Modern versions of the

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

have two kinds of

punctuation mark Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, consisti ...

s for indicating

proper noun A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity ('' Africa''; ''Jupiter''; '' Sarah''; ''Walmart'') as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

s: the proper name mark / proper noun mark (

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

: 专名号;

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: 專名號) and the book title marks / title marks (

: 书名号;

: 書名號). The former may be applied to all proper nouns except when the nouns in question are titles of textual or artistic works, in which case the latter are used instead. Unlike the proper name mark, there are several variants of book title marks.

Old-school style

The old-school style uses two different underlines. The proper name mark appears as a straight underline , while the book title mark appears as a wavy underline . On horizontally aligned texts, on-the-left beside lines and are used instead of underlines. In Taiwan, the underlined book title mark is called "Type A" (甲式) in contrast to "Type B" (乙式), 《》. In China, only type B book title marks are accepted in modern day use. Both Taiwan and China recognise straight underline as proper name mark. When a proper noun immediately follows another, the lines accompanying each of them do not connect; however, many digital systems are unable to correctly display this break. The old-school style proper name marks were an official rule in Taiwan and Hong Kong earlier. However, since the old-school style is hard to typeset, the current use of this style is common only in Traditional Chinese school textbooks as well as Classical Chinese text that has been re-laid out in a modern style.

Example

放逐，乃賦離騒。失明，厥有國語。 Translation:

Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BC) was a Chinese poet and aristocrat in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the '' ...

was exiled, the '' Li Sao'' was thus composed. Zuo Qiu (or Zuoqiu) lost his sight, hence there is the ''Guo Yu''.

Popular styles

The popular style uses a pair of

angle brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

for book title marks, which are intended to surround the title of a piece of textual or artistic work. There are two kinds of angle brackets available. The double angle brackets (《》) and single angle brackets (〈〉). In horizontally aligned texts, 《》 and 〈〉 were used as book title marks. In vertically-aligned text, the rotated forms of the above-mentioned symbols (︽⋯︾) and (︿⋯﹀) are used instead. The proper noun mark is not defined in popular styles both in Taiwan and China. The choice between single and double-angle brackets is vary. In Taiwan's Traditional Chinese, it is according to the format of the textual or artistic work – in general, double-angle brackets are for works that stand by themselves, which would be italicized if they were in English text, whereas single-angle brackets are for sections or chapters in the work. In Mainland China's Simplified Chinese, double-angle brackets should always be used. The single-angle brackets only appear between double-angle brackets to indicate a title within another title. The popular style of book title mark is called type B in Taiwan, while the angle brackets are the only acceptable style in China for modern day use. Since these symbols are processed as individual characters, there are virtually no difficulties for digital systems to display them correctly. These styles are dominant amongst both printed and digital Chinese text. In Japanese language, 『』 are usually used as book title mark.

Example

In Taiwanese usage: 《史記》是司馬遷所著的一本綜合體史書，其中〈項羽本紀〉寫項羽只信舊族姻親，不能用謀士范增，以至敗亡的歷史經驗。 Rough translation: ''

Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...

'' is an overview-type history book written by

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

. The "Basic Annals of Xiang Yu" chapter in the book is about how

Xiang Yu Xiang Yu (), born Xiang Ji, was a Chinese warlord who founded and led the short-lived ancient Chinese states, kingdom-state of Western Chu during the interregnum period between the Qin dynasty, Qin and Han dynasty, Han dynasties of China, d ...

trusts his old-day relatives instead of his advisor Fan Zeng which leads to his defeat. In Chinese usage: 《教育部关于提请审议〈高等教育自学考试试行办法〉的报告》 Translation: ''The report of the Ministry of Education on Proposing about the "Interim Measures for self-taught higher education"''

References

Notes

{{notefoot Chinese orthography Typography Names zh-yue:固有名詞#標點符號

Old-school style

Example

Popular styles

Example

See also

References

Notes