Chinese Notes: Difference between revisions

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=Notes on Chinese artists and releases in MusicBrainz=
These are some notes about open issues and tips to editors/voters concerning the Chinese artists and releases in MusicBrainz. See also:
* [[Chinese Artists]]
* [[Tell Similar Languages Apart#Chinese|Tell Similar Languages Apart: Chinese, Japanese, etc]].
* [[Credit Translations/Chinese]] (useful terminology)


Please contribute and comment at will!
These are some notes about open issues and tips to editors/voters concerning the Chinese artists and releases in MusicBrainz. See also [[Chinese Artists|ChineseArtists]] and the Chinese section in [[Tell Similar Languages Apart|TellSimilarLanguagesApart]]. Please contribute and comment at will!

==Current state==

There are roughly 1300 proper Chinese releases and somewhere around 450 [[Chinese Artists|ChineseArtists]]. Only the super-stars of Chinese music have fairly complete discographies, while many other well known artists have poor coverage or are missing completely. The number of active native Chinese editors are probably below 5 and including editors with Chinese as a second language won't change that number by much.


==Romanization systems==
==Romanization systems==
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Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音/汉语拼音) is the romanization system used in mainland China and is also an ISO standard for romanization of Mandarin Chinese. Students of Chinese will typically learn this system which probably why virtually all transliterated releases in [[MusicBrainz]] use it.
Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音/汉语拼音) is the romanization system used in mainland China and is also an ISO standard for romanization of Mandarin Chinese. Students of Chinese will typically learn this system which probably why virtually all transliterated releases in [[MusicBrainz]] use it.


Mandarin Chinese is also the official language on Taiwan, but the official romanization system is Tongyong Pinyin. For political and historical reasons a mixture of systems are used, including Wades-Giles, MPS2 and Hanyu Pinyin. However, person names are usually based on Wade-Giles spellings, which is what you will see in the [[Sortname|SortName]]<code><nowiki></nowiki></code>s of Taiwanese artists. More details on [[WikiPedia:Romanization_of_Chinese_in_Taiwan#Personal_names|Wikipedia]].
Mandarin Chinese is also the official language on Taiwan and since 2009 Hanyu Pinyin is the official romanization system. For political and historical reasons a mixture of systems are used, including Wades-Giles, MPS2, Tongyong and Hanyu Pinyin. However, person names are usually based on Wade-Giles spellings, which is what you will see in the [[Artist Sort Name|sort names]] of Taiwanese artists. More details on [[WikiPedia:Romanization_of_Chinese_in_Taiwan#Personal_names|Wikipedia]].


Cantonese-speaking artists (Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong) will typically not use any of the systems mentioned above, but rather a romanization based on Cantonese pronounciation.
Cantonese-speaking artists (Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong) will typically not use any of the systems mentioned above, but rather a romanization based on Cantonese pronounciation.
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Futhermore, there are different standards for spacing and capitalization of romanized names. In mainland China the given name is typically written without spacing. In Taiwan and Hong Kong however, two-syllable given names are usually written with a hyphen between each syllable, sometimes also capitalizing the second.
Futhermore, there are different standards for spacing and capitalization of romanized names. In mainland China the given name is typically written without spacing. In Taiwan and Hong Kong however, two-syllable given names are usually written with a hyphen between each syllable, sometimes also capitalizing the second.


It is also common for artists to choose their own "English" name or a non-standard romanization, so some should be taken before changing the sort names of Chinese artists with which you are not familiar.
It is also common for artists to choose their own "English" name or a non-standard romanization, so some should be taken before changing the sort names of Chinese artists with which you are not familiar.


==Traditional and simplified Chinese==
==Traditional and simplified Chinese==


The current text search does no conversion between traditional and simplified Chinese, which has caused many duplicate artists to be entered (can be fixed with [[Artist Alias|ArtistAlias]]) and lookup of releases with Picard to fail if they are in the wrong script. No bugs have been filed for this issue, which would be a first step.
The current text search does no conversion between traditional and simplified Chinese, which has caused many duplicate artists to be entered (can be fixed with [[Artist Alias|ArtistAlias]]) and lookup of releases with Picard to fail if they are in the wrong script. No bugs have been filed for this issue, which would be a first step.

