Hanyu Pinyin is the official romanization system used in China and in Western publications about China. It was developed in the Soviet Union in 1931 for use by Chinese immigrants living there. A slightly revised version was adopted in China in 1958.

In China pinyin is used for road signs, maps, brand names, computer input, Chinese Braille, telegrams, semaphore and for many other purposes. It also appears in books for children and foreign learners of Chinese. The United Nations and the International Standards Organization (ISO) both recognize pinyin as the standard romanization for Mandarin.