Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin, is currently the most commonly used romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hànyǔ (汉语 / 漢語) means the Chinese language, and Pīnyīn (拼音) means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound".
Pinyin has superseded older romanization styles such as Wade-Giles, from 1859, and Chinese Postal Map Romanization.
Pinyin Examples[]
| Chinese Name | Roman | Wade-Giles | Pinyin |
| 孫權 | Sun Quan | Sun Ch'üan | Sūn Quán |
| 諸葛亮 | Zhuge Liang | Chu-ko Liang | Zhūgě Liàng |
| 董卓 | Dong Zhuo | Tung Cho | Dǒng Zhuō |
| 張飛 | Zhang Fei | Chang Fei | Zhāng Fēi |