==Terminology==

An incomplete list of common words and abbreviations used on covers and in liner notes.
* 曲/作曲: composer
* 詞/作詞/填詞: lyrics
* 編曲: arranger
* 編寫: arrangment; Example: 合聲編寫 (background vocal arrangement)
* 製作人: producer
* 監製: production
* 錄音(工程)師: recording engineer
* 錄音室: recording studio
* 混音(工程)師: mixing engineer
* 混音室: mixing studio
* 合音/合聲/和音/和聲: background vocal
* 演唱: vocal (usually
* 主唱: lead vocal
* 合唱: co-vocal (usually [[Featuring Artist Style|FeaturingArtistStyle]] should be applied)
* CF: Commercial Film; Note that this [[Extra Title Information|ExtraTitleInformation]] normally doesn't belong in the title, but can be placed in an annotation. Example: 華歌爾2001年CF主題曲 (2001 Wacoal commercial tune)
* OT: Original Title


==Style issues==
==Style issues==
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Classic Chinese uses neither punctuation nor spacing, but modern Chinese has adopted the common punctuation from Latin scripts. However, they are usually used in their full-width forms.
Classic Chinese uses neither punctuation nor spacing, but modern Chinese has adopted the common punctuation from Latin scripts. However, they are usually used in their full-width forms.
{|
{| border="1"
|-
|-
| '''Half-width''' || , || . || ? || ! || : || ; || ( || )
| '''Half-width''' || , || . || ? || ! || : || ; || ( || )
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# 標題 (某某版) [half-width brackets with leading space]
# 標題 (某某版) [half-width brackets with leading space]


[[Extra Title Information Style|ExtraTitleInformationStyle]] only states that such must information "must be entered in parentheses after the [[Main Title|MainTitle]]", which is true of all three above formats.
[[Extra Title Information Style]] only states that such must information "must be entered in parentheses after the main title", which is true of all three above formats.

The use of the middle dot and other symbols with similar appearance is quite inconsistent and confused. The below tables shows the type of punctuation used and some of the releases/tracks where they appear.

====Middle dot====

When a middle dot appears as a pause or word separator in titles, usually the following Unicode character is used:
* In simplified Chinese: "·" (U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT)
* In traditional Chinese: "‧" (U+2027 HYPHENATION POINT)

It would probably be better to always use U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT.

This might not be correct though. Current use:

{|
| '''Symbol''': · || '''Big5''': Yes || '''GBK''': Yes || '''Unicode''': U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT
|-
| colspan="4" |
*[[release:ffcb1c3c-e32e-415a-bcfd-5f62afa8069c|金片子: 壹·天涯歌女]]
*[[release:18a6be84-3bc2-4b92-88e4-d60c0d103284|时光· 漫步]]
*[[recording:104dc295-5e84-46fb-8d7d-530c6f2e63bb|忘·记]]
*[[release:f6389ad4-ecb5-44fa-9f26-e34594c3a416|首選蕭亞軒 · 美麗的插曲 (disc 1)]]
*[[release:2de7397a-9421-401b-811a-6ebf39b27e90|首選蕭亞軒 · 美麗的插曲 (disc 2)]]
*[[release:232c3267-2167-4998-b0cb-bb8851333489|Jane· 爱]]
*[[release:20973245-5418-478a-b24e-b6dddc5ae4c8|Jane· 梦想]]
*[[release:51e1ee70-2aab-4061-9772-52161c6df448|色·戒]]
*[[recording:70375534-ccea-4d3b-b898-745ad6feb814|色·戒]]
*[[recording:c9c77bb1-5c81-465e-bbeb-cab280b6bb1a|愛·魔力]]
*[[release:dac2d209-02e2-457e-87de-f6c6b80b1ca4|絕對痴心·手放開]]
*[[release:e2729e14-b6be-4ecd-a801-cc7c6209242c|滾石香港黃金十年: 羽·泉精選]]
*[[recording:f004c2d2-597c-4430-bbc1-e15a480e212a|忘·記]]
*[[recording:818f20bc-674c-44e0-9e33-1910743077af|歌·頌]]
*[[recording:54da3472-8a6a-44e6-8897-7143f2373ea7|採檳榔· 紫竹調]]
*[[recording:915e5e80-b717-4da1-8a95-4ad8454f7a6e|花兒與少年·掛紅燈]]
*[[release:844bd163-b78e-4476-a058-fc162f561010|如果· 愛]]
*[[recording:f3b7b9cd-8775-42eb-841b-18f0e18ac8a7|如果·愛]]
*[[recording:ed927f00-a1c0-46e8-a01e-434fa4497616|心 · 戰 ~RED CLIFF~ (End Roll Version) / Theme Song of Part I]]
|}

