Taiwan uses Traditional characters and Zhuyin (Bopomofo); the Mainland uses Simplified and Pinyin. Here is the full, citable breakdown by region.
⬇ Download JSON dataset| Region | Script | Mandarin phonetic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | Traditional | Zhuyin (Bopomofo) | Children learn Zhuyin (注音) first to read; Hanyu Pinyin is taught later as secondary. |
| Mainland China | Simplified | Hanyu Pinyin | Hanyu Pinyin is universal in education, dictionaries and input methods. |
| Hong Kong | Traditional | Pinyin for Mandarin classes | Cantonese is the daily classroom language; no standard phonetic aid, Pinyin used in Mandarin lessons. |
| Macau | Traditional | Pinyin for Mandarin classes | Similar to Hong Kong; Portuguese is also official. Mandarin taught as a subject, often with Pinyin. |
| Singapore | Simplified | Hanyu Pinyin | Mandarin is the 'Mother Tongue' subject, taught with Simplified characters and Pinyin. |
| Malaysia | Simplified | Hanyu Pinyin | Chinese-medium schools mostly use Simplified since the 1980s, with Hanyu Pinyin. |
| Overseas heritage schools | Traditional or Simplified | Zhuyin or Pinyin | Taiwan-oriented weekend schools often teach Traditional + Zhuyin; Mainland-oriented ones teach Simplified + Pinyin. |
If your family follows the Taiwanese system (Traditional characters, Zhuyin first), Lumi Bopomofo teaches all 37 Zhuyin symbols through games — free to start with a one-time unlock for complete content, no ads and no subscription.
Get Lumi Bopomofo on the App Store →See the full Zhuyin dataset → · More open datasets →
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 — attribution (a link back to this page) is all that is required. Copy the citation below:
Lumi Apps (2026-07-10). Chinese script & phonetics by region. CC BY 4.0. https://alice51849.github.io/ios-app-guide/data/chinese-script-phonetics-by-region.html
Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. You may reuse it freely — please credit “Lumi Apps (https://alice51849.github.io/ios-app-guide)”. Machine-readable copy: chinese-script-phonetics-by-region.json.