name	Fu Hao
spouse	King Wu Ding
issue	Prince Jie }}

Fu Hao (, died c. 1200 BC), posthumously Mu Xin (母辛), was one of the many wives of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty and, unusually for that time, also served as a military general and high priestess.

Her tomb was unearthed at Yinxu. intact with treasures such as bronzes and jades. She was buried in a lacquered coffin.

Biography

Little is known of the early life of Fu Hao. What is known is that King Wu Ding would cultivate the allegiance of neighbouring tribes by marrying one woman from each of them. Fu Hao entered the royal household through such a marriage and took advantage of the semi-matriarchal slave society to rise through the ranks. Fu Hao is known to modern scholars mainly from inscriptions on Shang Dynasty oracle bone artifacts unearthed at Yinxu.

In these inscriptions she is shown to have led numerous military campaigns. The Tu-Fang fought against the Shang for generations until they were finally defeated by Fu Hao in a single decisive battle. Further campaigns against the neighbouring Yi, Qiang and Ba followed, the latter is particularly remembered as the earliest recorded large scale ambush in Chinese history. With up to 13,000 soldiers and important generals Zhi and Hou Gao serving under her, she was the most powerful military leader of her time. This highly unusual status is confirmed by the many weapons, including great battle-axes, unearthed from her tomb.

Although the Shang King exercised ultimate control over ritual matters, which were the most important political activity of the day, oracle bone inscriptions show that Wu Ding repeatedly instructed Fu Hao to conduct special rituals and offer sacrifices. This was very unusual for a woman of that time and shows that the king must have had great confidence in his wife. The sacrificial bronze vessels and tortoise shells inscribed prepared by Fu Hao discovered in her tomb further evidence her status as high priestess and oracle caster.

She also controlled her own fiefdom on the borders of the empire and was the mother of Prince Jie (oracle bone inscriptions show concern for her well-being at the time of the birth). She died before King Wu Ding and he constructed a tomb for her on the edge of the royal cemetery at his capital Yin. The King later made many sacrifices here in hope for her spiritual assistance in defeating the attacking Gong who threatened to completely wipe out the Shang. The tomb was unearthed by archaeologists in 1976 and is now open to the public.

References

Category:13th-century BC women Category:13th-century BC clergy Category:Shang Dynasty people Category:Chinese nobility Category:Women in ancient Chinese warfare

ca:Fu Hao de:Fu Hao fr:Fu Hao ko:부호 (상나라) ja:婦好 vi:Phụ Hảo zh:妇好

Name	Bopomofo
Type	Semisyllabary
Typedesc	(letters for onsets and rimes; diacritics for tones)
Time	1913 to the present, now used as ruby characters in Taiwan for Chinese, and as the principal script for Formosan
Languages	Chinese languages, Formosan languages
Fam1	Oracle Bone Script
Fam2	Seal Script
Fam3	Clerical Script
Sisters	Simplified Chinese, Kanji, Hanja, Chữ Nôm, Khitan script
Unicode	U+3100–U+312F, U+31A0–U+31BF
Iso15924	Bopo
Sample	Zhuyinbaike.svg
Creator	Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation }}

|s=|bpmf=ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ|p=Zhùyīn fúhào|poj=Chù-im hû-hō|j=zyu³ jam¹ fu⁴ hou^6*2|y=jyu yām fùh houh}} Zhuyin fuhao (|zhu=ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ|l=phonetic symbol}}), often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo, was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin.

Consisting of 37 characters and four tone marks, it transcribes all possible sounds in Mandarin. Despite being phased out on China in the 1950s, this system is still widely used as an educational tool and Chinese computer input method in Taiwan.

Name

Zhuyin is often called bopomofo whose name is derived from the first four letters of the system () and occasionally used to refer to pinyin in mainland China. In official documents, it is occasionally called the "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (), abbreviated as the "MPS I" ().

In English translations, the system is often called either Chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols. A romanized version of bopomofo, released in 1984, is called MPS II.

History

The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Woo Tsin-hang from 1912 to 1913, created a system called Guóyīn Zìmǔ "National Pronunciation Letters") or Zhùyīn Zìmǔ ( or "Sound-annotating Letters") which is based on Zhang Binglin's shorthands.

A draft was released on July 11, 1913, by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until November 23, 1928. zhùyīn zìmǔ was renamed zhùyīn fúhào in April 1930.