==== Hypenation point ====

{|
| '''Symbol''': ‧ || '''Big5''': Yes || '''GBK''': No || '''Unicode''': U+2027 HYPHENATION POINT
|-
| colspan="4" |
*[[recording:43c8129f-579c-499c-90f4-e578349340f2|知己‧自已]]
*[[recording:604f2a2a-f890-4f28-ab7e-dc56e325f2c1|暫停‧開始過]]
*[[recording:839a4a55-a4e5-4ade-b801-a2dbb3174cd8|相信她‧關心她]]
*[[release:edfb5768-d12e-4a77-8b0f-84f0209c65cc|愛‧歌姬]]
*[[recording:69f68841-eff2-420d-9cd3-2a746afa58c4|誕生‧青春舞曲]]
*[[release:f51f9685-5a1b-4656-8de9-f880f97db66f|駱駝‧飛鳥‧魚]]
*[[recording:d50f223a-a5b8-45e9-8322-3b2faaf80dae|愛情‧進站]]
*[[recording:c8a4fed9-ac53-4b02-a5e0-ebfc4ae52ec8|越九歌‧帝舜楚調(詞調歌曲)]]
*[[recording:4390a38a-7c57-4e51-ace4-440b338b5954|越九歌‧越相側商調(詞調歌曲,人聲演唱)]]
*[[recording:02540f69-1613-4f2f-afca-89f06677f696|烏夜啼‧石榴(琴歌)]]
*[[recording:9d30e93d-4548-47cb-ad34-17346321c3aa|納西古樂‧白沙細樂套曲(樂隊與聲樂)]]
*[[recording:4fecad1c-5bf8-4bfb-ab4b-abf06258f665|諸宮調董解元西廂記‧憑欄人纏令(〔美美〕〔大聖樂〕唱段)]]
*[[recording:774dc58f-1bc9-4164-92a1-67207a3e1fbb|諸宮調天寶遺事‧馬踐楊妃(〔滾繡球〕段,人聲演唱)]]
*[[recording:0ce84fc1-f8f6-4315-b27b-c262111bd16f|潼關懷古‧山坡羊(元散曲,人聲演唱)]]
*[[recording:c0f9edca-ca36-490f-9f85-8658af98879a|事林廣記‧願成雙令(唱賺 配元顧德潤《憶別》散曲詞)]]
*[[recording:233c7834-fed0-423e-91a4-5722b110af72|秋思‧離亭宴(元散曲,譜據《九宮大成》,人聲演唱)]]
*[[recording:d94ed363-f7d7-4fdb-9209-20a4722632b3|閨怨‧翠裙腰(元散曲,譜據《九宮大成》,人聲演唱)]]
*[[recording:b2f308ee-c467-4ee7-8f9f-37c19b4371c4|竇娥冤‧斬娥(〔滾繡球〕 戲曲唱段)]]
*[[recording:65838a95-0472-4204-92e9-4b8ba2435ef8|琵琶記‧口契糠(〔孝順兒〕南戲唱段)]]
*[[recording:14eded99-83ca-42e0-833d-b1f13271f63d|浣紗記‧打圍(〔醉太平〕昆曲唱段,中國京劇院演唱)]]
*[[recording:8e1f52da-209e-4846-8a71-d45af3146031|玉簪記‧琴挑(昆曲唱段)]]
*[[recording:5593eb54-0805-4391-812d-89dc4df0dee5|烏夏克木卡姆‧第一達斯坦間奏曲(歌舞樂)]]
*[[recording:e623f047-2de2-49d5-bc76-efb53e3aa878|弦索備考‧清音串(合奏,《弦索備考》13套樂曲之一)]]
*[[recording:9615c99f-33e0-4d92-896d-a5e5c4a56d87|弦索備考‧十六板(合奏,《弦索備考》其中一部彙集譜)]]
*[[recording:6673c16c-e01d-4262-a00a-125b3cc1e11d|散‧聚]]
*[[recording:b7ebbfc6-dba2-4318-a951-82f91c228075|心‧戰~RED CLIFF~]]
*[[release:d5560fac-e7b6-4d6b-bd51-19be92d10b30|心‧战~RED CLIFF~]]
*[[recording:62655a74-50f9-468f-98b5-2f226f441e14|心‧战~RED CLIFF~]]
*[[release:3177808b-9ce7-4996-8ece-4bf43fe0d66b|如果‧愛]]
*[[recording:67efd787-338f-4282-b08f-5def2aa55c43|如果‧愛]]
*[[recording:6fc75002-c761-4584-8889-cc4c9aad71e7|早知道‧愛]]
*[[recording:71cedc42-9a1f-4c59-811c-f059ba9a48db|愛的成名曲(早知道‧愛+氧氣+愛很簡單+你不在)]]
|}

