Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (MPS II) is a romanization system formerly used in Taiwan. It was created to replace the complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh system, which used tonal spelling—and to co-exist with the Wade–Giles romanization as well as bopomofo. It is sometimes referred to as Gwoyeu Romatzyh 2 or GR2.

History

Based on the earlier and more complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the tentative version of MPS II was released on May 10, 1984, by the Ministry of Education under the Chiang Ching-kuo administration. After two years of feedback from the general public, the official version was established on January 28, 1986. To distinguish bopomofo from MPS II, the former is officially called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式). Despite its official status for almost two decades until it was replaced by Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, MPS II existed only in some governmental publications (such as travel brochures and dictionaries). However, MPS II was not used for the official romanized names of Taiwanese places, though many road signs replaced during this period use it. It never gained the same status as did Wade–Giles. It is virtually unused overseas.

Table

Initials

Finals

Features

An example phrase, "The second type of Chinese phonetic symbols": Spaces are generally used in place of hyphens, except in personal names, which use hyphens in between the syllables of the given names.