Wu Chinese , region = Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces; overseas and migrant communities , ethnicity = Wu , speakers = million , date = 2021 , ref = e27 , fa ...

has four major schools of romanization. The most popular school, Common Wu Pinyin (), was developed by amateur language clubs and local learners. There are two competing schemes; both adhere to the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...

(IPA) and are very similar to each other. The initial scheme was "Wu Chinese Society pinyin" (, developed around 2005), and it formed the basis of "Wugniu pinyin" (, around 2016). Wu Chinese Society pinyin in general does not mark tones. The name ''Wugniu'' comes from the

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

pronunciation of 吴语. Either of them is the default romanization scheme in most learning materials. The second and historical school is the missionary school (see :zh:吴语拉丁化方案). This school of English-based Latin orthographies was developed by Western missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and used to write Bible translations and other educational texts. A representative romanization from this school is the Edkins romanization of Shanghainese. Another school is the Latin Phonetic Method (, French-Wu or ''Fawu'' []). Its use is in decline. It utilizes the similarities between French and Wu phonetics and thus adheres to both IPA and French orthography. It was developed in 2001 by a Shanghai-born surgeon living in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The final, and least used school, is developed by modifying

Hanyu pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...

as sanctioned by the State Council. It is the only school developed by professional linguists, mostly working in state-administered universities. While more than 20 competing schemes within this school have been published since the 1980s, the most notable one is the Shanghainese Pinyin (, often shortened to Qian's Pin ��拼, developed by Qian Nairong in 2006. This school is often used in formally published dictionaries and textbooks compiled by Qian and others.

Comparison chart

All examples are given in

and

Suzhounese Suzhounese (Suzhounese: ; ), also known as the Suzhou Language, is the language belonging to the Sinitic Language Family traditionally spoken in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu, China. Suzhounese is a dialect of Wu Chinese, and was tradition ...

Comparison chart

Initials

Finals

Tones

References