==== Ideographic comma ====

{|
| '''Symbol''': 、 || '''Big5''': Yes || '''GBK''': Yes || '''Unicode''': U+3001 IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA
|-
| colspan="4" |
*[[recording:ac68a42b-bf17-4ed8-8f8f-6dc85ba43d2b|時間、地點、人物]]
*[[recording:e34772a9-a1a0-4b48-99d1-5180309509c4|真面目、假面目]]
*[[recording:74887a79-aea6-4699-81a5-3256e66f0d0a|簡單、真誠 - 陳少寶]]
*[[release:3363c402-cfe9-459b-8704-4a517911004d|愛、火、花]]
*[[recording:4b4ec4db-b7cd-4d1f-8654-24e5c26c0962|愛、火、花]]
*[[recording:fe3650a1-cad5-45ee-8e00-612f1059b58d|月光、鸟、睡云]]
*[[recording:b5e08798-7fa0-4270-8faa-b2c47e24b028|紅酒、白酒]]
*[[recording:c6d212b4-8243-4cfe-8755-568acde6efa4|老鼠爱大米(香香、杨臣刚合唱版)]]
*[[recording:474a55e0-b757-4459-88d3-9baa05ab626b|舊信、舊夢]]
*[[release:3bfe8bb6-b2fb-4e98-952a-ca50e818eff5|狀元模擬考(馮翊綱、宋少卿)]]
*[[recording:6381a0ce-9c61-427c-8696-6de7fc01aeaa|共赴奥运梦 (杨臣刚、香香、李咏红合唱)]]
*[[recording:d9e183b7-9b94-456c-9321-a1a479a232dc|变了、散了、算了]]
*[[recording:12c84219-d5b8-4c00-a78a-8a1291d9ae5c|公路、塵埃、四合院]]
*[[recording:8adaa514-8619-4e91-967e-b93dbd718d00|不變是你、永遠是我]]
*[[recording:e51f4921-3e24-4e02-a36f-3e437961ea05|昨天、今天]]
*[[recording:dc70d6d8-22d2-4395-b217-f715698c3c26|再見、我的愛人]]
*[[release:2b03e923-dc7a-40b1-ab0a-4bd324419ea6|演唱會(一九八二年一月九、十、十一日)現場錄音珍藏版 (disc 1)]]
*[[release:02b0c822-e336-46a5-a23b-5c73cb356d50|演唱會(一九八二年一月九、十、十一日)現場錄音珍藏版 (disc 2)]]
*[[recording:18dd60fb-f521-4e3d-ac9f-ed89c5fbce78|黃鶯吟(古琴、簫與琵琶)]]
*[[recording:f1e2618c-30b2-417c-a4cd-f441c1329edf|竇娥冤(古琴、簫、琵琶)]]
*[[recording:38b84b84-f498-4f52-b96e-9145891e7380|九宮大城(<風雨像生貨郎旦>(九轉貨郎兒)四轉、五轉、六轉 唱段)]]
*[[recording:cf582d28-04cc-4647-9e54-ba5df98ec6bf|洞庭秋思(古琴、簫、二胡合奏)]]
*[[recording:a550d47d-5688-41f5-aab7-04707c3225a9|星期天、我不談感情]]
*[[recording:7de89670-c9cd-4c99-b3f0-63b20523e00c|昨日、今日、明日]]
*[[recording:a8543c0b-e484-4514-a42e-9dc210f3be4e|梁祝相思(古筝、二胡) Contemplation of the Butterfly]]
*[[release:98759bfa-f50d-4164-9cc8-f03b70389289|夢了、瘋了、倦了]]
*[[recording:884e34d2-df8b-4306-bed2-0d696fb2f3f6|愛情、童真、夢想]]
*[[recording:4abbf995-9da3-44c5-b402-1daee062da91|我的未來、我的家、我的妻]]
*[[recording:9189cb92-cb6f-405b-8958-64eaff2648f6|捆著我、缠著我]]
*[[recording:aa3541aa-86e0-4ae1-8b65-50cd3f6f4f8e|再見、我的愛人]]
|}

