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Course & Subject Guides

Orientation to New Chinese Students - Pittsburgh Campus 中英版

This guide was created to help newly-arrived Chinese students get familiar with the University Library System's (ULS) resources and services.

How to Search PittCat for Chinese Materials

Strategies for using PittCat to search for Chinese materials are almost the same as for searching English materials, except your search term is in Chinese. You may type in the Chinese search term either in Chinese characters or in Pinyin transliteration. If you use Pinyin, please pay attention to the rules on syllable separation or connection:

总体方法与查找西文资料一样,唯一不同的是你的查询词是中文。中文查询词的输入法可以是汉字(繁体、简体均可),也可以是拼音。如果使用拼音,请注意组词规则。

  • 书名红楼梦 or hong lou meng
  • 期刊名当代电影 or dang dai dian ying
  • 作者名 – 曹雪芹 or Cao xueqin
  • 关键词  历史 or li shi

Chinese Transliteration Rules

用于图书馆资源的汉语拼音组词规则

In general, enter the pinyin for each Chinese character with a space.
通常情况下,字与字之间应该留一空格。
如:宗教 zong jiao, 政治 zheng zhi, 物理 wu li, 工学院 gong xue yuan

Special occasions where you do need to join the syllables.
下列情况下字与字之间不留空格:

  • 名 Given names: 贾樟柯 jia zhangke
  • 复姓 Multi-character surnames: 司马相如 sima xiangru
  • 尊称 Forenames and courtesy names: 孔子 kongzi, 庄子 zhuangzi
  • 法名、法号 Names of persons of religious vocation: 玄奘法师 xuangzang fa shi
  • 地名 Geographical names: 中国 zhongguo, 北京 beijing
  • 复合地名 Multi-character geographical names: 中华人民共和国 zhonghua renmin gongheguo
  • 语种、宗教派别、族裔 Names of racial, linguistic, or ethnic groups: 基督徒 jidu tu, 毛南族 maonan zu, 美国人 meiguo ren