Chinese telegraph code

TheChinese telegraph code,Chinese telegraphic code,orChinese commercial code(simplified Chinese:Tiếng Trung mã điện báo;traditional Chinese:Tiếng Trung mã điện báo;pinyin:Zhōngwén diànmǎorsimplified Chinese:Tiếng Trung điện báo mã;traditional Chinese:Tiếng Trung điện báo mã;pinyin:Zhōngwén diànbàomǎ)is a four-digit decimal code (character encoding) forelectrically telegraphingmessages written withChinese characters.

Encoding and decoding

A codebook is provided for encoding and decoding the Chinese telegraph code. It shows one-to-one correspondence between Chinese characters and four-digit numbers from0000to9999.Chinese characters are arranged and numbered in dictionary order according to theirradicalsand strokes. Each page of the book shows 100 pairs of a Chinese character and a number in a 10×10 table. The most significant two digits of a code matches the page number, the next digit matches the row number, and the least significant digit matches the column number, with 1 being the column on the far right. For example, the code0022for the characterTrung(zhōng), meaning “center,” is given in page 00, row 2, column 2 of the codebook, and the code2429for the characterVăn(wén), meaning “script,” is given in page 24, row 2, column 9. The PRC’sStandard Telegraph Codebook(Ministry of Post and Telecommunications 2002) provides codes for approximately 7,000 Chinese characters.

Senders convert their messages written with Chinese characters to a sequence of digits according to the codebook. For instance, the phraseTiếng Trung tin tức(Zhōngwén xìnxī), meaning “information in Chinese,” is rendered into the code as0022 2429 0207 1873.It is transmitted usingMorse code.Receivers decode the Morse code to get a sequence of digits, chop it into an array of quadruplets, and then decode them one by one referring to the book. Due to the fact that non-digit characters were not used, the Morse codes for digits could be simplified, for example one's several consequent dashes could be replaced with a single dash.

The codebook also defines codes forZhuyinAlpha bet, Latin Alpha bet, Cyrillic Alpha bet, and various symbols including special symbols for months, days in a month, and hours.

Senders may translate their messages into numbers by themselves, or pay a small charge to have them translated by a telegrapher.Chinese expert telegraphers used to remember several thousands of codes of the most frequent use.

TheStandard Telegraph Codebookgives alternative three-letter code (AAA,AAB,...) for Chinese characters. It compresses telegram messages and cuts international fees by 25% as compared to the four-digit code.

Use

Looking up a character given a number is straightforward: page, row, column. However, looking up a number given a character is more difficult, as it requires analyzing the character. TheFour-Corner Methodwas developed in the 1920s to allow people to more easily look up characters by the shape, and remains in use today as aChinese input method for computers.

History

Viguier’s Chinese telegraph codes from0001to0200(Viguier 1872). These codes are now obsolete.

The first telegraph code for Chinese was brought into use soon after the Great Northern Telegraph Company (Đại bắc điện báo công ty/Đại bắc điện báo công tyDàběi Diànbào Gōngsī) introduced telegraphy to China in 1871. Septime Auguste Viguier, a Frenchman and customs officer in Shanghai, published a codebook (Viguier 1872), succeeding Danish astronomerHans Carl Frederik Christian Schjellerup’s earlier work.

In consideration of the former code’s insufficiency and disorder of characters,Zheng Guanyingcompiled a new codebook in 1881. It remained in effect until the Ministry of Transportation and Communications printed a new book in 1929. In 1933, a supplement was added to the book.

After the establishment of thePeople’s Republic of Chinain 1949, the codebook forked into two different versions, due to revisions made in the Mainland China and Taiwan independently from each other. The Mainland version, theStandard Telegraph Codebook,adopted thesimplified Chinese charactersin 1983.

Application

The Chinese telegraph code can be used for aChinese input method for computers.Ordinary computer users today hardly master it because it needs a lot of rote memorization. However, the relatedFour-Corner Method,which allows one to look up characters by shape, is used.

Both theHong KongandMacau Resident Identity Cardsdisplay the Chinese telegraph code for the holder’s Chinese name. Business forms provided by the government and corporations in Hong Kong often require filling out telegraph codes for Chinese names. The codes help to input Chinese characters into a computer. When filling up the DS-160 form for theUS Visa,the Chinese telegraph codes are required if the applicant has a name in Chinese characters.

Chinese telegraph code is used extensively in law enforcement investigations worldwide that involve ethnic Chinese subjects where variant phonetic spellings of Chinese names can create confusion. Dialectical differences (Mr. Wu in Mandarin becomes Mr. Ng in Cantonese ( Ngô tiên sinh ); while Mr. Wu in Cantonese would become Mr. Hu in Mandarin ( hồ tiên sinh )) and differingromanizationsystems (Mr. Xiao in theHanyu Pinyinsystem, and Mr. Hsiao in theWade–Gilessystem) can create serious problems for investigators, but can be remedied by application of Chinese telegraph code. For instance, investigators following a subject in Taiwan named Hsiao Ai-Kuo might not know this is the same person known in mainland China as Xiao Aiguo and Hong Kong as Siu Oi-Kwok until codes are checked for the actual Chinese characters to determine all match as CTC: 5618/1947/0948 for tiêu ái quốc (simplified) / tiêu ái quốc (traditional).