==== Ideographic full stop ====

{|
| '''Symbol''': 。 || '''Big5''': Yes || '''GBK''': Yes || '''Unicode''': U+3002 IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP
|-
| colspan="4" |
*[[recording:2667c140-edc1-468b-9fcc-dbbc5632a33f|「就得我一個,留響宜家。」]]
*[[release:77104a6c-ed89-4dfd-979a-4e4031f0a84d|太傻。情歌回顧集]]
*[[release:770af72e-3164-4b3a-838e-06e764e13d3e|月光。薰衣草]]
*[[recording:36e0f305-822c-4792-9be1-1711d1923792|星期一。天氣晴。我離開你]]
*[[recording:d2db193f-af92-46fd-88af-b2ff4f8ae00e|母島解體。登基]]
*[[recording:a1d0c8c6-6e25-4fbf-960d-05f2094823b4|半屍。橫氣山林]]
*[[recording:ee7cbfed-4c8f-4c87-a96c-dd2ee24d8fd4|相爱吧。河水和月光]]
*[[release:cad7a487-2dc1-472d-b551-a90539822161|愛。夢想出發]]
|}

==== Katakana middle dot ====

{|
| '''Symbol''': ・ || '''Big5''': No || '''GBK''': Yes || '''Unicode''': U+30FB KATAKANA MIDDLE DOT
|-
| colspan="4" |
*[[release:52441813-674d-4f8a-8660-f2ed0954c251|情・菲・得意 (disc 1)]]
*[[release:653ac614-694f-4452-a742-284ac112c127|情・菲・得意 (disc 2)]]
*[[release:e64da797-4dc4-42b9-a3ef-adafa4e95cc0|情・菲・得意 (disc 3)]]
*[[recording:8f90c789-f4d1-4f55-a2da-4fec2f699438|陽光・雨]]
|}

