China

PRONUNCIATION LIST

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: The pronunciation of Chinese words here indicated is as nearly as possible that of the Chinese people themselves, rather than the usual foreign pronunciation. Since the Chinese language has sounds which ours does not have, and since there is less accent than “tone”—a kind of musical inflection which it is impossible to indicate with any symbols we have—it is in some cases impossible to give the exact English equivalent.

In the unenviable task of Latinizing all these sounds, the Americans and British (missionaries, for the most part) who reduced them to the accepted spellings with our alphabet, were not always entirely successful in expressing exact shades of sound. From the start, certain Chinese words might well have been spelled differently in English, to give us more nearly the real pronunciation. For example, some of the k’s might better have been j’s, the j’s more exactly r’s, the p’s preferably b’s, etc. Thus, if the name of the capital of China had been Latinized as “Bayjing,” foreigners would pronounce it much more nearly in the Chinese way than they do in saying “Peking.” As people have become accustomed to the spellings employed in maps, encyclopedias, and geographies for generations—and, more or less, to the pronunciations indicated in dictionaries and other reference works, the attempt here to give more exactly the Chinese pronunciations will doubtless provide some surprises.

The symbols of Webster’s New International Dictionary have been used.

ahong (ä’hông’)

Along (ä-lông’)

ama (ä’mä)

Amichow (ä’mē’jō)

Amoy (ä-mō’ee)

Anhwei (än’hwā)

Anking (än’jĭng’)

Annam (ăn-näm’)

bay-fu (bā’-foo’)

Bogda-Khan (bôg’dä-hän’)

Buddha (bood’ä)

cangue (kăng)

carabao (kä-rä-bä’ō)

Canton (kăn-tŏn’)

Cathay (kă-thā’)

Changchun (chäng-choon’)

Chaochowfu (jou’jō-foo’)

Chaotung (jou’toong)

Chekiang (chē’jē’äng’)

Chengtu (chĕng’tū’)

Chihli (jĕ’lē’)

Chinkiang (chĭn-jē-äng’)

Chio Hwa Shan (jī’ō’ hwä shän)

Chosen (chō-sĕn’)

Chufu (chü-fū’)

Chu-kiang (joo’jĭ-äng)

ch’ung-chiah (choong’jĭ-ä)

Chungking (chŭng’kĭng’)

Confucius (kŏn-fū’shĭ-ŭs)

Dairen (dī-rĕn’)

Dalai Lama (dä-lī’ lä’mä)

E mao ch’ien (ē mou’ chĭ-ĕn’)

E quai ch’ien (ē kwī’ chĭ-ĕn’)

254Fang-gwy-lo (fäng-gwī-ō’) (Cantonese or Southern Chinese. See

Also “Yanggwei-tze.”)

Fei Lan-kuh (fā län’-kẽ’)

Fengtien (fēng’tĭ’ĕn’)

Foochow (foo-chou’)

Formosa (fôr-mō’sä)

Fukien (foo’jï-ĕn’)

Gobi (gō’bē’)

Hainan (hī’nän’)

Haiphong (hä-ē-fông’)

Hangchow (häng-chou’)

Hankow (hăn-kou’)

Han-ren (hän’rĕn)

Hanyang (hän’yäng’)

Harbin (här’bĭn’)

Hoang-ho (hō’äng’hü’)

Hochow (hō’jō’)

Hoihow (hō-ĭ-hou’)

Honam (hŭ’näm’)

Honan (hŭ’nän’)

Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng; customary English pronunciation,

although a poor equivalent of the Chinese.)

Hong Shih Ai (hông shĭr ī)

Hsi-ling (shē’lĭng’)

Hunan (hū’nän’)

Hupeh (hū-bā’)

hutung (hoo’tŭng)

hwa-gan (hwä’-gän’)

Hwa Miao (hwä mĭ’-ou’)

Hwei-hwei (hwā’-hwā’)

I-bien (ē’-byĕn)

Ichang (ẽ’chäng)

Irkutsk (ẽr’kootsk’)

Jaochow (rou’jō)

Jehol (rẽ’hẽr)

Kachek (kä-chĕk’)

Kaiyukwan (kī-yū-gwän’)

Kalgan (kăl-gän’)

k’ang (käng)

Kansu (gän’sū)

kaoliang (gou-lẽ-äng’)

Kiangsi (jē’äng’shē’)

