Mandarin

As introduced by the Yearbook of the Republic of China:

The concept of a national language coalesced around 1910. In 1913, the Ministry of Education (MOE) convened a Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation to establish a standard national tongue. Delegates from different linguistic backgrounds, headed by Wu Jing-heng (also known as Wu Jhih-huei), a philosopher and one of the founders of the ROC, successfully created a national language that transcended locality and dialect, and which is today known to English speakers as Mandarin.

Phonetic Symbols

The sounds of Mandarin were notated with a set of phonetic symbols, which eventually developed into the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (MPS) that are still in use today. This collection of 39 symbols (later 40), plus four tone marks and a voicing symbol, was designed by Jhang Bing-lin (also known as Jhang Tai-yan).

Once the phonetic alphabet was promulgated in November 1918, primary school textbooks were required to use it alongside each written character. In April 1919, the MOE established the Preparatory Committee for the Unification of the National Language, making Mandarin the required language of instruction in elementary and middle schools. Gramophone records produced by Wang Pu and Jhao Yuan-ren in 1920 and 1921, respectively, were used as a standard reference for correct pronunciation. In 1932, a new system was devised for indicating the tone of a word and three initials were dropped, bringing the total number of MPS to today's 37.

Romanization

In 1928, the MOE promulgated a system of romanization for Mandarin called Gwoyeu Romatzyh, or the National Phonetic Symbols II. In spite of the system's official status, it was never widely used because of its complexity and the dominance of the Wade-Giles romanization system, which predated it. In 1984, the MOE adopted a modified form of Gwoyeu Romatzyh, in which tone spellings were replaced by tone marks. This, however, did not change the public's preference for Wade-Giles and occasional use of other romanization standards.

In 1996, the Educational Reform Council, led by Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh, recommended that the government adopt the Tongyong Pinyin system, chiefly devised by Dr. B. C. Yu of the Academia Sinica. This system was officially adopted in August 2002, and efforts are now being made to promote its use throughout Taiwan.