofan (traditional Chinese: 曾國藩; simplified Chinese: 曾国藩; pinyin: Zēng Guófān; Wade–Giles: Tseng1 Kuo2-fan1)

If the simplified and traditional characters are different then consider adding both. Simplified characters should be listed first in articles with strong ties to modern mainland China and Singapore, and traditional characters should be listed first in articles with strong ties to modern Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The {{zh}} template puts simplified characters first by default; use the |first=t option to put traditional characters first, as in the example.

Infoboxes

Wang Wei (example)
Chinese	王维
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wáng Wéi Wade–Giles Wang2 Wei2 IPA [wǎŋ wěɪ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Wòhng Wàih Jyutping Wong4 Wai4 IPA [wɔːŋ˩ wɐi˩] Southern Min Tâi-lô Ông Uî Middle Chinese Middle Chinese ɦuang jwi

Where there is more than one parameter in use in a given article, an {{Infobox Chinese}} template can be used instead of {{zh}}. This removes the characters, romanization and pronunciations from the opening sentence, thus making it more readable while keeping it accessible to readers; see {{Infobox Chinese/doc}} for how to use it. In general, both simplified and traditional characters should be displayed in {{Infobox Chinese}}; however, case-by-case consensus can determine exceptions to the rule.

Chinese can be used in other infoboxes. Some such as {{Infobox settlement}} have |native_name= and |native_name_lang= which can be used for Chinese. In others Chinese text can be added to the |name= field, separated from the English by a <br /> to put it on a new line. In this way English-language infoboxes can be used for Chinese topics; for instance, {{Infobox royalty}} should be used for Chinese emperors.

Chinese-language text

Characters

Avoid putting Chinese characters in italics or bold, as it tends to make their presentation less legible: 国 国 国 国. The templates {{nobold}}, {{noitalic}}, and {{normal}} can be used to remove this formatting in places where it is usually otherwise the default, such as within infoboxes.

Unless it has its own article, when a name, term, or phrase that comes from Chinese is mentioned for the first time in an article, it is often helpful to include the original Chinese-language text. There are many distinct Chinese words and names with similar or identical romanisations, and translations of Chinese terms into English may be inexact or easily conflated without additional context. Including the characters is often helpful for disambiguation in these cases. Appropriate romanisations should be usually be presented alongside characters whenever they are included in an article.

Nonetheless, text that most of the audience cannot read should interrupt the flow of reading as little as possible. Put characters and romanisations in parentheses, as if they were interjections detached from the sentence. As an exercise, read the sentence out loud while skipping everything inside the parentheses. If the sentence can be successfully read without confusion or interruption while remaining grammatical, then it is likely to be formatted acceptably. When tagging Chinese-language text using the {{zh}} template, use |labels=no to prevent labels from being shown, or use the shorter {{zhi}} alias. For example:

N His name was 刘仁静 (Liu Renjing).

Y His name was Liu Renjing (刘仁静).

For ease of reading and to reduce redundancy, Chinese text should generally not be included for names or term that have their own articles. Readers who wish to see the native representation should be able to find it on the linked article.

N Liu Bang (刘邦), along with King ...

Y Liu Bang, along with King ...

However, as articles should stand on their own, characters for terms should be included if their native representation is itself key to the subject of the article:

N Local nobility often had the surname Ji, indicating descent from the Zhou royal family.

Y Local nobility often had the surname Ji (姬), indicating descent from the Zhou royal family.

Romanisation

English Wikipedia uses Hanyu Pinyin without tone marks as the default method of romanising Chinese characters. Romanisations should be italicised to differentiate them from English-language text, unless the term has been assimilated into English. Pinyin should be spaced according to words, not characters. Where a source uses a romanisation that must be converted to pinyin, consider also providing the spelling used in the source to make verification easier for other users.

Exceptions arise where non-pinyin spellings are used by a clear majority of reliable sources. For example, the name of the longest river in China is most commonly rendered as Yangtze in English, though a minority of sources render it as Yangzi. This often occurs in personal names:

Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), not Sun Yixian.

