Google Translate has a new function: conversion to Hanyu Pinyin, which would be exciting and wonderful if it were any good. But unfortunately it’s terrible, all things considered. What Google has created is about at the same level as scripts...

Until very recently, Google Maps gave street names in Taiwan in Tongyong Pinyin — most of the time, at least. This was the case even for Taipei, which most definitely has long used Hanyu Pinyin, not Tongyong Pinyin. The romanization on Google Maps was...

Zhou Ji (Zhōu Jì / 周济 / 周濟) is out, in a move that caught many by surprise. Under-fire education minister removed from post, China Daily, November 2, 2009 China Dismisses Its Minister of Education, New York Times, November 3, 2009 China’s...

Ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan are reportedly suffering from problems with the education system, including that Uzbekistan has switched to the Latin alphabet but Kyrgyzstan has not. Kyrgyzstan is home to more than 766,000 ethnic Uzbeks out of...

Street signs in Taipei County are beginning to be changed to Hanyu Pinyin. For Pinyin supporters here, this is a long-awaited development. Here are some examples of new signs in Banqiao, the seat of the Taipei County Government. They were taken near...