The symbols were initially called Zhùyīn Zìmǔ ("Phonetic Alphabet"); later they were also called Guóyīn Zìmǔ ("National Phonetic Alphabet"). The fear that they might be considered an alphabetic system of writing independent of characters led to their being renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào ("Phonetic Symbols") in 1930.

After 1949, bopomofo was superseded in mainland China by the pinyin system promulgated by the People's Republic of China, but its use is retained in Taiwan.

Modern use

Bopomofo remains the predominant phonetic system in teaching reading and writing in elementary school in Taiwan. It is also one of the most popular ways to enter Chinese characters into computers and look up characters in a dictionary in Taiwan.

In grade one, Chinese characters in textbooks are often annotated with bopomofo as students take ten weeks to learn them.

In teaching Mandarin, Taiwan institutions and some overseas communities still use bopomofo as a learning tool.

Besides transcribing Chinese, bopomofo is also used as the primary writing system for a few aboriginal languages of Taiwan, such as Atayal, Seediq, Paiwan, or Tao. It is sometimes used to annotate Taiwanese Hokkien, a widely spoken Chinese language in Taiwan, however pe̍h-ōe-jī romanization is more common in use.

Etymology

The zhuyin letters were created by Zhang Binglin, and mainly taken from "regularized" forms of ancient Chinese characters, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents.

+ colspan="3"	Origin of zhuyin symbols
Zhuyin!!
	b
	p
	m
	f
	d
	t
	n
	l
	g
	k
	h
	j
	q
	x
	zh
	ch
	sh
	r
	z
	c
	s
	i, y
	u, w
	ü, yu
	a
	o
	e
	ê
	ai
	ei
	ao
	ou
	an
	en
	ang
	eng
	er
	-i>

The zhuyin characters are represented in typographic fonts as if drawn with an ink brush (as in Regular Script). They are encoded in Unicode in the bopomofo block, in the range U+3105 ... U+312D.

Writing

Stroke order

Bopomofo is written in the same stroke order rule as Chinese characters. Note that ㄖ is written with three strokes, unlike the character from which it is derived (日, Hanyu Pinyin: rì), which has four strokes.

Tonal marks

Tone number>Tone	! bopomofo	! Pinyin
1	none	}}
2	}}	}}
3	}}	}}
4	}}	}}
short	}}	none

The tone marks used in Bopomofo for the second, third, and fourth tones are the same as the ones used in Hanyu Pinyin. In Bopomofo, no marker is used for the first tone and a dot denotes the neutral tone , whereas in Pinyin, a dash (¯) represents the first tone and no marker is used for the neutral tone.

Alignment

Unlike bopomofo, Hanyu Pinyin does not align well with the hanzi characters in books whose texts are printed vertically, making bopomofo better suited for annotating the pronunciation of vertically oriented Chinese text.

Bopomofo, when used in conjunction with Chinese characters, are typically placed to the right of the Chinese character vertically or to the top of the Chinese character in a horizontal print.

Below is an example for the word "bottle" (): {| |- | style="padding: 0 0 0.5em 0" | {| |- | style="line-height:1em; font-size:2em" | || style="line-height:1em; font-size:0.8em" | |- | style="line-height:1em; font-size:2em" | || style="line-height:1em; font-size:0.8em" | |} | style="padding:0 1.5em" | or || {| |- | style="line-height:1em; font-size:0.8em; text-align:center" | || style="line-height:1em; font-size:0.8em; text-align:center" | |- | style="line-height:1em; font-size:2em" | || style="line-height:1em; font-size:2em" | |} |}

Comparison

Bopomofo and pinyin are based on the same Mandarin pronunciations, hence there is a 1-to-1 correspondence between the two systems. In the table below, the 'bopomofo' and 'pinyin' columns show equivalency.

:【】represents the form used in combination with other letters.

A comparison between pinyin and bopomofo for Standard Chinese can also be done by comparing the transcription of various syllables at Comparison of Chinese Phonetic Systems.

b p m f d t n l g k h j q x zhi 【zh】 chi 【ch】 shi 【sh】 ri 【r】 zi 【z】 ci 【c】 si 【s】 a o e ê ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er style="border-top: 2px solid black;" yin 【in】 ying 【ing】 style="border-top: 2px solid black;" wen 【un】 weng 【ong】 style="border-top: 2px solid black;" yun 【un】 yong 【iong】