Shiing-shen Chern or S. S. Chern (陈省身), not Chen Xingshen.

Chen-ning Yang or C. N. Yang (杨振宁), not Yang Zhenning.

Other examples would be places or things relating to non-Mandarin-speaking regions of China including, but not limited to, articles on Hong Kong and Xinjiang subjects. Hanyu Pinyin–derived romanizations in Taiwan rarely use the syllable-dividing apostrophe (隔音符號): e.g. Daan District, Taipei, not Da'an District. Tongyong Pinyin is used for some Taiwanese place names, e.g. Cijin District, Kaohsiung.

Where a non-pinyin romanisation has been used, other romanisations within the article should still use pinyin by default. For example, Tsingtao Brewery is a trademark using a non-pinyin romanisation, but Tsingtao Brewery uses the pinyin spelling when mentioning the city of Qingdao itself:

Y Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. is located in Qingdao, Shandong.

N Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. is located in Tsingtao, Shan-tung.

Titles of works

When the best available sources are consistent in capitalizing the pinyin romanisation, Wikipedia should also render such titles of works in title case. When reliable sources are inconsistent or most often lowercase, the romanised title should be rendered in sentence case. For example, write Xinxiu bencao, not Xinxiu Bencao.

Tones

The Chinese language has tones that are transcribed in different ways depending on the romanisation system. Tone marks should only appear within templates, parentheticals, or infoboxes; for example, the introductory sentence for Gu Yanwu could read:

Y Gu Yanwu (顧炎武; Gù Yánwǔ) was a Chinese philologist ...

Romanised terms used in running text should omit tone marks:

Y A bronze ding was recovered from the tomb.

N A bronze dǐng was recovered from the tomb.

In pinyin, tones are indicated with diacritics placed above vowels for each syllable. If a syllable contains more than one vowel, the diacritic is added to the vowel that comes first in the sequence a o e i u ü. The only exception is the vowel pair ⟨iu⟩ which takes the tone mark on ⟨u⟩.

Bái, not Baí

Xià, not Xìa

Suí, not Súi

Jiǔ, not Jǐu

Diacritical characters can be input using the clickable characters under the edit box. Additionally, the {{pinyin}} template can convert tone numbers to diacritics.

Tone marks in pinyin

Tone	Diacritic	Letters
1	Macron	ā ē ī ō ū ǖ Ā Ē Ō
2	Acute accent	á é í ó ú ǘ Á É Ó
3	Caron	ǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ ǚ Ǎ Ě Ǒ
4	Grave accent	à è ì ò ù ǜ À È Ò
Neutral	none	a e i o u ü A E O

Accessibility

For accessibility and other reasons, Chinese-language text must be tagged. If another template is not already handling the tagging, {{lang}} and {{transliteration}} may be used to do it.

Markup	Renders as
Ink and wash painting ({{lang|zh-Latn-pinyin|shuǐmòhuà}})	Ink and wash painting (shuǐmòhuà)

Linking to Wiktionary

The {{Linktext}} template can be used to link directly to Wiktionary. For example, {{zh|c={{linktext|中国}}}} produces Chinese: 中国. Separate characters with a pipe | to link them individually.

Ruby characters

Ruby annotations place pinyin above the corresponding characters. Modern browsers fully support it: see the compatibility table at the MDN Web Docs. However, ruby is not used for body text on Wikipedia, as it would display at too small a size. It may be used in other situations:

北方(Běifāng) 有(yǒu) 佳人(jiārén)，絕世(juéshì) 而(ér) 獨立(dúlì)。
一(Yī) 顧(gù) 傾(qīng) 人(rén) 城(chéng)，再(zài) 顧(gù) 傾(qīng) 人(rén) 國(guó)。
寧(Nìng) 不(bù) 知(zhī) 傾(qīng) 城(chéng) 與(yǔ) 傾(qīng) 國(guó)。
佳人(Jiārén) 難(nán) 再(zài) 得(dé)。

In the North there is a lady, stunning and singular.
One look confounds a city; a touch dooms an empire.
Rather not wishing to know, the ruination that may follow,
rare beauty is here and now.

