First version of Mandarin Chinese Phonetic Symbols, also recognized as Bopomofo, was created in 1913 and released in 1918. It was repeatedly revised for perfection. In 1935, Ministry of Education released A Specimen of Bopomofo Printing Font next to Chinese Character. The Copper printing molds of Chinese character with Bopomofo on the side were made according to the released document, and were used to reduce the difficulty on learning Chinese characters. Bopomofo has become the best tool to learn Mandarin Chinese since then.
Bopomofo was created according to the Chinese historical phonology and the poetic metrics. Those phonetic alphabets were supposed to represent the onset, rhyme, and tone of the syllables, according to the methods of alliteration and assonance used in ancient time with the simplified forms of the Chinese characters. Therefore, using Bopomofo to spell Chinese is almost like using characters to spell. This is the most suitable method to learn pronunciation. It is also easy to learn when there is only one sound for one character.
Bopomofo cannot only be used as a tool to spell Chinese character and adjust pronunciation, but it can also be used on dictionary to edit word sequence and searching system. As for the elementary textbook or children’s readers, it becomes the best method of learning and recognizing Mandarin Chinese. Knowing Bopomofo is like to get a self-learning tool. It allows a person to access the books and magazines with Bopomofo or operating computer with phonetic typing system.
To ensure fast and efficient communication in our modern world, standardization of all the communication means is required. In response to this requirement Ministry of Education released Published Version of Standard Chinese Font in 1994 as a standard for society. By now, the textbooks, the media, and the IT industries have already applied the standard. However, even though Bopomofo as a system has been released for years and the knowledge of it is a requirement in the elementary school education, the stroke order of each symbol and the position are sometimes at issue. Furthermore, the Bopomofo system as used in IT industry is actually different from the version released by the MOE. Problems and disputes occurred because of these discrepancies.
To resolve these issues Ministry of Education has invited the following phonetic professors, Chang, Hsiao-yu, Lin, Kuo-liang, Chang, Wen-pin, Tseng, Jung-fen, Hu, Chien-hsiung, Su, Mao-sheng and myself, to form a project team, with Prof. Hu, Chien-hsiung taking up the responsibility of designing, and Prof. Su, Mao-sheng as the art director. Moreover, Mr. Wu, Yan-cheng was invited as the designer. They redesigned and created Bopomofo Manual according to A Specimen of Bopomofo Printing Font next to Chinese Character released in 1935. The content was required to include reference graphics of List of Bopomofo Symbols, Ratio Reference between Chinese Characters and Bopomofo, Specimen of Chinese Characters with Bopomofo (portrait/landscape), Reference Table of Chinese Characters with Bopomofo Syllables, to fulfill actual need of education and application onto computer typesetting for the printing industry.
In order to describe correct usage of Bopomofo with simplicity and clarity, this manual is mainly presented in graphics. As the manual is about to be published, I happily note down this foreword to express my thankfulness to all the professors on the team. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the inspector, Mr. Yang, Yung-chuan, and the assistant, Ms. Yang, Yu-wen, from National Languages Committee for all their administrative support and assistance.
This manual is published and released for the actual need of education, IT industry, and printing industry.
In List of Bopomofo Symbols, it lists out all Bopomofo characters. (the onset alphabets, “
”,“
”,“
”are not used now, while the rhyme symbol,“
”, and the mark of Yin-ping tone, “
”, would be left out on Bopomofo notes. The explanatory table of the onset and rhyme alphabets is used to explain writing sequence and stroke number, while the explanatory table of the tones is used to explain the tonal category, nature, and position of notes.
Ratio Reference between Chinese Character and Bopomofo and Specimen of Chinese Character with Bopomofo offered by this manual has included the following two noting methods, which are portrait and landscape.
In Ratio Reference between Chinese Character and Bopomofo, length and width of a Chinese character is 30:30, while the space for Bopomofo is 30:15 for portrait and 15:30 for landscape. Furthermore, there are three different ratios for Bopomofo, which are 9:9, 9:8, and 8:9. The ratio will be used according to needs.
Reference Table of Mandarin Chinese Syllables with Bopomofo has its order according to Four Hu, which are kaikou (open mouth), qichi (even teeth), hekou (closed mouth), and cuokou (round mouth). There would be one character for each syllable listed, with the portrait version as example.
The List of Bopomofo Symbols and Ratio Reference between Chinese Character and Bopomofo in this manual can be downloaded from the official website of Ministry of Education.
Table of Content
Foreword
Reader’s Guide
1. List of Phonetic Symbols
a. Main list
b. Explanatory Table of Onset Symbols
c. Explanatory Table of Rhyme Symbols
d. Explanatory Table of Tonal Marks
2. Ratio Reference between Chinese Characters and Bopomofo (Portrait)
3. Specimen of Chinese Characters with Bopomofo (Portrait)
4. Ratio Reference between Chinese Characters and Bopomofo (Landscape)
5. Specimen of Chinese Characters with Bopomofo (Landscape)
6. Reference Table of Chinese Characters with Mandarin Chinese Syllables
a. Kaikou (open mouth)
b. Qichi (even teeth)
c. Hekou (closed mouth)
d. Cuokou (round mouth)
Notes:
1.The three onset Symbols, ““,”“,”“, are not used now.
2.The rhyme Symbol, ”“is left out on Bopomofo notes.
3.This manual is recreated according to A Specimen of Bopomofo Printing Font next to Chinese Character. In the list, the rhyme alphabet “ㄧ” is presented as “ㄧ” in portrait text and “
”in landscape text. However, in present time, for some reasons, like the convenience of information exchange, that rhyme alphabet “ㄧ” is normally presented as “ㄧ”, but is also possible to be noted as ““.
| Bopomofo Note | Writing Sequence | Stroke Number | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
One stroke |
|
|
|
Two strokes | The last stroke should not be pressed down at the end. |
|
|
Two strokes | There is no hook at the end of the last stroke. |
|
|
Two strokes | The second stroke should be connected with the starting point of the first stroke. |
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
 
