You say Zhongshan, I say Chungshan... The romanization of Chinese used in Taiwan is not standardized. Most older place names and personal names are derived from a simplified version of Wade-Giles. The government established Hanyu Pinyin (the same system used in the mainland and the international standard) as the official system in 2009, but most local governments that did not already use the system have not switched over, and highway signs are only being gradually changed from the formerly (2002-2008) official Tongyong Pinyin system, leading to much inconsistency. Some local governments, such as that of Taipei and Taichung, have already converted their street signs to Hanyu Pinyin and New Taipei is implementing the switch to Hanyu Pinyin. However, there are still street signs posted by city governments next to signs installed by the national government having different romanization conventions, as is the case for Kaohsiung, where Tongyong Pinyin, not Hanyu Pinyin, is the local standard. For example, Zhongshan, Chungshan, Jungshan and Jhongshan can easily be the same. This article attempts to use the romanizations most commonly used in Taiwan (on street signs, buses, tourist maps, etc.). People know romanisation as 'Roma-Pinyin'. |