Chinese copyediting authority list

Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography Authority List

This list was used for copyediting and proofreading the 4-volume Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography, and was adapted from the list used for the Berkshire Encyclopedia of China. It is generally consistent with the Chicago Manual of Style but we have made changes based on our knowledge of Chinese and scholarly usage, aiming to take a less Eurocentric approach when dealing with Asian names and topics. We appreciate comments and questions, which can be sent to cservice@berkshirepublishing.com.

1989 Democracy Movement

4 June Tiananmen Incident

4 June crackdown

28 Bolsheviks

Analects (Lúnyǔ 论语)

antibandit

anticolonial (no hyphen)

antiforeign (no hyphen)

Anti-Rightist campaign

Anti-rightist (adj)

Ah Cheng

Asian Financial Crisis

Attendant Gentleman (shìláng 侍郎)

Basic Law Drafting Committee (Hong Kong)

Beijing (NOT Peking, EXCEPT Peking University)

bóshì 博士(erudite)

Boxer Rebellion (Yìhétuán Yùndòng 义和团运动)

canceled (v)

Central Asia

Chán 禅 (Zen) Buddhism

China Youth League (or Chinese Youth League?)

Chinese American [no hyphen for noun AND adjective]

Communist Party of China (CPC)); the party – not Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as we have chosen to use the acronym used in China

Chinese Civil War

civil service examinations

co-recipient

cofounded

Communism (capitalized)

Confucius 孔子 (551–479 bce)

Chiang Kai-shek

cross-Strait relations

counterrevolutionary (n)

dào 道

Daoism (Taoism) [upon first mention, afterwards simply Daoism and Dao]

Dàodéjīng 道德经 (upon first mention; afterwards Daodejing)

daoxue (School of the Way)

the Democracy Wall (Mínzhǔ qiáng 民主墙) and the Democracy Wall Movement (Mínzhǔ qiáng yùndòng 民主墙运动)

deputy premier (Note: lowercase, as this is not an official title like general secretary or vice premier)

dynasty (small caps)

east coast (lower case). This goes for all directional indicators, (except when part of proper noun: e.g., South China Sea, or the East Coast of the USA)

Eight Immortals [can also include, if used originally, "also known as the Eight Elders"]

Emperor only capitalized when used directly in front of name: Emperor Xuánzōng 玄宗 (NOT the Xuanzong Emperor). Also: Emperor Guāngxù 光绪

erhu

emperors (as generic noun/plural small caps)

exams: check if author is referring to China's civil service exams, insert full wording on first usage

emperor-in-waiting

Falun Gong

"fifth generation" or "third generation" leaders [Communist leadership]

Fifth Generation [film directors]

First Opium War 鸦片战争 (1839–1842)

First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895)

First United Front (1922–1927)

Five-Year Plan

Flash animation

Former (Western) Han

Four Modernizations (Sì ge xiàndàihuà 四个现代化)

Gang of Four (Sìrén bāng 四人帮))

general secretary (currently Xi Jinping) OR Party general secretary. ONLY capitalized in lists, or when used as part of the name, e.g., "General Secretary Xi received foreign diplomats," BUT, "the general secretary sent his mother a letter" See also CMS 8.20.

NB! Do not confuse the party general secretary (heading the Politburo Standing Committee) with the secretary general, heading the State Council.

groundbreaking

handheld (adj)

hard-liner (n); hard-line (adj)

Heaven, the heavens

Hundred Days Reform (1898)

imperial China/imperial powers (lower case, per MW11, CMS)

I Ching (Yìjīng易经 or Classic of Changes)

jìnshì 进士 (presented scholar) (sometimes called advanced scholar)

jǔrén 举人 (selected men)

Kuomintang (see Nationalist Party)

khan and khanate

kung fu

Later (Eastern) Han

League of Left Wing Writers 左翼作家联盟

lit. [used for "literally" in quotations marks, no comma between lit. and following word]

magic realism 

mainland China

Máo Zédōng 毛泽东 (1893–1976)

