The cyrillization of Chinese is the transcription of Chinese characters into the Cyrillic alphabet.

The Palladius system is the official Russian standard for transcribing Chinese into Russian, with variants existing for Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, and other languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet. It was created by Palladius Kafarov, a Russian sinologist and monk who spent thirty years in China in the nineteenth century.

Russian system

Initials

Note that because the Russian version of the Cyrillic alphabet has no letters for dz or dzh (although дз and дж are found in Bulgarian, and also ѕ and џ are found in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic), the digraphs цз and чж are used respectively.

Finals

Nucleus		a					ə						∅
Coda		∅	i	u	n	ŋ	∅	i	u	n	ŋ	ɻ
Medial	∅	a [a] ㄚ a	ай [ai̯] ai ㄞ ai	ao [au̯] ao ㄠ ao	ань [an] an ㄢ an	ан [aŋ] ang ㄤ ang	э [ɤ] ê/o ㄜ e	эй [ei̯] ei ㄟ ei	оу [ou̯] ou ㄡ ou	энь [ən] ên ㄣ en	эн [əŋ] êng ㄥ eng	эр [aɚ̯] êrh ㄦ er	и/ы [ʅ/ɿ] ih/ŭ -i
	i	я [i̯a] ia ㄧㄚ ia		яо [i̯au̯] iao ㄧㄠ iao	янь [i̯ɛn] ien ㄧㄢ ian	ян [i̯aŋ] iang ㄧㄤ iang	е [i̯e] ieh ㄧㄝ ie		ю [i̯ou̯] iu ㄧㄡ iu	инь [in] in ㄧㄣ in	ин [iŋ] ing ㄧㄥ ing		и [i] i ㄧ i
	u	уа [u̯a] ua ㄨㄚ ua	уай [u̯ai̯] uai ㄨㄞ uai		уaнь [u̯an] uan ㄨㄢ uan	уaн [u̯aŋ] uang ㄨㄤ uang	о [u̯o] o/uo ㄨㄛ uo	уй [u̯ei̯] ui ㄨㄟ ui		унь [u̯ən] un ㄨㄣ un	ун [ʊŋ] ung ㄨㄥ ong		у [u] u ㄨ u
	y				юaнь [y̯ɛn] üan ㄩㄢ üan		юэ [y̯e] üeh ㄩㄝ üe			юнь [yn] ün ㄩㄣ ün	юн [i̯ʊŋ] iung ㄩㄥ iong		юй [y] ü ㄩ ü

In composites, coda ng is transcribed нъ when the following syllable starts with a vowel. For example, the names of the cities of Chang'an and Hengyang are transcribed as Чанъань and Хэнъян.

In syllables with no initial, w is transcribed as в in all cases except wu, transcribed as у. For example, the names of the cities of Wuwei (both Wuwei, Anhui and Wuwei, Gansu) and Wanning are transcribed as Увэй and Ваньнин.

Comparison chart

This table establishes correspondence between the Russian Palladius system together with the two Romanization systems most commonly used in English-speaking countries: Pinyin and Wade–Giles. It contains every syllable found in Ilya Oshanin's [ru] Great Chinese–Russian Dictionary.^[1]

Note that the Palladius system does not distinguish between pinyin luo (as in 羅, luó) and the rare syllable lo (as in 咯, lo); both are written ло.

Exceptions

The names of the cities of Beijing and Nanjing are transcribed as Пекин (instead of Бэйцзин) and Нанкин (instead of Наньцзин), much as Peking and Nanking were still used in English speaking countries until recently. Hong Kong (pinyin: Xiānggǎng) may be both Сянган (Xiānggǎng) and Гонконг (Hong Kong); the latter is more common.

In Russian borrowings from Chinese (such as place names), the syllable хуй (hui) is generally transcribed as хуэй (Huizu, Хуэйцзу) or occasionally хой (Anhui, Аньхой); this is because хуй is a taboo word for "penis" in Russian and several other Slavic languages. Dictionaries, however, may contain the unaltered spelling; as is found in Palladius' own dictionary from 1888,^[2] and Oshanin's Great Chinese–Russian Dictionary.^[1]

Older documents contain variants мэн — мын, мэнь — мынь, фэн — фын, фэнь — фынь, пэн — пын, hence Aomen (Macao) is traditionally spelled Аомынь in Russian. Most modern texts contain э, with some exceptions.

Pre-reform version

Prior to the reform of Russian orthography in 1918, the system differed in a few respects, as can be seen in Palladius' 1888 dictionary:^[2]

• ъ was used at the end of a word ending in a consonant, as was standard in pre-reform orthography.
• е → ѣ
• ё → іо
• эр → эрръ
• -юэ → -юе
• мэн, мэнь and фэн were written мынъ, мынь and фынъ, respectively; this did not affect фэнь, however.