The markup is as follows:

Markup	Renders as
{{[[Template:Ruby-zh-p|ruby-zh-p]]|梦|mèng}}	梦(mèng)

Appropriate nomenclature

Modern polities

While perfect consistency across articles is not required on Wikipedia, it is important to be aware of site policies and existing consensus. Where "China" or the "People's Republic of China" is used, it should not be changed arbitrarily. In many contexts, the terms are interchangeable: if China and People's Republic of China both seem appropriate, editors should use their own discretion.

According to longstanding consensus, Taiwan is the common name for the contemporary state officially called the Republic of China. To avoid confusion with the People's Republic of China, Taiwan should generally only be referred to as the Republic of China when discussing the state as it existed prior to 1949, or in the context of specific proper names, such as the Constitution of the Republic of China. Taiwanese is usually acceptable as a demonym for people from Taiwan.

Non-neutral terms such as Free China and Red China should not be used in Wikipedia's own voice.

China	People's Republic of China	mainland China
In many cases "China" can be used to refer to the modern state officially known as the "People's Republic of China". Generally, places and things located in territory controlled by the People's Republic of China should be stated to be in "China": for example, Zhongguancun has become a major centre of electronics in China, or ... a novelist from Chengdu, China.	When discussing history or politics, it may be necessary to write "People's Republic of China"—either in full or subsequently abbreviated as "PRC"—to avoid possibly conflating it with the Republic of China (ROC). For example: the PRC replaced the Republic of China as China's UN representative in in 1971, or The PRC was established in 1949, or The People's Republic of China objected to the Vatican inviting ROC diplomats to represent 'China' at the pope's funeral. When mentioning official documents, institutions, or positions, it may be appropriate to write "People's Republic of China" in full: for example, The Constitution of the People's Republic of China...". However, subsequent mentions may use the demonym "Chinese", e.g. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao. In other situations where there may plausibly be ambiguity, use the more specific "People's Republic of China".	The term "mainland China" refers to the People's Republic of China, usually excluding Hong Kong and Macau. Due to potential ambiguity, it should only be used when a distinction with Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan is required, and a construction such as "China, except Hong Kong" is unworkable. For example: Lo Wu is the most heavily trafficked border crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China, or Due to the relocation of many industries to mainland China, the unemployment rate in Taiwan reached its highest level since the 1973 oil crisis.

Language

The Chinese language comprises hundreds of mutually-unintelligible varieties, or "lects". It is often viewed both as a single language with many dialects, and as a large language family, depending on context. When used informally, or when describing a specific, mutually-intelligible spoken language, the term "Chinese language" typically refers to Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese (MSC), a standardized variety originally based on the dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in Beijing. When used to describe a written language, "Chinese" usually refers to the form of written vernacular Chinese corresponding to spoken Standard Chinese, as contrasted with forms such as written Cantonese.

Often, "Chinese" is adequate: it is unnecessary, and often confusing, to call Standard Chinese "Mandarin", as Mandarin is a large language family in itself. The standardized form should be referred to as "Standard Chinese" when being contrasted with other Chinese varieties, such as Shanghainese or Cantonese.

Ethnicity

When identifying people by their ethnicity in China-related articles, refer to Han Chinese people specifically as such, rather than as just "Chinese", especially when contrasting Han Chinese to other ethnic groups in China. In English, "Chinese" also describes the Chinese nationality, so care is warranted to avoid conflating the two concepts, including accidentally implying that ethnic minorities are not true Chinese nationals.