+ Bopomofo vs. Pinyin	Initials
!Bopomofo!!Hanyu Pinyin!!Tongyong Pinyin!!Wade-Giles!!Example (Bopomofo, Pinyin)
ㄅ	|	b	p	八 (ㄅㄚ, bā)
ㄆ	|	p	p'	杷 (ㄆㄚˊ, pá)
ㄇ	|	m	m	馬 (ㄇㄚˇ, mǎ)
ㄈ	|	f	f	法 (ㄈㄚˇ, fǎ)
ㄉ	|	d	t	地 (ㄉㄧˋ, dì)
ㄊ	|	t	t'	提 (ㄊㄧˊ, tí)
ㄋ	|	n	n	你 (ㄋㄧˇ, nǐ)
ㄌ	|	l	l	利 (ㄌㄧˋ, lì)
ㄍ	|	g	k	告 (ㄍㄠˋ, gào)
ㄎ	|	k	k'	考 (ㄎㄠˇ, kǎo)
ㄏ	|	h	h	好 (ㄏㄠˇ, hǎo)
ㄐ	|	j	ch	叫 (ㄐㄧㄠˋ, jiào)
ㄑ	|	c	ch'	巧 (ㄑㄧㄠˇ, qiǎo)
ㄒ	|	s	hs	小 (ㄒㄧㄠˇ, xiǎo)
ㄓ	|	jhih 【jh】	chih 【ch】	主 (ㄓㄨˇ, zhǔ)
ㄔ	|	chih 【ch】	ch'ih 【ch'】	出 (ㄔㄨ, chū)
ㄕ	|	shih 【sh】	shih 【sh】	束 (ㄕㄨˋ, shù)
ㄖ	|	rih 【r】	jih 【j】	入 (ㄖㄨˋ, rù)
ㄗ	|	zih 【z】	tzû 【ts】	在 (ㄗㄞˋ, zài)
ㄘ	|	cih 【c】	tz'û 【ts'】	才 (ㄘㄞˊ, cái)
ㄙ	|	sih 【s】	ssû 【s】	塞 (ㄙㄞ, sāi)
Finals
!Bopomofo!!Hanyu Pinyin!!Tongyong Pinyin!!Wade-Giles!!Example(Bopomofo, Hanyu)
ㄚ	|	a	a	大 (ㄉㄚˋ, dà)
ㄛ	|	o	o	多 (ㄉㄨㄛ, duō)
ㄜ	|	e	e	得 (ㄉㄜˊ, dé)
ㄝ	|	e	eh	爹 (ㄉㄧㄝ, diē)
ㄞ	|	ai	ai	晒 (ㄕㄞˋ, shài)
ㄟ	|	ei	ei	誰 (ㄕㄟˊ, shéi)
ㄠ	|	ao	ao	少 (ㄕㄠˇ, shǎo)
ㄡ	|	ou	ou	收 (ㄕㄡ, shōu)
ㄢ	|	an	an	山 (ㄕㄢ, shān)
ㄣ	|	en	en	申 (ㄕㄣ, shēn)
ㄤ	|	ang	ang	上 (ㄕㄤˋ, shàng)
ㄥ	|	eng	eng	生 (ㄕㄥ, shēng)
ㄦ	|	er	erh	而 (ㄦˊ, ér)
style="border-top: 2px solid black;"	ㄧ	yi 【i】 ||	yi 【i】	yi 【i】	逆 (ㄋㄧˋ, nì)
ㄧㄣ	|	yin 【in】	yin 【in】	音 (ㄧㄣ, yīn)
ㄧㄥ	|	ying 【ing】	ying 【ing】	英 (ㄧㄥ, yīng)
style="border-top: 2px solid black;"	ㄨ	wu 【u】 ||	wu 【u】	wu 【u】	努 (ㄋㄨˇ, nǔ)
ㄨㄣ	|	wun 【un】	wen 【un】	文 (ㄨㄣˊ, wén)
ㄨㄥ	|	wong 【ong】	ng 【ung】	翁 (ㄨㄥ, wēng)
style="border-top: 2px solid black;"	ㄩ	yu 【u, ü】 ||	yu 【u, yu】	yü 【ü】	女 (ㄋㄩˇ, nǚ)
ㄩㄣ	|	yun 【un, yun】	yün 【ün】	韻 (ㄩㄣˋ, yūn)
ㄩㄥ	|	yong	yung 【iung】	永 (ㄩㄥˇ, yǒng)

Another comparison table

Other languages

Zhuyin is used to write several varieties of Chinese, as well as some Formosan languages.

Three letters formerly used in non-standard dialects of Mandarin are now also used to write other Chinese languages. Some bopomofo fonts do not contain these letters; see External links for PDF pictures.

