<p>From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei#Romanization">wiki</a>: the spelling "Taipei" derives from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles">Wade–Giles</a> romanization T'ai-pei. "Taibei" is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A0ny%C7%94_P%C4%ABny%C4%ABn">pinyin</a>, which iOS supports as an input method.</p>

<p>Wade-Giles used to be the standard method of romanization so it shows up in a lot of older Chinese names like "Chiang Ching-kuo".</p>

<p>Pinyin has its own disadvantages, especially when spoken by English speakers. Consonants like "zh", "q", or syllables like "ri", "shi" sound very different from what an English speaker might expect.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-13T22:24:21.067Z
It's the same reason that Beijing was spelled as "Peking" (as "peking duck")
YChi Lu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-29T05:04:38.060Z
It's worth mentioning that Pinyin was invented by the PRC, and Wade-Giles continued to be used in Taiwan long after China had stopped using it.
Readin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-01T00:23:37.753Z
2016-11-01T00:23:37.753Z
congusbongus
<p>I just tried to type in <em>taipei</em> in iOS but it didn't return any correct prediction. After my investigation, I found that it is <em>taibei</em>, not <em>taipei</em>, to get the correct pinyin result.</p>

<p>However, now I wonder why it is called <em>taipei</em>. 台 is <em>tai</em> like 台风 and 北 is <em>bei</em> like 北美洲. So why is it called <em>taipei</em>? I think in traditional chiese it should also be typed in as <em>taibei</em>...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-01T02:04:37.497Z
You can also see Tsinghua University which is 清华大学（qing1hua2 da4xue2）.
Ethan Gao
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-01T17:30:50.207Z
This begs the question as to why the Wade-Giles version Taipei survives whereas the Wade-Giles spelling Peking has been largely expunged. Is this political?
ThomasDoe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-22T16:52:08.293Z
@ThomasDoe: Almost all cities in Taiwan are more often seen with Wade-Giles spelling than Pinyin.
Olle Linge
<pinyin><word>
Why is 台北 spelled Taipei, not Taibei?
# Why is 台北 spelled Taipei, not Taibei?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-11-01)

I just tried to type in *taipei* in iOS but it didn't return any correct prediction. After my investigation, I found that it is *taibei*, not *taipei*, to get the correct pinyin result.

However, now I wonder why it is called *taipei*. 台 is *tai* like 台风 and 北 is *bei* like 北美洲. So why is it called *taipei*? I think in traditional chiese it should also be typed in as *taibei*...

**Tags:** pinyin, word

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You can also see Tsinghua University which is 清华大学（qing1hua2 da4xue2）.  
> **username_2**: This begs the question as to why the Wade-Giles version Taipei survives whereas the Wade-Giles spelling Peking has been largely expunged. Is this political?  
> **username_3**: @username_2: Almost all cities in Taiwan are more often seen with Wade-Giles spelling than Pinyin.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-11-01. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

From [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei#Romanization): the spelling "Taipei" derives from the [Wade–Giles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles) romanization T'ai-pei. "Taibei" is [pinyin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A0ny%C7%94_P%C4%ABny%C4%ABn), which iOS supports as an input method.

Wade-Giles used to be the standard method of romanization so it shows up in a lot of older Chinese names like "Chiang Ching-kuo".

Pinyin has its own disadvantages, especially when spoken by English speakers. Consonants like "zh", "q", or syllables like "ri", "shi" sound very different from what an English speaker might expect.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: It's the same reason that Beijing was spelled as "Peking" (as "peking duck")  
> **username_6**: It's worth mentioning that Pinyin was invented by the PRC, and Wade-Giles continued to be used in Taiwan long after China had stopped using it.  

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