==== Fullwidth full stop ====

{|
| '''Symbol''': . || '''Big5''': Yes || '''GBK''': Yes || '''Unicode''': U+FF0E FULLWIDTH FULL STOP
|-
| colspan="4" |
*[[recording:91ff9cb0-9eb5-4b3d-aaee-1a7adcaded51|來自你.來自我.來自他]]
*[[release:eb0d40c1-02d3-4816-abe9-213a979e081a|麥兜.菠蘿油王子]]
*[[recording:f8ba73ab-dad3-4f55-b3db-69b935dcb567|麥兜.菠蘿油王子 (廣告歌)]]
*[[recording:7c21b485-919f-484b-8312-b89d45bc0896|阿當.夏娃]]
*[[release:69a452d5-a14d-4f71-b780-08b1279dbbef|多一點精選集(二).上海灘]]
*[[release:1e94d5e5-b590-4171-9354-d2fcc22696cd|多一點精選集(四).戲劇人生篇]]
*[[recording:eeef3515-3362-48e5-a71a-fbff27c98afd|2night.藏愛]]
*[[recording:f48bda9c-7201-4dc1-b37b-322d28bfa740|愛.情大舞台]]
*[[recording:d10f2fb7-58fd-468d-b134-ae428f3c207f|愛.情大舞台]]
*[[recording:96e0046c-c366-4709-bb11-ea593d864274|我愛你.在哪裡]]
*[[recording:7e68754d-0b67-4bf5-8532-f5d28ec11087|掏了心.傷了心]]
*[[recording:f0c0622b-790a-4bf5-bc16-e245ffc78de0|幸福.這麼遠.那麼甜]]
*[[release:8f4657c0-a472-4d1b-bcff-3a7fa981c916|勁歌.金曲]]
*[[recording:cce56c20-41c2-4823-956f-d41b76fb08aa|十分.愛]]
*[[recording:1dbde474-069e-4537-a6b3-69334a037570|十分.愛 (合唱版)]]
*[[recording:8b4f61f6-b670-442f-b4ac-0028e2859004|大男人.小女孩]]
*[[recording:b9c12b64-16ab-4a95-96e5-372ae33d6786|大男人.小女孩]]
*[[recording:be97d9b6-6efe-4f0e-8410-95f7edd71d04|2night.藏爱]]
*[[release:93042a2c-c1fa-4898-a5db-befdb9dc1fc2|昨日.唯一.更多]]
*[[recording:af7afea2-1ec4-4b1c-918d-3df96884e85b|落单.续]]
|}


===Artist collaborations===
===Artist collaborations===


[[Featuring Artist Style|FeaturingArtistStyle]] requires the use of "藝人甲 (feat. 藝人乙)" for the typical featured artist case. This format is not completely alien to Chinese and does appear on some covers, but there are still some entries in the database using the "藝人甲 (藝人乙合唱)" format. I've been slightly hesitant to change them since the AR:s already show the relationship with great clarity and because "合唱" means "sing together" and thus implies vocal performance. This is a fairly minor issue, but should be put right in the future.
[[Featuring Artist Style]] requires the use of "藝人甲 (feat. 藝人乙)" for the typical featured artist case. This format is not completely alien to Chinese and does appear on some covers, but there are still some entries in the database using the "藝人甲 (藝人乙合唱)" format. I've been slightly hesitant to change them since the AR:s already show the relationship with great clarity and because "合唱" means "sing together" and thus implies vocal performance. This is a fairly minor issue, but should be put right in the future.


[[Featuring Artist Style|FeaturingArtistStyle]] does not clearly state how collaborations between 3 or more artists should be formatted. The de facto standard "Artist A, Artist B & Artist C" is seldom used for Chinese artists, for various reasons. This issue has been [http://lists.musicbrainz.org/pipermail/musicbrainz-style/2007-October/005249.html discussed] on the style mailing list.
[[Featuring Artist Style]] does not clearly state how collaborations between 3 or more artists should be formatted. The de facto standard "Artist A, Artist B & Artist C" is seldom used for Chinese artists, for various reasons. This issue has been [http://lists.musicbrainz.org/pipermail/musicbrainz-style/2007-October/005249.html discussed] on the style mailing list.