!Char!!Pinyin
ㄪ	v
ㄫ	ng
ㄬ	ny

In addition, diacritics were used to create new letters for Min-nan and Hakka.

bb* zz* jj* gg* ee enn

+Extended bopomofo	!Char!!Pinyin!! !!Char!!Pinyin!! !!Char!!Pinyin!! !!Char!!Pinyin
	|		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A6.svg>16px）	oo		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31AC.svg>16px）	syllabic m		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B2.svg>16px）	ong
ㆡ（File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A1.svg	16px）	|		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A7.svg>16px）	onn		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31AD.svg>16px）	syllabic ng		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B3.svg>16px）	innn
ㆢ（File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A2.svg	16px）	|		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A8.svg>16px）	ir		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31AE.svg>16px）	ainn		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B4.svg>16px）	Final p
ㆣ（File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A3.svg	16px）	|		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A9.svg>16px）	ann		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31AF.svg>16px）	aunn		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B5.svg>16px）	Final t
ㆤ（File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A4.svg	16px）	|		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A8.svg>16px）	inn		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B0.svg>16px）	am		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B6.svg>16px）	Final k
ㆥ（File:Extended Bopomofo U+31A5.svg	16px）	|		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31AB.svg>16px）	unn		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B1.svg>16px）	om		File:Extended Bopomofo U+31B7.svg>16px）	Final h

+ Tones	Char !! Tone Value !! Unicode
˪ (└)	Chao number "11", depicts 低平"low, level tone" (陰去聲 "upper departing") in Taiwanese Minnan	U+02EA
˫ (├)	Chao number "33", depicts 平"mid, level tone" (陽去聲 "lower departing") in Taiwanese Minnan

Computer uses

Input method

Bopomofo can be used as an input method for Chinese characters. It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without the user having to download or install any additional software. It is also one of the few input methods that can be used for inputting Chinese characters on certain cell phones.

Unicode

Bopomofo was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

The Unicode block for Bopomofo is U+3100 ... U+312F:

Extended Bopomofo was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.

The Unicode block for Extended Bopomofo is U+31A0 ... U+31BF:

See also

Furigana

Zhuyin table

Chinese language

Mandarin Chinese

Standard Chinese

Pinyin

Chinese input methods for computers

Ruby character

Taiwanese Hokkien

Written Hokkien

Fanqie

References

External links

Unicode reference glyphs for and

Bopomofo annotations – adds inline and pop-up annotations with bopomofo pronunciation and English definitions to Chinese text or web pages.

Mandarin Dictionary – needs Chinese font for Big5 encoding

Chinese Phonetic Conversion Tool – converts between Pinyin, Zhuyin and other phonetic systems

Chinese Romanization Converter – converts between Hanyu Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh and other known or (un-)common Romanization systems

Bopomofo -> Wade-Giles -> Pinyin -> Word List

NPA->IPA National Phonetic Alphabet (bopomofo) spellings of words transliterated into the International Phonetic Alphabet. The vowel values have been verified against the official IPA site. See IPA help preview, SIL International website. See IPA help preview, SIL International website. (Accessed 23-12-2010).

Bopomofo to Pinyin converter and reverse

bopomofo syllable chart, with Hanyu Pinyin equivalents

Pinyin Annotator – adds bopomofo (bopomofo) or pinyin on top of any Chinese text, prompts alternative pronunciations to homonyms, has the option of exporting into OpenOffice Writer for further editing

《請利用螢幕上的小鍵盤輸入注音符號》 – online keyboard for bopomofo which can turn it into Chinese characters

Category:Writing systems Category:Mandarin words and phrases Category:Auxiliary and educational artificial scripts Category:Ruby characters Category:Chinese scripts Category:Transcription of Chinese Category:Han character input

ar:بوبوموفو zh-min-nan:Chù-im hû-hō ca:Zhuyin cs:Ču-jin fu-chao de:Zhuyin es:Zhuyin eo:Bopomofo fr:Bopomofo gl:Zhùyīn fúhào ko:주음 부호 id:Bopomofo it:Bopomofo mg:Bopomofo ms:Zhuyin nl:Zhuyin ja:注音符号 no:Jhuyin pl:Bopomofo pt:Bopomofo ru:Чжуинь simple:Zhuyin sr:Бопомофо sh:Bopomofo su:Bopomofo sv:Zhuyin th:จู้อิน uk:Чжуїнь zh:注音符號