See also

• Code point
• Four-Corner Method,a 4-digit structural encoding method designed to aid lookup of telegraph codes
• Telegraph code
• Wiktionary page ofStandard Telegraph Codebook( tiêu chuẩn mã điện báo bổn ( chỉnh sửa bổn ) ), 1983

References and bibliography

• Baark, Erik. 1997.Lightning Wires: The Telegraph and China’s Technological Modernization, 1860–1890.Greenwood Press.ISBN0-313-30011-9.
• Baark, Erik. 1999. “Wires, codes, and people: The Great Northern Telegraph Company in China.” InChina and Denmark: Relations Since 1674,edited by Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard and Mads Kirkebæk, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, pp. 119–152.ISBN87-87062-71-2.
• Immigration Department of Hong Kong. 2006.Card face design of a smart identity card.Hong Kong Special Administrative District Government. Accessed on December 22, 2006.
• Jacobsen, Kurt. 1997. “Danish watchmaker created the Chinese Morse system.”Morsum Magnificat,51, pp. 14–19.
• Lín Jìnyì (Lâm tiến bộ/Lâm tiến bộ), editor. 1984.Chữ Hán điện báo コード変 đổi biểuKanji denpō kōdo henkan hyō[Chinese character telegraph code conversion table] (In Japanese). Tokyo: KDD Engineering & Consulting.
• Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (Trung ương chính phủ nhân dân bưu điện bộ/Trung ương chính phủ nhân dân bưu điện bộZhōngyāng Rénmín Zhèngfǔ Yóudiànbù), editor. 1952.Tiêu chuẩn mã điện báo bổn/Tiêu chuẩn mã điện báo bổnBiāozhǔn diànmǎběn[Standard telegraph codebook], 2nd edition (In Chinese). Beijing: Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.
• Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (Trung Hoa nhân dân nước cộng hoà bưu điện bộZhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Yóudiànbù), editor. 2002.Tiêu chuẩn mã điện báo bổnBiāozhǔn diànmǎběn[Standard telegraph codebook],Chỉnh sửa bổnxiūdìngběn [revised edition] (In Chinese). Beijing:Nhân dân bưu điện nhà xuất bảnRénmín Yóudiàn Chūbǎnshè [People’s Post and Telecommunications Publishing].ISBN7-115-04219-5.
• Reeds, James A. 2004.Chinese telegraph code (CTC).Accessed on December 25, 2006.
• Shanghai City Local History Office (Thượng Hải thị địa phương chí văn phòngShànghǎi Shì Dìfāngzhì Bàngōngshì). 2004.Chuyên nghiệp chí: Thượng Hải bưu điện chíZhuānyèzhì: Shànghǎi yóudiànzhì[Industrial history: Post and communications history in Shanghai] (In Chinese). Accessed on December 22, 2006.
• Stripp, Alan. 2002.Codebreaker in the Far East.Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-280386-7.
• Tianjin Communications Corporation. 2004.Tư phí tiêu chuẩn: Quốc nội công chúng điện báo nghiệp vụZīfèi biāozhǔn: Guónèi gōngzhòng diànbào yèwù[Rate standards: Domestic public telegraph service] (In Chinese). Accessed on December 26, 2006.
• Viguier, Septime Auguste (Uy cơ yết/Uy cơ yếtWēijīyè). 1872.Điện báo sách mới/Điện báo sách mớiDiànbào xīnshū[New book for the telegraph] (In Chinese). Published in Shanghai.
• Viguier, Septime Auguste (Uy cơ yết/Uy cơ yếtWēijīyè) and Dé Míngzài (Đức minh ở). 1871.Điện tín tân pháp/Điện tín tân phápDiànxìn xīnfǎ[New method for the telegraph] (In Chinese).
• Yasuoka Kōichi (An cương hiếu một) and Yasuoka Motoko (An cương tố tử). 1997.Why is “Lưỡng”included in JIS X 0221?(In Japanese).IPSJ SIG Technical Report,97-CH-35, pp. 49–54.
• Yasuoka Kōichi (An cương hiếu một) and Yasuoka Motoko (An cương tố tử). 2006.Văn tự ký hiệu の lịch sử: Âu mễ と Nhật Bản biênMoji fugō no rekishi: Ōbei to Nippon hen[A history of character codes in Japan, America, and Europe] (In Japanese). Tokyo:Cộng lập xuất bảnKyōritsu ShuppanISBN4-320-12102-3.

External links

• Chinese Commercial/Telegraph Code Lookup by NJStar
• Tiêu chuẩn mã điện báo bổn ( tiếng Trung thương dùng mã điện báo )Standard telegraph code (Chinese commercial code)(in Chinese)
• Unihan databasefromUnicode Consortium:includes mappings betweenUnicodeand Mainland or Taiwan versions of the telegraph code (kMainlandTelegraph, kTaiwanTelegraph, inUnihan_OtherMappings.txt).