The collaboration artists in question:
The collaboration artists in question:
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/f8c6e473-599b-4816-940a-6e58ba51dc17.html 范宗沛、彭靖、林海、鍾成虎、董運昌、楊錦聰] Fan Zong Pei, Peng Jing, Lin Hai, Zhong Cheng Hu, Dong Yun Chang, Yang Jin Cong
* [[artist:f8c6e473-599b-4816-940a-6e58ba51dc17|范宗沛、彭靖、林海、鍾成虎、董運昌、楊錦聰]] Fan Zong Pei, Peng Jing, Lin Hai, Zhong Cheng Hu, Dong Yun Chang, Yang Jin Cong
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/04b1dca7-efe1-47d7-a370-11b046175791.html 林海峰 & 陳浩峰 & 林一峰] Lamb, Jan & Chan, Ho-Fung & Lam, Chet
* [[artist:04b1dca7-efe1-47d7-a370-11b046175791|林海峰 & 陳浩峰 & 林一峰]] Lamb, Jan & Chan, Ho-Fung & Lam, Chet
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/a69cf94c-d852-47bd-813d-ad9351e9e129.html 李宗盛 & 周華健 & 黃品冠] Lee, Jonathan & Chow, Emil & Wong, Victor
* [[artist:a69cf94c-d852-47bd-813d-ad9351e9e129|李宗盛 & 周華健 & 黃品冠]] Lee, Jonathan & Chow, Emil & Wong, Victor
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/5c691051-a55a-4453-abb4-ae22f26a3c2c.html 任賢齊 & 阿牛 & 光良] Ren, Richie & Ah Niu & Wong, Michael
* [[artist:5c691051-a55a-4453-abb4-ae22f26a3c2c|任賢齊 & 阿牛 & 光良]] Ren, Richie & Ah Niu & Wong, Michael
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/af0f4fba-9096-4dac-9db4-90c2f04af78a.html 任賢齊 & 黃品源 & 阿牛 & 李正帆] Ren, Richie & Huang, Pin Yuan & Ah Niu & Lee, Cheng Fan
* [[artist:af0f4fba-9096-4dac-9db4-90c2f04af78a|任賢齊 & 黃品源 & 阿牛 & 李正帆]] Ren, Richie & Huang, Pin Yuan & Ah Niu & Lee, Cheng Fan
* [http://musicbrainz.org/artist/5708f669-6271-4821-ad9b-27bb73195356.html 张纪中 周华健 胡军] 张纪中 周华健 胡军
* [[artist:5708f669-6271-4821-ad9b-27bb73195356|张纪中 周华健 胡军]] 张纪中 周华健 胡军


===Traditional Chinese Music===
===Traditional Chinese Music===


It's not obvious how [[Classical Style Guide|ClassicalStyleGuide]] should be applied to traditional Chinese music. The use of English and Latin script in an otherwise Chinese context is sub-optimal. These are some releases with traditional Chinese music which may have style issues:
It's not obvious how [[Classical Style Guide]] should be applied to traditional Chinese music. The use of English and Latin script in an otherwise Chinese context is sub-optimal. These are some releases with traditional Chinese music which may have style issues:
* [http://musicbrainz.org/release/3ff90901-6d2f-44ef-805e-2169827dec88.html 殤]
* [[release:3ff90901-6d2f-44ef-805e-2169827dec88|]]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/release/72c36f58-8fb4-41f7-b482-ac89b662bee8.html 三笑]
* [[release:72c36f58-8fb4-41f7-b482-ac89b662bee8|三笑]]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/release/07e2fe68-af9e-426f-bcb4-0085bafbfe72.html 山水響]
* [[release:07e2fe68-af9e-426f-bcb4-0085bafbfe72|山水響]]


===Mixed Language Titles===


When foreign languages/scripts appear in release or track titles they should be capitalized according to the [[Capitalization Standard]] of that language.
----[[Needs Intertwingling|NeedsIntertwingling]] [[Bad WikiName|BadWikiName]]


'''Examples:'''
[[Category:To Be Reviewed]] [[Category:Metadata]]
* [[recording:e58d3db9-7755-43d5-b9d4-0064300033eb|I Love You 無望]]
* [[recording:1b424583-5e85-4c9a-9ff2-a0d9d6c192b4|Coffee, Tea or Me 我愛你]]
* [[recording:b172e163-c1f1-41f1-9266-285eb1fb0b61|我的Superstar]]
* [[recording:afe527e5-e377-4f2b-8e9e-ce573cbf9a4c|親愛的Jazz]]
* [[recording:8169e429-1057-47d8-849e-ed3c670b850d|Rock'n Roll的Style]]
* [[recording:493c33fa-d523-4f73-8b3a-9ec86dcff879|愛情Yogurt]]

Latest revision as of 17:35, 7 January 2015

These are some notes about open issues and tips to editors/voters concerning the Chinese artists and releases in MusicBrainz. See also:

Please contribute and comment at will!

Romanization systems

Wikipedia covers romanization of Chinese in great depth, but a quick summary is in order.

Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音/汉语拼音) is the romanization system used in mainland China and is also an ISO standard for romanization of Mandarin Chinese. Students of Chinese will typically learn this system which probably why virtually all transliterated releases in MusicBrainz use it.

