mainland Chinese Braille

Traditional Chinese Braille is as follows:Vivian Aldridge, 2000 [2002] [http://www.braille.ch/pschin-e.htm How is Chinese written in braille?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005044318/http://braille.ch/pschin-e.htm |date=2006-10-05 }}GB/T 15720-2008, {{lang|zh|中国盲文}} (Chinese Braille)

Chinese Braille initials generally follow the pinyin assignments of international braille. However, j, q, x are replaced with g, k, h, as the difference is predictable from the final. (This reflects the historical change of g, k, h (and also z, c, s) to j, q, x before i and ü.) The digraphs ch, sh, zh are assigned to {{bc|⠟}} (its pronunciation in Russian Braille), {{bc|⠱}} (a common pronunciation in international braille), and {{bc|⠌}}. R is assigned to {{bc|⠚}}, reflecting the old Wade-Giles transcription of {{angle bracket|j}}. ({{bc|⠗}} is used for the final er, the pronunciation of the name of that letter in English Braille.)

The finals approximate international braille values for several of the basic vowels ({{bc|⠢}} e (o), {{bc|⠊}} yi, {{bc|⠕}} wo, {{bc|⠥}} wu, {{bc|⠬}} yü, {{bc|⠳}} you, {{bc|⠮}} ei), but then necessarily diverge. However, there are a few parallels with other braille alphabets: {{bc|⠗}} er and {{bc|⠽}} wai are pronounced like the names of those letters in English braille; {{bc|⠑}} ye, {{bc|⠫}} ya, and {{bc|⠳}} you are pronounced like those letters in Russian Braille. {{bc|type=t|ç}} yuan, {{bc|type=t|23456}} yue, {{bc|type=t|gh}} yin, are similar to the old French pronunciations oin, ieu, in. For the most part, however, Chinese Braille finals do not obviously derive from previous conventions.

The pinyin final -i is only written where it corresponds to yi. Otherwise* (in ci zi si ri chi zhi shi) no final is written, a convention also found in bopomofo. The final -e is not written in {{bc|d}} de, a common grammatical particle written with several different characters in print.UNESCO (2013) [http://www.pharmabraille.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=122064 World Braille Usage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908010540/http://www.pharmabraille.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=122064 |date=2014-09-08 }}, 3rd edition.
({{bc|d}} is mistakenly said to be a contraction of di in the charts, but is confirmed as de in the sample.)

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Tone is marked sparingly.

Chinese Braille punctuation approximates the form of international braille punctuation, but several spread the corresponding dots across two cells rather than one. For example, the period is {{braille cell|type=text|⠐|⠆}}, which is the same pattern as the international single-cell norm of {{braille cell|type=text|dd}}.

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A braille cell ⠼ called number sign ({{zh|t=數號|s=数号|p=shùhào}}) is needed when representing numbers.

Examples:

: {{bc|⠼|⠚}} 0, {{bc|⠼|⠁}} 1, {{bc|⠼|⠃}} 2, … {{bc|⠼|⠊}} 9,

: {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠚}} 10, {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠁}} 11, {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠃}} 12, … {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠊}} 19, … {{bc|⠼|⠃|⠊}} 29, … {{bc|⠼|⠊|⠊}} 99,

: {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠚|⠚}} 100, {{bc|⠼|⠃|⠑|⠋}} 256, {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠚|⠃|⠙}} 1024, {{bc|⠼|⠁|⠚|⠙|⠓|⠑|⠛|⠋}} 1048576.

• Spaces are added between words, rather than between syllables.
• Tone is marked when needed. It comes after the final.
• As in bopomofo, the finals of the syllables zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi, ri are not marked.

Two examples, the first with full tone marking, the second with tone for disambiguation only:

{{fs interlinear |italics2=no |italics3=yes |glossing4=yes

|number=1)

|top={{zh|labels=no|s=时间不早了！ (時間不早了！)}}

⠱⠂⠛⠩⠁⠀⠃⠥⠆⠀⠵⠖⠄⠀⠇⠢⠰⠂

|style1=font-size:150%;

|{{bc|⠱|⠂|⠛|⠩|⠁}} {{bc|⠃|⠥|⠆}} {{bc|⠵|⠖|⠄}} {{bc|⠇|⠢|⠰|⠂}}

|时间 不 早 了！

|Shíjiān bù zǎo le!

|time not early PFV

|}}

{{fs interlinear |italics2=no |italics3=yes |glossing4=yes

|number=2)

|top={{zh|labels=no|s=草地上的花是风吹开的。}}

⠉⠖⠄⠙⠊⠆⠀⠱⠦⠀⠙⠀⠓⠿⠁⠀⠱⠆⠀⠋⠼⠀⠟⠺⠅⠪⠀⠙⠐⠆

|style1=font-size:150%;

|{{bc|c|ff|3|d|i|23}} {{bc|wh|hh}} {{bc|d}} {{bc|h|123456|a}} {{bc|wh|23}} {{bc|f|#}} {{bc|q|w|k|ow}} {{bc|d|5|23}}

|草地 上 的 花 是 风 吹开 的。

|cǎodì shang de huā shi feng chuikai de.

|grass above which flower is wind blow by

|The meaning of this metaphorical sentence should be “Flowers on the grasslands bloom because of the blowing wind.”}}

Chinese Braille has the same low level of ambiguity that pinyin does. In practice, tone is omitted 95% of the time, which leads to a space saving of a third. Tone is also omitted in pinyin military telegraphy, and causes little confusion in context.

The initial pairs g/j, k/q, h/x are distinguished by the final: initials j, q, x are followed by the vowels i or ü, while the initials g, k, h are followed by other vowels. This reflects the historical derivation of j, q, x from g, k, h before i and ü,They also derive from z, c, s before i or ü, and this is the identity reflected in Taiwanese braille. and parallels the dual pronunciations of c and g in Spanish and Italian. In pinyin, the redundancy is resolved in the other direction, with the diaeresis omitted from ü after j, q, x. Thus braille {{angle bracket|gü}} is equivalent to pinyin ju:

:{{bc|⠛|⠥}} gu,

:{{bc|⠛|⠬}} ju.

The China Library for the Blind ({{zh|s=中国盲文图书馆}}) in Beijing has several thousand volumes, mostly published by the China Braille Press ({{zh|s=中国盲文出版社}}).{{cite web |last=Fruchterman |first=Jim |url=http://benetech.blogspot.com/2008/10/china-braille-press.html |title=Beneblog: Technology Meets Society: China Braille Press |publisher=Benetech.blogspot.com |date=2008-10-08 |access-date=2012-08-13 |archive-date=2011-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708024920/http://benetech.blogspot.com/2008/10/china-braille-press.html |url-status=live }} The National Taiwan Library has a Braille room with a postal mail service and some electronic documents.{{cite web |url=http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v10n01/chen_c01.html |title=Delivery of Library Materials |publisher=Southernlibrarianship.icaap.org |access-date=2012-08-13 |archive-date=2012-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401234324/http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v10n01/chen_c01.html |url-status=live }}{{irrelevant citation|date=November 2019|reason=the page doesn't say National Taiwan Library uses Mainland Braille (as opposed to Taiwanese Braille, which is irrelevant to the current article)}}

File:Moon-prayer.jpg in various languages including Ningbo Chinese.]]

• Two-cell Chinese Braille
• Taiwanese Braille
• Cantonese Braille
• Moon type is a simplification of the Latin alphabet for embossing. An adaptation for Ningbo-reading blind people has been proposed.

{{notelist}}

• {{cite journal | last1 = Grotz | first1 = J. | date = Aug 1991 | title = The necessary reform of Chinese Braille writing | journal = Rehabilitation (Stuttgart) | volume = 30 | issue = 3| pages = 153–5 | pmid = 1947424 }}

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFNGAAAAYAAJ|year=1892|location=Printed by Gilbert & Rivington, Limited, St. John's House, Clerkenwell, London E.C.|title=Work for the blind in China|author=Constance Frederica Gordon Cumming|publisher=Gilbert & Rivington, Ld.|page=79|access-date=April 23, 2012}} [Original from Columbia University; digitized August 18, 2009]

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Chinese-braille.ogg|date=2011-01-24}}

• [http://www.omniglot.com/chinese/braille.htm Omniglot: Braille for Chinese]
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