Yangtze and Jinping. Belarusian language changed norms for transmitting Chinese names — new spelling more accurately conveys Chinese sound
The first academic "Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary," published in 2026, presents and approves a normative Belarusian system by scientists. Belarusian phonetics is significantly more accurate than many other languages in its ability to convey complex Chinese sounds.
The name of the city Wuhan, which everyone learned thanks to the coronavirus, is now proposed by Belarusian scientists to be written in Belarusian closer to the original sound — Vuhan. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The almost thousand-page "Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary," published through the joint efforts of the Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences and the Confucius Institute of Sinology of BSU, recently saw the light of day. This is a fundamental work of 30,000 words compiled by national linguists Mikita Baravik, Yauheniya Volkava, Ihar Kapylov, Uladzimir Koshchanka, and Maryna Yaromka.
It published a new normative table for the transcription of Chinese syllables (Pinyin) into Belarusian. This is not just a recommendation, but a new standard, approved by the Academic Council of the Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Council of the Republican Confucius Institute of Sinology of BSU, which should ensure uniformity in education, official documents, scientific works, media, and cartography.
Along with the table, a normative list of the most important and frequently used geographical names of China, fixed according to the new rules, was also published. The Belarusian language has finally acquired its own self-sufficient tool for working with Chinese toponyms and proper names.
Until now, the transcription of Chinese proper names into Belarusian occurred exclusively through the calquing of Russian transcription, created back in the mid-19th century. It was then that the Russian Orthodox missionary Archimandrite Palladius (secular name Pyotr Kafarov) developed and later popularized, through his dictionary, a system for transcribing the Chinese language.
Neither during the times of the Russian Empire nor during the Soviet Union, naturally, did anyone even think about a separate system for the Belarusian language. Only now, with Belarus gaining independence and having close ties with China, not only economic and political, but also cultural, mutual interest from both sides has led to the necessity of its own system for transmitting Chinese proper names into Belarusian without foreign mediation.
New Chinese-Belarusian dictionary
There is no need to look for politics here. The real reason is that Belarusian phonetics differs significantly from Russian, and the Belarusian language is able to convey some Chinese sounds better.
For example, Russian lacks the affricates "dz" and "dzh," which are present in Belarusian. Have you ever tried to quickly and clearly pronounce the word "Jiangsu" or "Zedong"? The sound combination "tsz" in Belarusian is absolutely unpronounceable; it sounds completely different from how it's written. It's even harder to write it down correctly by ear. The same applies to Palladius's "chzh," as in the name of Zhejiang province.
A Belarusian here hears and pronounces the natural affricates "dz" and "dzh" respectively. And, as the Belarusian linguists-compilers of the dictionary emphasize, it is precisely these that allow for a much more accurate and closer transmission of Chinese sounds z and zh to the original pronunciation. Why, then, should we write some "tsz" or "chzh" instead?
Another fundamental flaw of Russian transcription is hardness where the Chinese pronounce soft (palatalized) sounds. Take, for example, the Chinese syllable qi. In the Russian Palladius system, it has historically been transmitted through the letter "ts" — for example, in the name of the province "Qinghai" or the city "Chongqing." This sound [ts] is always hard in Russian, so further calquing of the transcription into Belarusian results in harsh-sounding Tsynghai and Chungtsyn, although in Belarusian this sound can also be soft — Tsinghai, Chungtsin.
As the authors-compilers of the publication emphasize, such means of Belarusian phonetics allow for a much more accurate transmission of the original Chinese pronunciation than was done previously.
Places where the pandemic began and where iPhones are made — what to call them now
A special appendix to the dictionary provides a complete list of Chinese geographical names, written according to the new system.
The southern industrial hub and one of China's largest cities, which we all knew as Guangzhou, should be written in Belarusian as Guandzhow. The place from which the coronavirus spread worldwide is no longer Wuhan — now it is Vuhan (because the Chinese Pinyin Wuhan starts specifically with the labial sound [w], which was historically omitted in Russian transcription). The megalopolis where the giant Foxconn factory is located and most iPhones in the world are assembled is written as Zhengzhou in Russian, but in Belarusian, the phonetically more accurate Dzhendzhow.
Transcription of the names of the main administrative units of the PRC into Belarusian. Photo: Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary
Transcription of the names of the main administrative units of the PRC into Belarusian. Photo: Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary
Changes also affected province names. The eastern region, known for its economic miracle and Alibaba headquarters, should be correctly written not as Zhejiang, but as Dzhedzyan.
Qinghai province, known for its namesake high-altitude lake, will now be written as Tsinghai.
And the vast autonomous region in the northwest will now be written as Sinzydzyan-Uyhurski (instead of the former Xinjiang), which also corresponds more closely to Chinese speech.
For syllables that Chinese people pronounce with aspiration, the Belarusian system uses a separating apostrophe after hard consonants. Thus, the giant centrally administered city near Beijing correctly became not Tianjin, but T'yendzin.
Remember the normative spelling of famous natural objects. The longest river in Eurasia is now officially Yangtze (in Russian Yangtze), and the mighty mountain system is T'yenshan (in Russian Tian-Shan).
Some names remained unchanged, either due to tradition or the coincidence of Belarusian and Russian phonetics: Peking, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, as well as the Yellow River (Huanhe).
Jinping and Zedong
While the spelling of geographical objects is explicitly fixed in the dictionary's appendix, the names of politicians, historical figures, and celebrities are not listed there. However, having the official normative table for syllable transmission at hand, one can derive them independently to maintain consistency.
Changes will affect the spelling of names. The current chairman of China, Xi Jinping, who was previously transliterated through the Russian calque as Xi Tszinpin, will be correctly written in Belarusian as Si Dzinhpin. The Chinese leader Mao Zedong should be written according to pronunciation as: Dzedun. The current Premier of the State Council, Li Qiang, should be written as Li Tsyan (in Russian: Li Tsyang).
The ancient Chinese philosopher, who in the Russian tradition is written as Zhuangzi, should be written in Belarusian as Dzhuang-dzy, and the author of the famous treatise "The Art of War" as Sun-dzy (with a hyphen, because Chinese "-zi" (子) is a title meaning teacher or sage).
Belarusian toponyms in Chinese
Another interesting aspect of the dictionary: it first fixed the spelling of Belarusian toponyms in Chinese not from their Russian spelling, but directly from Belarusian.
Historically, our geographical names came into other languages, not just Chinese, through Russian. In Chinese, Gomel was transliterated as Gēmélì (from Russian Gomel), Grodno as Gélúodénuò (Grodno), and Mogilev as Mó jíliàofū (Mogilev).
Names of regional and district centers of Belarus, transferred to Chinese from Belarusian spelling. Russified variants are given in parentheses. Photo: Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary
Now, however, linguists propose a different transcription, based on Belarusian spelling and pronunciation. In the academic dictionary, it is placed first as the main norm, and some old transcriptions from Russian are given only in parentheses.
Now the name Grodno is written and pronounced in Chinese as Hèluódénà, and Gomel is written as Huòmélì, reflecting the Belarusian fricative "H". Mogilev is written as Mǎjíliàowū, attempting to convey the Belarusian "-yow" at the end. This same principle affected dozens of other cities — for example, Gantsevichi is now officially transliterated as Hàncháwéiqí (instead of the Russified Gāncǎiwéiqí).
Chinese students and scholars who will study Belarus and use this dictionary will learn the names of geographical objects of Belarus, which are based directly on the Belarusian sound, without the mediation of other languages.