Ukrainian system

Initials

Finals

Nucleus		a					ə						∅
Coda		∅	i	u	n	ŋ	∅	i	u	n	ŋ	ɻ
Medial	∅	a [a] ㄚ a	ай [ai̯] ai ㄞ ai	ao [au̯] ao ㄠ ao	ань [an] an ㄢ an	ан [aŋ] ang ㄤ ang	е [ɤ] ê/o ㄜ e	ей [ei̯] ei ㄟ ei	оу [ou̯] ou ㄡ ou	ень [ən] ên ㄣ en	ен [əŋ] êng ㄥ eng	ер [aɚ̯] êrh ㄦ er	і/и [ʅ/ɿ] ih/ŭ -i
	i	я [i̯a] ia ㄧㄚ ia		яо [i̯au̯] iao ㄧㄠ iao	янь [i̯ɛn] ien ㄧㄢ ian	ян [i̯aŋ] iang ㄧㄤ iang	є [i̯e] ieh ㄧㄝ ie		ю [i̯ou̯] iu ㄧㄡ iu	їнь [in] in ㄧㄣ in	їн [iŋ] ing ㄧㄥ ing		ї [i] i ㄧ i
	u	уа [u̯a] ua ㄨㄚ ua	уай [u̯ai̯] uai ㄨㄞ uai		уaнь [u̯an] uan ㄨㄢ uan	уaн [u̯aŋ] uang ㄨㄤ uang	о [u̯o] o/uo ㄨㄛ uo	уй [u̯ei̯] ui ㄨㄟ ui		унь [u̯ən] un ㄨㄣ un	ун [ʊŋ] ung ㄨㄥ ong		у [u] u ㄨ u
	y				юaнь [y̯ɛn] üan ㄩㄢ üan		юе [y̯e] üeh ㄩㄝ üe			юнь [yn] ün ㄩㄣ ün	юн [i̯ʊŋ] iung ㄩㄥ iong		юй [y] ü ㄩ ü

In composites, coda ng is transcribed н' when the following syllable starts with a vowel. For example, the names of the cities of Chang'an and Hengyang are transcribed as Чан'ань and Хен'ян.

In syllables with no initial, w is transcribed as в in all cases except wu, transcribed as у. For example, the names of the cities of Wuwei and Wanning are transcribed as Увей and Ваньнін.

Comparison chart

This table establishes correspondence between the Ukrainian Palladius system together with the two Romanization systems most commonly used in English-speaking countries: Pinyin and Wade–Giles.

Cyrillization with the Ukrainian alphabet differs from the Russian as follows:

• е → є
• ё → йо
• э → е
• г → ґ
• и → і
  • in жи, чжи, чи, ши (ri, zhi, chi, shi) still и is used
  • Syllables without initial consonant start with ї (yi, yin, ying → ї, їнь, їн).
• ы → и
• ъ → ' (apostrophe)

Belarusian system

Cyrillization with the Belarusian alphabet differs from the Russian as follows:

• ао, яо → аа, яа (in accordance with Belarusian akanye)
• и → і
  • in ri, zhi, chi, shi there is ы (жы, чжы, чы, шы).
• ъ → ' (apostrophe)

Serbian system

The Serbian system is rather different from the Russian: for example, j, q, zh are transcribed as ђ, ћ, џ; the Serbian letters ј, љ, њ appear where the Russian system uses я, е, ю, й; final n and ng are н and нг.

Macedonian system

Source: ^[3]

Initials

Finals

Nucleus		a					ə						∅
Coda		∅	i	u	n	ŋ	∅	i	u	n	ŋ	ɻ
Medial	∅	a [a] ㄚ a	аи [ai̯] ai ㄞ ai	ao [au̯] ao ㄠ ao	ан [an] an ㄢ an	анг [aŋ] ang ㄤ ang	е [ɤ] ê/o ㄜ e	еи [ei̯] ei ㄟ ei	оу [ou̯] ou ㄡ ou	ен [ən] ên ㄣ en	енг [əŋ] êng ㄥ eng	ер [aɚ̯] êrh ㄦ er	и [ʅ/ɿ] ih/ŭ -i
	i	иа [i̯a] ia ㄧㄚ ia		иао [i̯au̯] iao ㄧㄠ iao	иан [i̯ɛn] ien ㄧㄢ ian	ианг [i̯aŋ] iang ㄧㄤ iang	ие [i̯e] ieh ㄧㄝ ie		иу [i̯ou̯] iu ㄧㄡ iu	ин [in] in ㄧㄣ in	инг [iŋ] ing ㄧㄥ ing		и [i] i ㄧ i
	u	уа [u̯a] ua ㄨㄚ ua	уаи [u̯ai̯] uai ㄨㄞ uai		уaнь [u̯an] uan ㄨㄢ uan	уaн [u̯aŋ] uang ㄨㄤ uang	о/уо [u̯o] o/uo ㄨㄛ uo	уи [u̯ei̯] ui ㄨㄟ ui		ун [u̯ən] un ㄨㄣ un	унг [ʊŋ] ung ㄨㄥ ong		у [u] u ㄨ u
	y				уaнь [y̯ɛn] üan ㄩㄢ üan		уе [y̯e] üeh ㄩㄝ üe			ун [yn] ün ㄩㄣ ün	иунг [i̯ʊŋ] iung ㄩㄥ iong		у [y] ü ㄩ ü

W- and y- are transcribed as в- and ј-.

Table of cyrillization systems