Cyrillization of Chinese

The Cyrillization of Chinese is effected using the Palladius system for transcribing Chinese characters into the Cyrillic alphabet. It was created by Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov (Пётр Ива́нович Кафа́ров), a Russian sinologist and monk who spent thirty years in China and was also known by his monastic name Palladius (Палладий). It is the Russian official standard for transcribing Chinese into Russian.

System

Initials

Finals

Nucleus		a					ə						∅
Coda		∅	i	u	n	ŋ	∅	i	u	n	ŋ	ɻ
Medial	∅	a [ɑ] ㄚ a	ай [aɪ̯] ai ㄞ ai	ao [ɑʊ̯] ao ㄠ ao	ань [ɑn] an ㄢ an	ан [ɑŋ] ang ㄤ ang	э [ɯ̯ʌ] ê/o ㄜ e	эй [eɪ̯] ei ㄟ ei	оу [ɤʊ̯] ou ㄡ ou	энь [ən] ên ㄣ en	эн [əŋ] êng ㄥ eng	эр [ɑɻ] êrh ㄦ er	и/ы [ʅ/ɿ] ih/û -i
	i	я [i̯ɑ] ia ㄧㄚ ia		яо [i̯ɑʊ̯] iao ㄧㄠ iao	янь [i̯ɛn] ien ㄧㄢ ian	ян [i̯ɑŋ] iang ㄧㄤ iang	е [i̯ɛ] ieh ㄧㄝ ie		ю [i̯ɤʊ̯] iu ㄧㄡ iu	инь [in] in ㄧㄣ in	ин [iŋ] ing ㄧㄥ ing		и [i] i ㄧ i
	u	уа [u̯ɑ] ua ㄨㄚ ua	уай [u̯ɑɪ̯] uai ㄨㄞ uai		уaнь [u̯ɑn] uan ㄨㄢ uan	уaн [u̯ɑŋ] uang ㄨㄤ uang	о [u̯ɔ] o/uo ㄨㄛ uo	уй [u̯eɪ̯] ui ㄨㄟ ui		унь [u̯ən] un ㄨㄣ un	ун [ʊŋ] ung ㄨㄥ ong		у [u] u ㄨ u
	y				юaнь [y̯ɛn] üan ㄩㄢ üan		юэ [y̯œ] üeh ㄩㄝ üe			юнь [yn] ün ㄩㄣ ün	юн [i̯ʊŋ] iung ㄩㄥ iong		юй [y] ü ㄩ ü

Comparison chart

This table establishes correspondence between the Palladius system together with the two Romanization systems most commonly used in English-speaking countries: Pinyin and Wade–Giles.

Exceptions

The names of the cities of Beijing and Nanjing are transcribed as Пеки́н (instead of Бэйцзин) and Нанки́н (instead of Наньцзин), much as Peking and Nanking were still used in English speaking countries until recently. Hong Kong (pinyin: Xianggang) may be both Сянга́н (Xianggang) and Гонко́нг (Hong Kong); the latter is more common.

Syllable hui is transcribed not as хуй but as хуэй (Huizu, Хуэйцзу) or, less often, as хой (Anhui, Аньхой) for aesthetic reasons, since хуй (chuj) is a taboo word for "penis" (a lot more strict than "cock" in usage) in Russian and several other Slavic languages.

Older documents contain variants мэн — мын, мэнь — мынь, фэн — фын, фэнь — фынь, пэн — пын, hence Aomen (Macao) is traditionally spelled Аомынь in Russian. Most modern texts contain э, with some exceptions.

See also

• Palladius table
• Dungan language
• Romanization of Chinese
• Cyrillization of Japanese

External links

• Automatic Cyrillic transliteration of pinyin
• Annotation of Chinese with Palladius and other phonetic systems