Editing Chinese name (section)

==Spelling==
{{Main|Pinyin|Romanization of Chinese}}
The process of converting Chinese names into a phonetic alphabet is called [[romanization of Chinese|romanization]].

In mainland China, Chinese names have been romanized using the [[Hanyu Pinyin]] system since 1958. Although experiments with the complete conversion of Chinese to the Pinyin alphabet failed,<ref name="F&F">DeFrancis, John. ''[[The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy]]''.</ref> it remains in common use and has become the transcription system of the United Nations and the [[International Organization for Standardization]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=13682|title=ISO 7098:1982 – Documentation – Romanization of Chinese|access-date=2009-03-01|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180751/http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=13682|url-status=live}}</ref> Taiwan officially adopted Hanyu Pinyin as one of their romanisation schemes in 2009,<ref name="pinyin_tt">{{cite news |newspaper=Taipei Times |date=18 September 2008 |title=Hanyu Pinyin to be standard system in 2009 |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/09/18/2003423528 |access-date=2008-09-20 |archive-date=25 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825114135/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/09/18/2003423528 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="pinyin_cp">{{cite news |newspaper=The China Post |date=18 September 2008 |title=Government to improve English-friendly environment |url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/09/18/175155/Gov%27t-to.htm |access-date=2008-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919054355/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/09/18/175155/Gov%27t%2Dto.htm |archive-date=2008-09-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> although it continues to allow its citizens to use other romanisations on official documents such as passports, of which Hanyu Pinyin remains unpopular. The system is easily identified by its frequent use of letters uncommon in English, such as "q", "x", and "z"; when tones are included, they are noted via [[Pinyin#Tones|tone marks]]. In Pinyin, {{zhi|c=毛泽东}} is written as Máo Zédōng.

Proper use of [[Pinyin]] means treating the surname and given name as precisely two separate words with no spaces between the letters of multiple Chinese characters. For example, "{{zhi|c=王秀英}}" is properly rendered either with its [[Pinyin#Tones|tone marks]] as "Wáng Xiùyīng" or without as "Wang Xiuying", but should not be written as "Wang Xiu Ying", "Wang XiuYing", "Wangxiuying", and so on. In the rare cases where a surname consists of more than one character, it too should be written as a unit: "[[Sima Qian]]", not "Si Ma Qian" or "Si Maqian". However, as the Chinese language makes almost no use of spaces, native speakers often do not know these rules and simply put a space between each Chinese character of their name, causing those used to alphabetical languages to think of the {{Lang|zh-latn|xing}} and ''{{Lang|zh-latn|ming}}'' as three words instead of two. Tone marks are also commonly omitted in practice.

Many overseas Chinese, Taiwanese and historic names still employ the older [[Wade–Giles]] system. This English-based system can be identified by its use of the [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s "hs" (pinyin ''x'') and "ts" (pinyin ''z'' and ''c'') and by its use of hyphens to connect the syllables of words containing more than one character. Correct reading depends on the inclusion of superscript numbers and the use of apostrophes to distinguish between different consonants, but in practice both of these are commonly omitted. In Wade–Giles, {{zhi|c=毛泽东}} is written as [[Mao Tse-tung]], as the system hyphenates names between the characters. For example, Wang Xiuying and Sima Qian are written in Wade as "Wang<sup>2</sup> Hsiu<sup>4</sup>-ying<sup>1</sup>" and "Ssu<sup>1</sup>Ma<sup>3</sup> Ch'ien<sup>1</sup>".

Pinyin and Wade–Giles both represent the pronunciation of [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]], based on the [[Beijing dialect]]. In Hong Kong, Macau, and the [[Chinese diaspora|diaspora]] communities in southeast Asia and abroad, people often romanize their names according to their own native language, for example, [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]], [[Hokkien]], and [[Hakka language|Hakka]]. This occurs amid a plethora of competing romanization systems. During [[British Empire|British colonial rule]], some adopted English spelling conventions for their [[Hong Kong name]]s: "Lee" for {{zhi|c=李}}, "Shaw" for {{zhi|c=邵}}, and so forth. In Macau, Chinese names are similarly sometimes still transliterated based on [[Portuguese orthography]] and [[Jyutping]]. It is common practice for the Chinese diaspora communities to use spaces in between each character of their name.