Mandarin Chinese is also the official language on Taiwan and since 2009 Hanyu Pinyin is the official romanization system. For political and historical reasons a mixture of systems are used, including Wades-Giles, MPS2, Tongyong and Hanyu Pinyin. However, person names are usually based on Wade-Giles spellings, which is what you will see in the sort names of Taiwanese artists. More details on Wikipedia.

Cantonese-speaking artists (Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong) will typically not use any of the systems mentioned above, but rather a romanization based on Cantonese pronounciation.

Wikipedia's list of common Chinese surnames provides a very good overview of common family names and their romanization using different systems.

Futhermore, there are different standards for spacing and capitalization of romanized names. In mainland China the given name is typically written without spacing. In Taiwan and Hong Kong however, two-syllable given names are usually written with a hyphen between each syllable, sometimes also capitalizing the second.

It is also common for artists to choose their own "English" name or a non-standard romanization, so some should be taken before changing the sort names of Chinese artists with which you are not familiar.

Traditional and simplified Chinese

The current text search does no conversion between traditional and simplified Chinese, which has caused many duplicate artists to be entered (can be fixed with ArtistAlias) and lookup of releases with Picard to fail if they are in the wrong script. No bugs have been filed for this issue, which would be a first step.

Style issues

Punctuation and spacing

Classic Chinese uses neither punctuation nor spacing, but modern Chinese has adopted the common punctuation from Latin scripts. However, they are usually used in their full-width forms.

Half-width , . ? ! : ; ( )
Full-width

Which form is used is currently very inconsistent in the database and depends on the preference of the editor.

There is also some inconsistency in how extra title information is formatted:

  1. 標題(某某版) [full-width brackets]
  2. 標題(某某版) [half-width brackets]
  3. 標題 (某某版) [half-width brackets with leading space]

Extra Title Information Style only states that such must information "must be entered in parentheses after the main title", which is true of all three above formats.

The use of the middle dot and other symbols with similar appearance is quite inconsistent and confused. The below tables shows the type of punctuation used and some of the releases/tracks where they appear.

Middle dot

When a middle dot appears as a pause or word separator in titles, usually the following Unicode character is used:

  • In simplified Chinese: "·" (U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT)
  • In traditional Chinese: "‧" (U+2027 HYPHENATION POINT)

It would probably be better to always use U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT.

This might not be correct though. Current use:

Symbol: · Big5: Yes GBK: Yes Unicode: U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT

Hypenation point

Symbol: ‧ Big5: Yes GBK: No Unicode: U+2027 HYPHENATION POINT

Ideographic comma

Symbol: 、 Big5: Yes GBK: Yes Unicode: U+3001 IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA

Ideographic full stop

Symbol: 。 Big5: Yes GBK: Yes Unicode: U+3002 IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP

Katakana middle dot

Symbol: ・ Big5: No GBK: Yes Unicode: U+30FB KATAKANA MIDDLE DOT

Fullwidth full stop

Symbol: . Big5: Yes GBK: Yes Unicode: U+FF0E FULLWIDTH FULL STOP

Artist collaborations

Featuring Artist Style requires the use of "藝人甲 (feat. 藝人乙)" for the typical featured artist case. This format is not completely alien to Chinese and does appear on some covers, but there are still some entries in the database using the "藝人甲 (藝人乙合唱)" format. I've been slightly hesitant to change them since the AR:s already show the relationship with great clarity and because "合唱" means "sing together" and thus implies vocal performance. This is a fairly minor issue, but should be put right in the future.

Featuring Artist Style does not clearly state how collaborations between 3 or more artists should be formatted. The de facto standard "Artist A, Artist B & Artist C" is seldom used for Chinese artists, for various reasons. This issue has been discussed on the style mailing list.

The collaboration artists in question:

Traditional Chinese Music

It's not obvious how Classical Style Guide should be applied to traditional Chinese music. The use of English and Latin script in an otherwise Chinese context is sub-optimal. These are some releases with traditional Chinese music which may have style issues:


Mixed Language Titles

When foreign languages/scripts appear in release or track titles they should be capitalized according to the Capitalization Standard of that language.

Examples: