<p>Mainstream pinyin input methods mainly use full-width '、' character.  And under most formal situations, full-width '、' is required to keep consistency with other full-width punctuation markers (for example: '。', '，', '！').</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-28T09:23:12.723Z
2018-03-28T09:23:12.723Z
Aria Ax
<p>I’d say no. All regular Chinese punctuation marks are full-width. There shouldn't be any spaces before or after punctuation marks when you are typesetting Chinese. </p>

<p>When people input Chinese, all Chinese characters and punctuation marks are typed under the full-width mode, while numbers, letters, and other symbols should be typed under the half-width mode. “、” (顿号) is no exception.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-28T14:58:59.300Z
2018-03-28T14:58:59.300Z
wklchris
<p>The concept of <strong>fullwidth</strong> and <strong>halfwidth</strong> is actually a historical problem.</p>
<p>In the world of English typesetting, <strong>justification</strong> is often used in order to align the right-hand side of every line in a paragraph. This is done by adjusting the width of the spaces between words. The same thing is also done in Chinese typesetting. However, since there is no space between Chinese characters, the only thing we can play with is the space around the punctuation marks.</p>
<p>You may wonder why we have to justify the Chinese text—every Chinese character and punctuation mark shares the same width, so Chinese text should be naturally justified without any manual intervention! The problem is that, some punctuation marks should not appear at the beginning of a line (e.g. 逗号 <code>，</code> and 句号 <code>。</code>), while others should not appear at the end of a line (e.g. 左括号 <code>（</code> and 前引号 <code>“</code>). For example, if the line width is equal to 30 characters, and the 31st character happens to be a 逗号, then it has to be moved to the end of the previous line, which in turn requires the previous contents of that line be squeezed. The common practice is to reduce the spaces around the punctuation marks (if any), so that one punctuation mark is narrower than one Chinese character.</p>
<p>Any modern word processor or typesetting software will do this automatically for you, so you don't have to care about the details of the algorithm. However, this feature is not well supported in browsers, so you can hardly see any properly justified Chinese webpages.</p>
<p>Then, how was this achieved in the movable type era, before word processors were invented? Cut off (slightly less than) half of a type just for a single line? Economically impossible. The economically feasible solution is to prepare some &quot;halfwidth&quot; (in its original sense: half the width of a Chinese character) punctuation marks in advance. When punctuation &quot;squeezing&quot; was required, &quot;the halfwidth punctuation plus some spaces&quot; were used instead.</p>
<p>According to the original definition, halfwidth punctuation marks are exactly half the width of a Chinese character, while fullwidth punctuation marks are exactly full width of a Chinese character. In most modern fonts, the width of ASCII punctuation marks are less than half the width of a Chinese character, so it's technically incorrect to call them &quot;halfwidth&quot;. However, as 顿号 <code>、</code> is not used in Western text at all, it is very likely to be exactly &quot;halfwidth&quot; in a font. Other real &quot;halfwidth&quot; punctuation marks share the same codepoints with their ASCII counterparts in Unicode, so depending on the font selection, you cannot rely on it that they're really halfwidth.</p>
<p>In summary, the modern practice is: use fullwidth punctuation marks all the time, and leave the chores of justification to the word processor or typesetting engine. So, HALFWIDTH IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA (U+FF64) is generally not used directly, but it stays there in case you really need it (somewhat similar to things like SIX-PER-EM SPACE (U+2006); will anyone justify the text by manually replacing all normal spaces with six-per-em spaces in a line?).</p>
<p>Further reading:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/clreq/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Requirements for Chinese Text Layout / 中文排版需求</a> (in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.thetype.com/kongque/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">孔雀计划：中文字体排印的思路</a> (in Chinese only)</li>
</ul>
<p>PS: Please note that Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan have different conventions about punctuation. The rules described above is based on the convention in Mainland China.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-30T12:18:45.190Z
2024-05-30T12:18:45.190Z
lhy7889678
<p>Here is <a href="http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/01/13/20150113091548267.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the general rules for punctuation in China</a> - Just FYI</p>
<blockquote>
<p>4.5.2 形式<br />
顿号的形式是“、”。</p>
<p>4.5.3 基本用法</p>
<p>4.5.3.1 用于并列词语之间。<br />
示例1：这里有自由、民主、平等、开放的风气和氛围。<br />
示例2：造型科学、技艺精湛、气韵生动，是盛唐石雕的特色。</p>
<p>4.5.3.2 用于需要停顿的重复词语之间。<br />
示例：他几次三番、几次三番地辩解着。</p>
<p>4.5.3.3 用于某些序次语（不带括号的汉字数字或&quot;天干地支&quot;类序次语）之后。<br />
示例1：我准备讲两个问题：一、逻辑学是什么？二、怎样学好逻辑学？<br />
示例2：风格的具体内容主要有以下四点：甲、题材；乙、用字；丙、表达；丁、色彩。</p>
<p>4.5.3.4 相邻或相近两数字连用表示概数通常不用顿号。若相邻那两数字连用为缩略形式，宜用顿号。<br />
示例1：飞机在600米高空水平飞行时，只能看到两侧八九公里和前方一二十公里范围内的地面。<br />
示例2：这种凶猛的动物常常三五成群地外出觅食和活动。<br />
示例3：农业是国民经济的基础，也是二、三产业的基础。</p>
<p>4.5.3.5 标有引号的并列成分之间、标有书名号的并列成分之间通常不用顿号。若有其他成分插在并列的引号之间或并列的书名号之间（如引语或书名号之后还有括注），宜用顿号。<br />
示例1：“日”“月”构成“明”字。<br />
示例2：店里挂着“顾客就是上帝”“质量就是生命”等横幅。<br />
示例3：《红楼梦》（三国演义》西游记》（水浒传》，是我国长篇小说的的四大名著。<br />
示例4：李白的&quot;白发三千丈&quot;（《秋浦歌》）、“朝如青丝暮成雪”（《将进酒》都是脸炙人口的诗句。<br />
示例5：办公室里订有《人民日报》（海外版）、《光明日报》和《时代周刊》等报刊。</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-27T17:02:50.373Z
2024-05-27T17:02:50.373Z
typed-sigterm
<p>My digital version of《现代汉语规范词典》seems to be using halfwidth ideographic commas, <code>､</code> (U+FF64).</p>

