Zhejiang orders Pinyin, numerals removed from business names
Posted by site admin on 03 Dec 2006 at 09:06 pm | Tagged as: China, Chinese, Chinese characters, English, Mandarin, Zhejiang, pinyin, romanization, signage, writing systems
Xinhua is reporting that beginning in March 2007 the names of businesses in China’s Zhejiang Province must use no Hanyu Pinyin or numerals (Arabic numerals, most likely) and must have at least two Chinese characters.
This is reportedly the first time a local Chinese government has made this regulation. (But see also 911 restaurant?!.) Since this is a new regulation, it seems likely that it was created to counter an emerging practice. I expect we’ll hear soon of a crackdown against English in names, too.
Míngnián 3 yuè qǐ, fánshì zài Zhèjiāng de qǐyè jiù bùnéng zài shǐyòng yóu Hànyǔ Pīnyīn Zìmǔ huò shùzì zǔchéng de shānghào le, ér bìxū gǎiyòng yóu liǎng ge yǐshàng Hànzì zǔchéng de shānghào míngchēng.
Jù liǎojiě, zhè shì guónèi shǒu bù guānyú qǐyè shānghào guǎnlǐ hé bǎohù de dìfāngxìng fǎguī.
source: Shānghào yòng Hànzì bù shǎoyú liǎng ge (商号用汉字不少于两个), Xinhua, via Héběi qīngnián bào (河北青年报), December 2, 2006
related reading: Chinese man forbidden to use letter ‘D’ for son’s name, Pinyin News, November 5, 2005
I wish you published pinyin WITH hanzi.
better for learning
Ah, but better for learning what? Not Pinyin or Mandarin through Pinyin, which are what I like to help with. Given the plethora of websites that focus on learning Hanzi and the unfortunate scarcity of ones with Pinyin, I’m pretty happy with giving just Pinyin most of the time.
If you’re not used to reading Pinyin, liànxí liànxí, and it will get much easier for you.
But if you’d like the Hanzi, too, you can always click on the source of the story (though sometimes those disappear from the Net).
For some other texts in Pinyin (sometimes with English as well), see online texts in Hanyu Pinyin.