Wade-Giles in the context of "Romanization of Chinese"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Wade-Giles in the context of "Romanization of Chinese"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Wade-Giles

Wade–Giles (/wd ˈlz/ wayd JYLZ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's A Chinese–English Dictionary (1892).

The romanization systems in common use until the late 19th century were based on the Nanjing dialect, but Wade–Giles was based on the Beijing dialect and was the system of transcription familiar in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century. Both of these kinds of transcription were used in postal romanizations (romanized place-names standardized for postal uses). In mainland China, Wade–Giles has been mostly replaced by Hanyu Pinyin, which was officially adopted in 1958, with exceptions for the romanized forms of some of the most commonly used names of locations and persons, and other proper nouns. The romanized name for most locations, persons and other proper nouns in Taiwan is based on the Wade–Giles derived romanized form, for example Kaohsiung, the Matsu Islands and Chiang Ching-kuo.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Wade-Giles in the context of Romanization

In linguistics, romanization or romanisation is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, for representing the spoken word, and combinations of both. Transcription methods can be subdivided into phonemic transcription, which records the phonemes or units of semantic meaning in speech, and more strict phonetic transcription, which records speech sounds with precision.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Emperor Taizu of Jin

Emperor Taizu of Jin (August 1, 1068 – September 19, 1123), personal name Aguda, sinicised name Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: Mín), was the founder and first emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was originally the chieftain of the Wanyan tribe, the most dominant among the Jurchen tribes which were subjects of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Starting in 1114, Aguda united the Jurchen tribes under his rule and rebelled against the Liao dynasty. A year later, he declared himself emperor and established the Jin dynasty. By the time of his death, the Jin dynasty had conquered most of the Liao dynasty's territories and emerged as a major power in northern China. In 1145, he was posthumously honoured with the temple name Taizu by his descendant Emperor Xizong.

The name [Wanyan] Aguda is transcribed [Wan-yen] A-ku-ta in Wade-Giles; the alternative spelling Akutta (possibly from reconstruction of Jurchen language) appears in a very small number of books as well.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Thomas Francis Wade

Sir Thomas Francis Wade, GCMG KCB (25 August 1818 – 31 July 1895) was a British diplomat and sinologist who produced an early Chinese textbook in English, in 1867, that was later amended, extended and converted into the Wade-Giles romanization system for Mandarin Chinese by Herbert Giles in 1892. He was the first professor of Chinese at Cambridge University.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Record of the Warring States

The Zhan Guo Ce (W-G: Chan-kuo T'se), also known in English as the Strategies of the Warring States or Annals of the Warring States, is an ancient Chinese text that contains anecdotes of political manipulation and warfare during the Warring States period (5th to 3rd centuries BC). It is an important text of the Warring States period as it describes the strategies and political views of the School of Diplomacy and reveals the historical and social characteristics of the period.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Ding ware

Ding ware, Ting ware (Chinese: 定瓷; pinyin: Dìngcí) or Dingyao are Chinese ceramics, mostly porcelain, that were produced in the prefecture of Dingzhou (formerly romanized as "Ting-chou") in Hebei in northern China. The main kilns were at Jiancicun or Jianci in Quyang County. They were produced between the Tang and Yuan dynasties of imperial China, though their finest period was in the 11th century, under the Northern Song. The kilns "were in almost constant operation from the early eighth until the mid-fourteenth century."

The most characteristic wares are thin porcelains with a white or greyish body and a nearly transparent white-tinted glaze, though they are classed as stoneware by some. Chemical analysis has shown that they were often made entirely of a kaolinitic clay without any petuntse or "porcelain stone". They are mostly decorated with uncoloured designs that are incised or in very shallow relief.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Wucai

Wucai (五彩, "Five colours", "Wuts'ai" in Wade-Giles) is a style of decorating white Chinese porcelain in a limited range of colours. It normally uses underglaze cobalt blue for the design outline and some parts of the images, and overglaze enamels in red, green, and yellow for the rest of the designs. Parts of the design, and some outlines of the rest, are painted in underglaze blue, and the piece is then glazed and fired. The rest of the design is then added in the overglaze enamels of different colours and the piece fired again at a lower temperature of about 850°C to 900°C.

It has its origins in the doucai technique. The usual distinction made with doucai, which also combines underglaze blue with overglaze enamels in other colours, is that in wucai only parts of the design include blue, and these cover wider areas, and are often rather freely painted. In doucai the whole design is outlined in the blue, even if parts are overlaid by the enamels and invisible in the finished product. Some parts may also be painted in the blue. However, this is not true of all pieces classified as doucai, especially from the 18th century onwards. Fragments of incomplete examples, only done in blue, have been excavated from waste tips at the kiln.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Liaobei

Liaobei (Wade-Giles: Liaopei) also known as Liaopeh is a de jure province of the Republic of China under ROC law as the government of the Republic of China formally claims to be the sole legitimate government of China. Located in Manchuria, the major part of the area of Liaobei constitutes the parts of province which is now in Inner Mongolia, now under the de facto jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. Its de jure capital is located in Liaoyuan City (present-day Shuangliao, Jilin), but the de facto capital is at Siping City since Liaoyuan was already occupited by the Communists.

Today the area of the former Liaobei province spread across Inner Mongolia, Jilin and Liaoning.

↑ Return to Menu

Wade-Giles in the context of Classic of Mountains and Seas

The Classic of Mountains and Seas, also known as Shanhai jing (Chinese: 山海经), formerly romanized as the Shan-hai Ching, is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed since the 4th century BCE, but the present form was not reached until the early Han dynasty. It is largely a fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin China as well as a collection of Chinese mythology. The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels.

↑ Return to Menu