Unless the nationality of the groups in question clearly differ, use parallel terms within phrases to clarify their meaning: for example, use Han Chinese when you use Zhuang Chinese, Han people when you use Zhuang people, or simply Han when you use Zhuang. This avoids the confusion that may arise when a phrase uses Han Chinese alongside Zhuang people, for example.

Some find an explicit or implicit dichotomy between "Chinese" and "Taiwanese" people to be objectionable. A dichotomy between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese people is more politically neutral, depending on context. The term mainlander poses issues: it is often ambiguous whether it refers to a resident of mainland China, or to a resident of Taiwan who had originally arrived from the mainland along with the KMT in 1949. When referring to the latter group, mainlander is mildly objectionable in English, but its literal translation is highly offensive in Chinese. To unambiguously refer to these two groups, prefer mainland Chinese for the former, and waishengren (外省人) for the latter.

Maps

On most maps, Taiwan should not be indicated as being part of the People's Republic of China. (discussion) On maps specifically about the PRC, Taiwan may be included if a distinction with the mainland is made reflecting its status. For the convention on colouring Taiwan and other disputed areas, see Wikipedia:WikiProject_Maps/Conventions#Orthographic_maps.

Citation style

In accordance with the English Wikipedia Manual of Style, a list of works cited in the article should be included in an article's "References" section. Editors are strongly encouraged to use the appropriate Citation Style 1 or Citation Style 2 template when listing works. The following examples use Citation Style 1 templates:

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |last=Doe |first=John |date=1950 |title=A Book About Sinology |location=New York |publisher=National University Press}}	Doe, John (1950). A Book About Sinology. New York: National University Press.

If an author is Chinese, their name should generally use pinyin without tone marks. Access to the characters for Chinese or Japanese names is helpful. (This is not true of Korean and Vietnamese names, as those languages have now generally abandoned the use of characters.) As elsewhere, it is preferable to link to an article on the author (which can be done with the |author-link= field) and omit the characters from the citation:

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |last=Lu |first=Xun |author-link=Lu Xun |translator-last=Leung |translator-first=George |date=1926 |title=The True Story of Ah Q |location=Shanghai |publisher=Commercial Press}}	Lu, Xun (1926). The True Story of Ah Q. Translated by Leung, George. Shanghai: Commercial Press.

If there is no article for the author, the characters for their name can be included in the |author-mask= field:

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |last=Li |first=Si |author1-mask=Li Si (李四) |date=1990 |title=Yet Another Book About Sinology |location=London |publisher=British Publishing}}	Li Si (李四) (1990). Yet Another Book About Sinology. London: British Publishing.

If a work is in an East Asian language, the original title should be romanised, spaces at the word boundaries, and each word capitalized, the rest given in lowercase unless they are proper nouns. Tone marks may be included. Names of publishing companies or presses are transliterated but not translated, without tone marks. The language of the work may be indicated with the |language= field.

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |last=Wang |first=Aiguo |date=2016 |title=Hànxué zhī shū |location=Shanghai |publisher=Hanxue chubanshe |language=zh}}	Wang, Aiguo (2016). Hànxué zhī shū (in Chinese). Shanghai: Hanxue chubanshe.

For Chinese and Japanese works, it is helpful to also include the characters of the title. These should not be italicized, which can be accomplished by using the |script-title= field. The field should include the language code zh or ja, a colon, and the characters of the title (e.g., |script-title=zh:汉语方言槪要). English translations of titles should be placed in brackets or parentheses after the original title. This can be accomplished by using the |trans-title= field. For example:

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |last=Yuan |first=Jiahua |author-link=Yuan Jiahua |title=Hànyǔ fāngyán gàiyào |script-title=zh:汉语方言槪要 |trans-title=Outline of Chinese Dialects |location=Beijing |publisher=Wenzi gaige chubanshe |date=1983 |language=zh}}	Yuan, Jiahua (1983). Hànyǔ fāngyán gàiyào 汉语方言槪要 [Outline of Chinese Dialects] (in Chinese). Beijing: Wenzi gaige chubanshe.