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Punctuation Marks for Classical Chinese Text

Why is Western punctuation used in Chinese writing?

During the late 1910s, there is a movement called New Culture Movement, and a major goal of it is to teach everyone to read and write. The Classical Chinese was too hard for people to read, and lacking punctuation is one of the difficulties. On 29 November, 1919, Ma Yuzao and other 5 person submitted a proposal of calling for using modern punctuation system, which mixed classical and Western punctuations. Outline of History of Chinese Philosophy (中國哲學史大綱) by Hu Shi (胡適) is the first work applying this punctuation system. [1]

Punctuation marks and Typographic styles used in Classical Chinese Textbooks

• ，(逗號/Dòu hào) is a comma.
• 。(句號/jù hào) is a full stop, equivalent to a period in Western punctuation.
• 、(顿號/dùn hào) is an enumerated comma, used when listing things in sentences.
• ？(問號/wèn hào) is a question mark
• ！(感歎號/jīng tàn hào) is an exclamation mark
• ；(分號/fēn hào) is a semicolon
• ：(冒號/mào hào) is a colon
• 「...」/ “...” (引号/yǐn hào) are both used for quotation marks.
• ____ (專名號/zhuān míng hào) Proper name mark (underline)
• ﹏﹏ (書名號/shū míng hào) Title mark (wavy underline)