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Chinese postal romanization
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<p>Postal romanization was a system of transliterating <a href="/facts/Place_names_in_China/YgqcsNvU">place names in China</a> developed by postal authorities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many cities, the corresponding postal romanization was the most common English-language form of the city's name from the 1890s until the 1980s, when postal romanization was replaced by <a href="/facts/Pinyin/pUwjfMXg">pinyin</a>, but the system remained in place on <a href="/facts/Taiwan/VcJoUD8w">Taiwan</a> until 2002. </p><p>In 1892, <a href="/facts/Herbert_Giles/3ewFkIIt">Herbert Giles</a> created a romanization system called the <a href="/facts/Nanjing_dialect/NdEXxfCd">Nanking syllabary</a>. The <a href="/facts/Imperial_Maritime_Customs_Post_Office/mTKMFrII">Imperial Maritime Customs Post Office</a> would cancel postage with a stamp that gave the city of origin in Latin letters, often romanized using Giles's system. In 1896, the Customs Post was combined with other postal services and renamed the <a href="/facts/Chinese_Imperial_Post/mTKMFrII">Chinese Imperial Post</a>. As a national agency, the Imperial Post was an authority on Chinese place names. </p><p>When the <a href="/facts/Wade%E2%80%93Giles/CD1F1u4t">Wade–Giles</a> system became widespread, some argued that the post office should adopt it. This idea was rejected at a conference held in 1906 in <a href="/facts/Shanghai/nYyuBo2S">Shanghai</a>. Instead, the conference formally adopted Nanking syllabary. This decision allowed the post office to continue to use various romanizations that it had already selected. Wade–Giles romanization is based on the <a href="/facts/Beijing_dialect/UrV4M4Nv">Beijing dialect</a>, a pronunciation standard since the 1850s. The use of Nanking syllabary did not suggest that the post office considered Nanjing pronunciation to be standard. Rather, it was an attempt to accommodate a variety of Mandarin pronunciations with a single romanization system. </p>