Reader’s Notes

Chinese Literature - Li-hua Ying 2010


Reader’s Notes

The Pinyin system is used to transliterate Chinese terms, except for names that are commonly Romanized, therefore, Taipei instead of Taibei, Chiang Kai-shek instead of Chiang Jieshi, Hong Kong not Xianggang. With regard to writers whose names have more than one transliteration, the Pinyin transliteration is the primary form used with the additional transliteration(s) provided in the dictionary as “a.k.a.” (also known as) and in the bibliography in the parenthesis immediately following the Pinyin name. For the sake of consistency, Beijing is used instead of Beiping, the official name adopted during the Republican period (1911—1949).

In the Chinese convention, the surname goes before the given name. When the author’s name is mentioned for the first time, the full name is used; subsequently, only the surname is given. In the case of pen names, the conventional use of the full name is adopted. Hence, Lu Xun, instead of Lu, is used throughout the entry.

When a title is mentioned for the first time, the Pinyin title goes before the English translation. Subsequent mentions of the same title are in Pinyin alone. Pinyin titles are not capitalized, except for the first letter of the first word and proper names. English translations of Chinese titles are, however, capitalized. Whenever possible, published English titles, shown in italics within parentheses, are used; in the case when no English publication is available, an English translation, not italicized, is provided by the author. When a term has an entry of its own in the dictionary, the term appears in boldface the first time it is mentioned in an entry other than its own. There are a few acronyms and abbreviations used throughout the dictionary; they are listed below with their full names:

CCP: Chinese Communist Party

DPP: Democratic Progressive Party

KMT: Kuomintang (Nationalist Party)

PRC: People’s Republic of China

ROC: Republic of China