Kiangsu (jē’äng’sū’)

Kiating (jē’ä’dĭng’)

Kingtehchen (jĭng’tẽ-jēn)

Kiukiang (jē-ū’jē-äng’)

Kiungchow (jẽ’oong’jö’)

Kokonor (kō’kō’nōr’)

Kongmoon (kông’moon’)

Koran (kō-rän’)

Korea (kō-rē’ä)

Kuling (gũ’lĭng’)

Kung (goong)

Kung-yik (koong’yĭk)

Kwangchowfu (gwäng’jō-foo’)

Kwangsi (gwäng’shē’)

Kwang-su (gwäng’-soo’)

Kwangtung (gwäng’toong’)

Kweichow (gwā’jō’)

laichee (lî’chē) or litchi (lē-chlē’)

lama (lä’mä)

Lanchow (län’jō’)

Laokay (lou-kī’)

Lao-an (lou’-än’)

Lhasa (lä’sä)

likin (lē’kĭn—foreign pron.; lē-jĭn’—Chin. pron.)

Loi (lō’ĭ)

Lolo (lō’lō)

Lu (lū)

255Macao (mä-kä’ō)

Manchuli (män-choo-lē’)

Manchuria (măn-choo’rĭ-ä)

mandarin (măn’dä-rĭn)

Man-tzow (män-tzō’)

Mecca (mĕk’ä)

Mei Lan-fang (mā’ län-fäng’)

Mei-shan (mā-shän’)

Min (mĭn)

Mohammed (mō-hăm’ĕd)

Mongolia (mŏn-gō’-lĭ-ä)

Mukden (mook’-dĕn)

Nanking (nän’jĭng’)

Nanning (nän’nĭng’)

Nantai (nän-tī’)

Nosu (nô’soo)

Omei-shan (ō-mā-shän’)

Paak Wan Shan (päk wän shän)

Pagoda (pä-gō’dä)

p’ai-lou (pī-loo’)

Pei-ho (bā-hŭ’)

Peking (pē-kĭng’; Chin. pron. bā’jĭng’)

peng (pēng)

Pingliang (pĭng-lĭ-äng’)

Potala (pō-tä-lä’)

Poyang (pō-yäng’)

puk’ai (pūk’ī’)

Saikwan (sī-gwän’)

Sampan (säm’pän’)

sen-kou (sēn’kō)

Shameen (shä-mēn’)

Shanghai (shăng’hī’)

Shanhaikwan (shän’hī-gwän’)

Shansi (shän’shē)

Shantung (shän’doong)

Shaohsing (shou-shĭng’)

Shensi (shă’ăn-shē’)

Shih-men-k’an (shēr-mēn-kän’)

Sianfu (shē’än-foo’)

Siberia (sī-bē’rĭ-ä)

Si-kiang (shē’jĭ-äng)

Sinkiang (sĭn-jĭ-äng’)

Soochow (soo’chou’)

Suifu (swē-foo’)

Sunwei (sün’wā)

Sun Yat-sen (sün yät-sẽn’)

Swatow (swä’tou’)

Szechuan (ssē’chwän)

Sze Yap (sē’ yäp)

Tai-shan (tī-shän’)

Taiyuanfu (tī’yū-än-foo’)

Ta Pan Chiao (dä bän jĭ-ou’)

Tartar (tär’tär)

Tibet (tĭ-bĕt’)

Tientsin (tĭ-ĕn’tsēn’)

tsao-hai (tsou’-hī)

Tsing-hwa (tsĭng’-hwä)

Tsuchulin (tsoo-choo-lĭn’)

Tungchuan (dŭng’chwän)

Tung-ling (doong’-ling’)

Turkestan (toor-kĕ-stän’)

Tzeliuching (tsē-lĭ-ū-jĭng’)

Tzinanfu (tsē’nän-foo’)

Urga (ŭr’gä)

Wai-kuo-ren (wī’gwô-rĕn’)

Wan Li Chang Chen (wän lĭ chäng chēn)

Whangpoa (whäng’pō-ä)

Wuchang (woo’chäng’)

Wuhu (woo’hoo’)

256Yalu (yä’loo)

yamen (yä’mĕn)

Yang Chi-ting (yäng jē-dĭng’)

Yang-gwei-tze (yäng-gwā’dzē) (Mandarin or Northern Chinese.