|
Three strokes | The second stroke should slant all the way down. |
|
|
One stroke |
|
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | The second stroke should be connected with the starting point of the first stroke. |
|
|
Two strokes | The first stroke should not go across the second stroke after rising. |
|
|
One stroke |
| Bopomofo Note | Writing Sequence | Stroke Number | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
  
|
Four strokes | It can also be simplified into three strokes. The simplified sequence would be  |
|
 
|
Three strokes | |
|
 
|
Three strokes | The third stroke should be connected with the starting point of the second stroke. |
|
  
|
Four strokes | There is a dot in the middle. It can be simplified into three stokes. The simplified sequence would be  |
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | There is no hook at the end of the last stroke. |
|
|
Two strokes |
| Bopomofo Note | Writing Sequence | Stroke Number | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
 
|
Three strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | |
|
 
|
Three strokes | There is no hook at the end of the last stroke. |
|
 
|
Three strokes | The stoke at the bottom-right corner does not need a hook. |
|
|
One stroke | |
|
 
|
Three strokes | |
|
|
Two strokes | The last stroke should not be pressed down at the end. The corner at upper-left should be left open. |
|
|
Two strokes | There is no hook at the end of the last stroke. |
|
|
One stroke | |
|
 
|
Three strokes | There is no hook at the end of the last stroke. |
|
|
One stroke | |
|
|
Two strokes | There is no hook at the end of the last stroke. |
|
|
One stroke | It can also be noted as “” in portrait text. |
| Bopomofo Note | Writing Sequence | Stroke Number | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Two strokes |
The second stroke should not be pressed down at the end. |
|
|
Two strokes |
| Intonation Level | Bopomofo Note | Description | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st tone | |
This high and level tone can be noted as a short dash mark and could be left out in Bopomofo note. | This tone should be left out. |
| 2nd tone |  |
The note of this tone is marked from lower-left to upper-right to present its rising sound. | This tone should be noted at the upper-right corner of the last Bopomofo note. |
| 3rd tone |  |
This hook-liked note goes down first and rise afterward. | This tone should be noted at the upper-right corner of the last Bopomofo note. |
| 4th tone |  |
The note of this tone is marked from upper-left to lower-right to present its dropping sound. | This tone should be noted at the upper-right corner of the last Bopomofo note. |
| Neutral tone |  |
A dot is used to present a light and short tone. | It is marked on the top of Bopomofo note in portrait text and marked at the very front of the note in landscape text. |
|
Example of the tonal marks: 1.Marks of the four tones should be noted at the upper-right corner of Bopomofo in both portrait and landscape text. 
2.The mark of neutral tone should be a. Noted on the top of Bopomofo in portrait text. For example: 
b. Noted at the very front of Bopomofo in landscape text. For example: 
|
|||
One Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
One Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Two Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four toneal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
One Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
One Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
Two Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Two Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
Three Bopomofo with mark of four tonal marks.
Three Bopomofo with the neutral tonal mark.
①onset alphabet ②rhyme alphabet ③four tones ④Example
Character of neutral tone with changed rhyme is placed in〔 〕.
Notes:
The note, “○”, in the column of the zero onset syllables means there is no consonantal onsets.
The rhyme symbol “” is also called empty rhyme. It would not be noted in the Bopomofo area.
The empty space in the table means such combinations might not be allowed in Mandarin Chinese.
The space with “○” in the table means such syllables might not be meaningful in Mandarin Chinese.
Characters of the example are from Reedited Version of Chinese Dictionary Revised Edition.
Organized by National Languages Committee, Ministry of Education
Commissioner: Tsao, Feng-fu
Convener: Li, Hsien
Review team: Chang, Hsiao-yu, Lin, Kuo-liang, Chang, Wen-pin, Su, Mao-sheng , Tseng, Jung-fen, Hu, Chien-hsiung
Editing team: Yang, Yung-chuan, Wu, Yan-cheng , Yang, Yu-wen
Editor: Wu, Yan-cheng
Cover designer: Wu, Yan-cheng
Publisher: Tseng, Chih-lang
Publish organization: Ministry of Education
Address: No.5, Zhongshan South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan 10051
Official Website: http://www.edu.tw
Tel.: +886-2-7736-6666
Printed by Ching Tung Printing Co. Ltd.
First Edition: November, 2000
Selling price: NT$ 50
GPN：006429890066
ISBN：957-02-7324-0
Organized by Department of Lifelong Education, Ministry of Education
Publisher: Pan, Wen-chung
Translator: Tsao, Feng-fu, Huang, Chien-chien, Wu, Chin-wei
Publish organization: Ministry of Education
Address: No.5, Zhongshan South Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan 10051
Tel.: +886-2-7736-6666
Fax.: +886-2-3393-2319
Email: http://email.moe.gov.tw/EDU_WEB/sendmail/send.php
Official Website: http://www.edu.tw
First Edition: Februrary, 2017
ISBN：978-986-051-869-6 (EPUB)
GPN：4910600179
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Information：
November, 2000 Printed Version
ISBN 957-02-7324-0(Print)
January, 2017 Digital Edition(Chinese)
ISBN 978-986-051-481-0(EPUB)
