Page:L. Richard's ... Comprehensive geography of the Chinese empire and dependencies ... translated into English, revised and enlarged (IA lrichardscompreh00rich).pdf/12



In the transliteration of Chinese proper names, the Nanking kwanhwa or Nan kwanhwa 南官話 (Southern mandarin dialect) has been adopted preferably to the Pekingese, spoken only at the Capital and in a small portion of Chihli and Honan Provinces. The Nankingese discriminates between the initials si and hsi (as in 信 sin, a letter, a note; and 行 hsing, to go), tsi and ki (as in 濟 tsi, to aid; and 記 ki, to remember), which are so bewilderingly confused in the Pekingese. The Nankingese is spoken by two-thirds of the whole population of the Empire, and is everywhere understood. Its syllabary is richer than the Pekingese, its pronunciation purer (正音 chêng yin, correct or standard pronunciation, as the Chinese say) and better, and being now largely adopted by the Postal and Telegraph Administrations of China, it is most likely to outlive its competitors.

In the working out of details, familiar spellings are maintained, as Peking, Foochow, Amoy, Canton, Chefoo, Soochow, Fokien, Kansu etc. The vowels have their Italian or fixed sounds. The aspirates, a most essential element of the Chinese language, are indicated by an inverted comma (thus ‘), and the short abrupt final vowels by the addition of h (as in 得 teh, to attain). In all instances, the same sound is ever represented by the same phonetical equivalents. The initials si and hsi, ts, tsi, k and ch, sü and hsü have been carefully distinguished. The compound consonants : hw, kw, lw, sw, shw, sz, ts and tz, recently adopted by the Postal Service, have been admitted and followed. The initial nasal ng, followed by a or e, is maintained, as its omission is considered unscientific and based on mere convention. The final nasals an and en; ang and eng, ung and êng, üan and üen, so generally confounded by English writers, have been represented by more exact phonetic equivalents. In