Manchu [sing. and plural per MW11]

Mandate of Heaven

man-of-war; men-of-war [MW11]

"May 7 Cadre Schools" [quotation marks upon first use]

Meiji Restoration

midlevel

Ming dynasty founder [no hyphen between Ming and dynasty]

Misty Poetry

mm [space between numeral and abbreviation, e.g., 16 mm film]

multigenerational 

the Nationalist Party (Guomindag, GMD). Not Kuomintang or KMT. EXCEPT in articles that focus primarily on Taiwan figures and the Nationalist Party in Taiwan after 1949. Either way, we prefer to use "Nationalists" or "the Nationalist Party" over Guomindang/Kuomintang or GMD/KMT.

neorealism [literary/cinematic style, no caps, no hyphens]

New Wave [film style]

No. 4 High School (Beijing)

noninterference or non-action (wuwei 无为)

non-government organizations (NGOs)

nongovernmental

nonprofessional

nonprofit

off-screen

Ögödei (not Ogedei) Khan

Organization Department

"One Country, Two Systems" [caps]

Party Congress: Fifth Party Congress or Seventh Party Congress [each word capitalized and written out, i.e., not seventh/7th Party Congress]

"paramount leader" [Note lowercase, and quotes on first usage. Not an official title, but the title held by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping]

Peace Movement 和平运动

Peking Opera

Peking University (NOT Beijing University)

pen name (n)

post-Communist

postmodernist (adj)

Politburo (Political Bureau)

Politburo Standing Committee

political secretary

premier Zhao Ziyang

premodern

present-day city (also modern-day Shanghai)

President Nixon, but "former president Richard Nixon"

Prime Minister, but "the prime minister went to college at Oxford"

pro-democracy (adj)

pro-growth (adj)

qì 气 upon first mention. Thereafter qi, not italics, no tone marks or character

Rectification Campaign (1942–1944)

reeducation (n) / readucate (v)[no hyphen, noun and verb per MW 11]

Reform and Opening Up era (gǎigé kāifàng 改革开放). Chinese economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping's rule (1976–1989).[Use lower case when it is used as a description, i.e., "there was a focus on reform and opening up during these decades".

"roots-seeking literature" or "roots-seeking" [Quotation marks upon first mention]

severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

scholar-official (hyphen, also as noun)

Shanghai

Second Opium War (1856–1860) (also known as the Arrow War)

Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) (also called the War of Resistance against Japan 抗日战争)

Second United Front (1937–1945)

Self-Strengthening Movement (Yángwù yùndòng 洋务运动)

sent-down youth [lowercase]

Shanxi Province AND Shaanxi Province (two different provinces, please do not change!)

sinology and sinological [lower case]

Sino-British Joint Declaration (Signed on 19 December 1984, formally outlined the United Kingdom's return of Hong Kong to China by 1997

Socialism (capitalized)

Society for the Study of National Strengthening (Qiáng Xuéhuì 强学会)

Southern Tour (nánxún 南巡)

Special Economic Zones (SEZ, Jīngjì tèqū 经济特区)

Dr. Sun Yat-sen

Taipei, Taiwan

Taiping Rebellion (Tàipíng tiānguó yùndòng 太平天国运动, 1851–1864)

Three Represents theory (Sān ge dàibiǎo 三个代表 (by Jiang Zemin)

Tiananmen Incident or Tiananmen Square Incident [Please note: we do not refer to this as the Tiananmen massacre. "Tiananmen / 4 June crackdown is acceptable as an alternative]

toward

town and village enterprises

traveled (v)

Twenty-One Demands

USSR (n)

Uygur

vice premier (of the CCP) but "former vice premier" Note that there are several vice premiers at one time. Compare to "deputy premier"

the West

Western knowledge; BUT lower case as directional indicator: western China

WikiLeaks

World War I and World War II

Xinhai revolution 辛亥革命