<p>Here's their definition for <strong>巾</strong>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>名 用来擦､包或盖东西的小块织物</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It looks like a poor attempt at a fullwidth ideographic comma (顿号) and seems to be missing any sort of space what-so-ever after the punctuation mark.</p>

<p>Is there ever usage of the halfwidth ideographic comma in Chinese punctuation? (Add your own spaces?)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-05T07:16:49.560Z
A wild guess is that they made an exception in the case of a several hundred pages long dictionary where they decided it would be worth the cumulative space savings, and the digital edition just kept this.
gnucchi
<punctuation>
Is the halfwidth ideographic comma (､) (U+FF64) ever used in Chinese punctuation?
# Is the halfwidth ideographic comma (､) (U+FF64) ever used in Chinese punctuation?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-28)

My digital version of《现代汉语规范词典》seems to be using halfwidth ideographic commas, `､` (U+FF64).

Here's their definition for **巾**:

> 名 用来擦､包或盖东西的小块织物

It looks like a poor attempt at a fullwidth ideographic comma (顿号) and seems to be missing any sort of space what-so-ever after the punctuation mark.

Is there ever usage of the halfwidth ideographic comma in Chinese punctuation? (Add your own spaces?)

**Tags:** punctuation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: A wild guess is that they made an exception in the case of a several hundred pages long dictionary where they decided it would be worth the cumulative space savings, and the digital edition just kept this.  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-03-28. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Mainstream pinyin input methods mainly use full-width '、' character. And under most formal situations, full-width '、' is required to keep consistency with other full-width punctuation markers (for example: '。', '，', '！').


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-03-28. Score: 3

I’d say no. All regular Chinese punctuation marks are full-width. There shouldn't be any spaces before or after punctuation marks when you are typesetting Chinese.

When people input Chinese, all Chinese characters and punctuation marks are typed under the full-width mode, while numbers, letters, and other symbols should be typed under the half-width mode. “、” (顿号) is no exception.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-05-30. Score: 1

The concept of **fullwidth** and **halfwidth** is actually a historical problem.

In the world of English typesetting, **justification** is often used in order to align the right-hand side of every line in a paragraph. This is done by adjusting the width of the spaces between words. The same thing is also done in Chinese typesetting. However, since there is no space between Chinese characters, the only thing we can play with is the space around the punctuation marks.

