In a previous post, we looked at the tactile writing systems that came before braille. Many braille systems today are functioning alphabets, with one cell representing one letter. These are variations of the original French braille alphabet, largely due to the goal of braille uniformity to unify the braille alphabets of the world as much as possible. As such, the braille systems of English, Armenian, Tibetan, and Hindi have a lot of correspondence with one another. But among these French-ordered systems, there is one system that intrigues me. one that, seems a little too big for what braille is able to handle.

You see (okay, this might not be an appropriate linker), one braille cell contains 6 dots. Including the space, which consists of zero raised dots, there are only 64 possible combinations that can be formed per braille cell. But yet, it is this same system that could represent the entirety of the Mandarin Chinese language to provide accessibility to the blind users. How does it do that? After all, Chinese as we know it is written with thousands upon thousands of characters, each with their own meaning.

To get around this problem of representing thousands of characters in braille, we would have to ditch the concept of the character, and to focus on the structure of the Chinese syllable. Chinese is fairly restricted in its syllable structure, with syllables having a (CG)V(X)T structure, where C is the initial consonant, G is the glide, V is the vowel, X is the coda, and T is one of the four tones, or a neutral tone for weak syllables. So in the hanyu pinyin, the syllable zhuāng can be split into zh + u + a + ng + tone 1. After factoring in tone, there are around 1300 possible syllables, although Mandarin Chinese uses way less than that.

In Mandarin Chinese, there are only 21 possible consonant initials, which are, in hanyu pinyin,

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, j, k, q, h, x, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, and s.

Furthermore, with a limited number of final combinations, that is, combining glides, vowels, and codas, every single combination of Chinese initials and finals could be represented in braille. Frustratingly though, the Mandarin Chinese braille systems are quite different between that of China, and that of Taiwan. So here, we will introduce the system used in China, which follows the international braille system more closely.

Firstly, 18 braille cells are used to represent the initial consonants, with g and j, k and q, and h and x sharing one braille character each, as these can be distinguished from the final. For instance, giā is not possible in Mandarin Chinese, but jiā is. These initials generally follow the pinyin assignments in the international braille alphabet, but where it deviates, are particularly for the initials ch ⠟ (using the counterpart in Russian braille), sh ⠱ (using the international braille version), and zh ⠌. R also has a different assignment ⠚, as the final –er uses the English braille letter for r ⠗.

There are 34 cells used for finals from -a to -iong, some of which could represent a possible Chinese syllable like yuan ⠯. The finals e and o share one cell, syllable weng and final -ong share one cell, and bizarrely, the final -i in syllables like ci, zi, si, shi, zhi, chi, and ri being omitted entirely. In fact, this final -i is only written when it corresponds to yi. So for a rule of thumb, if a syllable rhymes with yi, like ji and ni, then the final -i is written. For example, shi is just ⠱, while qi is ⠅⠊, where the final -i is ⠊. Another important omission is the final -e in de, which is a common grammatical particle in the language (such as 的, 地, and 得).

The construction of the Mainland Chinese braille syllable is thus as such, in order:

• One cell containing the initial (which for some syllables, are not necessarily needed)
• One cell containing the final
• An optional cell containing the tone

Interestingly, tone is not usually marked in Mainland Chinese braille, using them typically in cases where omission could present ambiguity. With a similar low level of ambiguity as hanyu pinyin, this makes the tone cell omitted 95% of the time, saving some space per syllable. This makes Mainland Chinese braille work something like a semi syllabary, as some finals are used for some entire syllables like ān (⠧⠁, with ⠁ representing tone 1).

Another deviation from the international standard is the use of punctuation marks spread over two cells compared to the typical one. For example, the period is represented as ⠐⠆in Mainland Chinese braille, compared to the typical ⠲.

So, what is the full list of Mainland Chinese braille? Here it is below!

Initial

b

p

m

f

d

t

n

l

g/j

k/q

h/x

zh

ch

sh

r

z

c

s

⠃

⠏

⠍

⠋

⠙

⠞

⠝

⠇

⠛

⠅

⠓

⠌

⠟

⠱

⠚

⠵

⠉

⠎

Final

a	e/o	ai	ei	ao	ou	an	en	ang	eng
⠔	⠢	⠪	⠮	⠖	⠷	⠧	⠴	⠦	⠼
yi/-i	ya/-ia	ye/-ie	yao/-iao	you/-iu	yan/-ian	yang/-iang	yin/-in	ying/-ing
⠊	⠫	⠑	⠜	⠳	⠩	⠭	⠣	⠡
wu/-u	wa/-ua	wo/-uo	wai/-uai	wei/-ui	wan/-uan	wen/-un	wang/-uang	weng/-ong
⠥	⠿	⠕	⠽	⠺	⠻	⠒	⠶	⠲
yu/-ü	yue/-üe	yuan/-üan	yun/-ün	yong/-iong	er
⠬	⠾	⠯	⠸	⠹	⠗

Tone (sparingly used)

Tone 1	Tone 2	Tone 3	Tone 4	Neutral
⠁	⠂	⠄	⠆	none

Numerals

Number marker	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
⠼	⠁	⠃	⠉	⠙	⠑	⠋	⠛	⠓	⠊	⠚

The number marker always comes before the numeral in question to tell the reader that a number is represented here. These numerals correspond to the international standard as well, which also represents the first 10 letters of the alphabet for each and every braille alphabet adopting the international braille standard.

Punctuation

。	，	、	？	！	：	；
⠐⠆	⠐⠀	⠠⠀	⠐⠄	⠰⠂	⠠⠄	⠰⠀
–	—	…	（	）	[	]
⠤	⠠⠤	⠐⠐⠐	⠰⠤	⠤⠆	⠰⠆	⠰⠆
《	》	“	”	‘	’	·
⠐⠤	⠤⠂	⠰⠄	⠠⠆	⠰⠢	⠔⠆	⠐⠂

While written Chinese does not use any spaces, here in Mainland Chinese braille, spaces are used to separate words. Thus, for a phrase like 你的名字 (your name), it would be read like 你 的 名字, or more precisely, ⠝⠊⠀⠙⠢⠀⠍⠡⠵.

But what if I told you, that in addition to Mainland Chinese braille, there is yet another braille system used for Chinese in China? Buckle up, because we will be back with yet another ride, this time into two-cell Chinese braille.