What is the Bopomofo Chinese Alphabet?
The Bopomofo Chinese alphabet is a phonetic alphabet used to write standard Mandarin Chinese. It can be correctly called an “alphabet”, unlike Chinese characters, because each symbol represents a sound. The Bopomofo alphabet is more formally called Zhuyin Fuhao. The nickname “Bo-po-mo-fo” refers to the first four sounds of the Chinese phonetic alphabet. The Bopomofo alphabet consists of thirty-seven symbols. The symbols are simplified variants of ancient Chinese characters. There are twenty-one symbols used to represent consonant sounds and sixteen symbols used for vowel sounds. The Bopomofo alphabet was first released in 1913. It is based upon shorthand created by Zhang Binglin. In 1930 it was renamed Zhuyin Fuaho. Today it is mostly referred to as Bopomofo or simply Zhuyin. The Bopomofo alphabet is used mainly in Taiwan. Before language reform in China, Bopomofo was also used there. Since 1949, however, the use of the Pinyin alphabet has superseded the use of the Bopomofo alphabet in