You may wonder why we have to justify the Chinese text—every Chinese character and punctuation mark shares the same width, so Chinese text should be naturally justified without any manual intervention! The problem is that, some punctuation marks should not appear at the beginning of a line (e.g. 逗号 `，` and 句号 `。`), while others should not appear at the end of a line (e.g. 左括号 `（` and 前引号 `“`). For example, if the line width is equal to 30 characters, and the 31st character happens to be a 逗号, then it has to be moved to the end of the previous line, which in turn requires the previous contents of that line be squeezed. The common practice is to reduce the spaces around the punctuation marks (if any), so that one punctuation mark is narrower than one Chinese character.

Any modern word processor or typesetting software will do this automatically for you, so you don't have to care about the details of the algorithm. However, this feature is not well supported in browsers, so you can hardly see any properly justified Chinese webpages.

Then, how was this achieved in the movable type era, before word processors were invented? Cut off (slightly less than) half of a type just for a single line? Economically impossible. The economically feasible solution is to prepare some "halfwidth" (in its original sense: half the width of a Chinese character) punctuation marks in advance. When punctuation "squeezing" was required, "the halfwidth punctuation plus some spaces" were used instead.

According to the original definition, halfwidth punctuation marks are exactly half the width of a Chinese character, while fullwidth punctuation marks are exactly full width of a Chinese character. In most modern fonts, the width of ASCII punctuation marks are less than half the width of a Chinese character, so it's technically incorrect to call them "halfwidth". However, as 顿号 `、` is not used in Western text at all, it is very likely to be exactly "halfwidth" in a font. Other real "halfwidth" punctuation marks share the same codepoints with their ASCII counterparts in Unicode, so depending on the font selection, you cannot rely on it that they're really halfwidth.

In summary, the modern practice is: use fullwidth punctuation marks all the time, and leave the chores of justification to the word processor or typesetting engine. So, HALFWIDTH IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA (U+FF64) is generally not used directly, but it stays there in case you really need it (somewhat similar to things like SIX-PER-EM SPACE (U+2006); will anyone justify the text by manually replacing all normal spaces with six-per-em spaces in a line?).

Further reading:

* [Requirements for Chinese Text Layout / 中文排版需求](https://www.w3.org/TR/clreq/) (in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese)
* [孔雀计划：中文字体排印的思路](https://www.thetype.com/kongque/) (in Chinese only)

PS: Please note that Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan have different conventions about punctuation. The rules described above is based on the convention in Mainland China.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-05-27. Score: 0

Here is [the general rules for punctuation in China](http://www.moe.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2015/01/13/20150113091548267.pdf) - Just FYI

> 4.5.2 形式  
> 顿号的形式是“、”。
>
> 4.5.3 基本用法
>
> 4.5.3.1 用于并列词语之间。  
> 示例1：这里有自由、民主、平等、开放的风气和氛围。  
> 示例2：造型科学、技艺精湛、气韵生动，是盛唐石雕的特色。
>
> 4.5.3.2 用于需要停顿的重复词语之间。  
> 示例：他几次三番、几次三番地辩解着。
>
> 4.5.3.3 用于某些序次语（不带括号的汉字数字或"天干地支"类序次语）之后。  
> 示例1：我准备讲两个问题：一、逻辑学是什么？二、怎样学好逻辑学？  
> 示例2：风格的具体内容主要有以下四点：甲、题材；乙、用字；丙、表达；丁、色彩。
>
> 4.5.3.4 相邻或相近两数字连用表示概数通常不用顿号。若相邻那两数字连用为缩略形式，宜用顿号。  
> 示例1：飞机在600米高空水平飞行时，只能看到两侧八九公里和前方一二十公里范围内的地面。  
> 示例2：这种凶猛的动物常常三五成群地外出觅食和活动。  
> 示例3：农业是国民经济的基础，也是二、三产业的基础。
>
> 4.5.3.5 标有引号的并列成分之间、标有书名号的并列成分之间通常不用顿号。若有其他成分插在并列的引号之间或并列的书名号之间（如引语或书名号之后还有括注），宜用顿号。  
> 示例1：“日”“月”构成“明”字。  
> 示例2：店里挂着“顾客就是上帝”“质量就是生命”等横幅。  
> 示例3：《红楼梦》（三国演义》西游记》（水浒传》，是我国长篇小说的的四大名著。  
> 示例4：李白的"白发三千丈"（《秋浦歌》）、“朝如青丝暮成雪”（《将进酒》都是脸炙人口的诗句。  
> 示例5：办公室里订有《人民日报》（海外版）、《光明日报》和《时代周刊》等报刊。


---

