Pinyin spelling gains ground

Press, 31 January 1983, Page 16

Pinyin spelling gains ground

NZPA-Reuter Peking Radio Peking, China’s foreign-language overseas propaganda station, becomes Radio Beijing from January 1 to conform with a new Chinese spelling system. The station, which broadcasts in English, French, Urdu, and Swahili among other languages, announced its new name in the “China Daily.” Beijing, which reflects more accurately the pronunciation in standard Mandarin Chinese, is the way Peking is spelt in Hanyu Pinyin, a spelling system officially adopted for Chinese names in foreign languages in 1979. But old traditional spellings of places well known abroad such as Peking and Canton are still being used

by some organisations. The use of Beijing is gaining ground in foreign newspapers, particularly in the United States. But for most foreigners the city remains Peking, just as Italy is Italy rather than Italia and Germany is Germany rather than Deutschland. In Pinyin. Mao Tsetung is spelt Mao Zedong, and Chou Enlai is Zhou Enlai. China’s present leader is spelt Deng Ziaoping in Pinyin rather Teng Hsiao-Ping in the old Wade-Giles romanisation.. Most Chinese, however, are unaware of what system is used — they write in characters, with’ a different symbol for each syllable, and cannot read alphabets.