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Guide · Open source

How to use chinese-copywriting-guidelines: a Chinese typesetting style guide

Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data

chinese-copywriting-guidelines (中文文案排版指北) is a written style guide for Chinese copywriting, published under the MIT licence. It lists rules for spacing, punctuation, full-width and half-width characters and proper nouns, with right and wrong examples for each. This guide explains how to read it, apply it to your writing and pair it with tools that convert text automatically.

chinese-copywriting-guidelinessparanoid/chinese-copywriting-guidelines · ★ 15.8k · MIT

Quick start

  1. 1Open the guide. Go to the sparanoid/chinese-copywriting-guidelines README and choose the Traditional, Simplified or English version.
  2. 2Read the spacing section. Learn the rules for spaces between Chinese and English, Chinese and numbers, and numbers and units.
  3. 3Check punctuation and width. Use full-width Chinese punctuation, half-width digits, and avoid repeated marks.
  4. 4Fix capitalisation and abbreviations. Keep proper nouns in their official form and avoid informal abbreviations.
  5. 5Choose a conversion tool. If you want automation, pick a tool from the README's list, such as pangu.js or autocorrect, and follow its own docs.
  6. 6Agree a shared style. Share the guide with your team so product copy and website text follow the same rules.

What the guide is and who it is for

The project is a house-style document rather than a program. Its stated goal is to unify Chinese copy and typesetting, reduce communication cost between team members, and give websites a consistent feel.

It suits Chinese-language writers and editors who mix Chinese with English terms or numbers, teams that want one shared style for product copy and websites, translators and localization teams working on Traditional or Simplified Chinese, and students learning Chinese typesetting conventions.

  • Not a fully automated checker: the README describes rules, and the separate tools it links to do the automatic conversion.
  • Written for Chinese text. It is not a set of English-only writing rules.

Read the guide: where to find each rule

The README is organised by topic. Each rule has a short statement, a 正确 (correct) example and a 错误 (wrong) example. The README is available in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and English versions, linked from the top of the page.

Main topics include spacing (空格), punctuation (标点符号), full-width and half-width characters (全形和半形), nouns and capitalisation (名词), and a section on debated usages (争议).

  • 空格: spacing between Chinese and English, Chinese and numbers, numbers and units.
  • 标点符号: avoid repeated punctuation marks such as !! or ??.
  • 全形和半形: use full-width Chinese punctuation in Chinese sentences; use half-width digits.
  • 名词: correct capitalisation of proper nouns and avoiding non-standard abbreviations.
  • 争议: usages that are grammatically correct either way, such as spacing around hyperlinks.

Apply the spacing rules

The core rule is to put a space between Chinese and English words, and between Chinese and numbers. The guide's example is 在 LeanCloud 上，数据储存是围绕 `AVObject` 进行的。 Spacing around units is also expected, for example 10 Gbps, but degrees and percentages are the stated exception, as in 90° and 15%.

Full-width punctuation does not take a space on either side. The guide gives 剛剛買了一部 iPhone，好開心！ as correct.

  • Add a space between Chinese and English: 中文 English.
  • Add a space between Chinese and numbers: 花了 5000 元.
  • Add a space between numbers and units: 10 Gbps, 20 TB.
  • Do not add spaces around degrees or percentages: 90°, 15%.
  • Do not add spaces next to full-width punctuation.
在 LeanCloud 上，數據儲存是圍繞 `AVObject` 進行的。

Apply the punctuation and character-width rules

Use full-width Chinese punctuation in Chinese sentences, and use half-width punctuation for complete English sentences and proper nouns inside Chinese text. Use half-width digits in normal copy; full-width digits are only mentioned as acceptable in design work or posters where alignment matters.

Avoid repeating punctuation. The guide notes that Chinese mainland usage permits repeated marks, but it breaks the look of a sentence.

  • Use 「」 or “” style quotes consistently with the Chinese context.
  • Write 德国队竟然战胜了巴西队！ rather than with !!.
  • Use half-width punctuation for a full English quotation, such as 「Stay hungry, stay foolish.」

Handle capitalisation and abbreviations

Proper nouns keep their official capitalisation, such as GitHub, not github, GITHUB or Github. When a design needs all capitals or lowercase, the guide says to write the HTML in standard case and control the display with CSS.

Avoid informal abbreviations. The guide prefers TypeScript and HTML5 and Next.js over forms such as Ts, h5 or nextjs.

  • Keep the official form of product and brand names.
  • Use CSS text-transform for visual upper or lower case instead of retyping the text.
text-transform: uppercase;

Pair the guide with a tool for automatic conversion

The guide itself does not convert text. The README lists related tools by language, such as pangu.js (JavaScript), pangu.py (Python) and autocorrect (Rust with bindings for Node.js, Python, Ruby, Java, Go, PHP and VS Code). Other listed options include chinese-typesetting, space-lover for WordPress and hint.

Check each tool's own documentation for install steps and options, because the README does not give install commands for them.

  • Use a tool in your build or editor if you want automatic spacing.
  • Review its output against the guide, since the README notes that forks may differ from this project.

Use the guide as a shared house style

The guide suggests that a team writing product copy or website text should agree on one style and refer to it during editing. Where the guide labels a rule as an exception, follow that exception rather than the general rule.

The README also gives examples of Chinese sites that follow these conventions, including Apple China, Microsoft China, LeanCloud and V2EX, which you can compare with your own content.

  • Share the README link with writers and editors.
  • Note the exceptions, such as product names written in their official form.

What people use it for

  • Editing product copy that mixes Chinese text with English product names and version numbers.
  • Setting one house style for a company website in Chinese.
  • Reviewing translations for consistent spacing and full-width punctuation.
  • Teaching the conventions of Chinese typesetting to students.

Frequently asked questions

Is chinese-copywriting-guidelines a tool I can install?

No. The project is a written style guide in the README, and the install method is read-online with no prerequisites listed. The tools that apply the rules automatically are separate projects linked from the README.

Is chinese-copywriting-guidelines free to use?

The project is licensed under MIT, as listed in the project details. Check the repository's licence file for the full terms.

Does it automatically fix spacing in my text?

No. The README says the guide describes rules and that the separate linked tools do the automatic conversion.

What is the difference between this and pangu.js?

The guide sets out the rules, while pangu.js is a JavaScript tool that applies spacing. The two are complementary, so you can follow the guide and use pangu.js to help apply it.

Does the guide work for Traditional Chinese?

Yes. The README is written in Traditional Chinese and has a Simplified Chinese version, and the project lists translators and localization teams as a target audience.

Are there alternatives to this style guide?

The README's comparable projects include chinese-typesetting and hint, along with the pangu and autocorrect families of tools. Those are tools, while this project is a style guide.

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Our verdict

This guide suits Chinese writers, editors and teams who want one shared house style for spacing, punctuation and capitalisation. It is not a checker, so if you need automatic fixes, pair it with a tool such as pangu.js or autocorrect or choose one of the other listed options. It is not useful for English-only writing rules.

Install options & downloads