User:Szqecs/Naming conventions (China and Taiwan)

This is a guideline on how to refer to the various geographical and political entities called "China" and "Taiwan", and in particular to the two states of that name and their territories:

• People's Republic of China (abbreviated as PRC), commonly known as China
• Republic of China (abbreviated as ROC), commonly known as Taiwan

Main article titles

See also: Talk:Chinese_civilization/Archive_26 § Requested_move_August_2011, and Talk:Taiwan/Archive 20

• China should be about the article about the PRC.
• Taiwan should be about the article about the ROC.

Other page titles

For sub-articles of the PRC, either "China" or "People's Republic of China" should be used:

• If a sub-article of the type "X of China" conflicts with an existing article of the type "X of the People's Republic of China", a regular disambiguation page pattern according to WP:D with no "primary topic" should be used (i.e. "X of China" should be a disambiguation page), or "X of China" should be used for a common roof article covering all senses. In all other cases, the country-related article can be at "X of China".

For sub-articles of the ROC, either "Taiwan" or "Republic of China" should be used:

• If a sub-article of the type "X of Taiwan" conflicts with an existing article of the type "X of the Republic of China", a regular disambiguation page pattern according to WP:D with no "primary topic" should be used (i.e. "X of Taiwan" should be a disambiguation page), or "X of Taiwan" should be used for a common roof article covering all senses. In all other cases, the country-related article can be at "X of Taiwan".

Articles relating to foreign relations and international organizations

• The PRC should be referred to in these contexts in the same manner as they are referred to elsewhere on the project.
• The ROC should be referred to as "Taiwan" with diverging naming practices used by the states and organisations themselves reported in parentheses after the first reference to the state, or in a footnote.

PRC and its territories in other articles

State

• "China", by itself, should be used to refer to the PRC in all other articles in contexts where this is practically unambiguous. Examples of contexts that are typically unambiguous:
  • Lists and enumerations of countries (including lists in article text, many navigation boxes and similar items).
  • Geographical specifiers where the reader naturally expects the name of a country, e.g. as a specifier of a placename in a biography article (e.g. "X was born in Hebei, China")
  • Discussions dealing with international politics, economy or similar topics, where the context makes it clear that de facto countries are referred to.
  • Subsequent references in contexts where the referent has previously been established through some appropriate disambiguation.
• "People's Republic of China" should be used where disambiguation with one of the other "China"s is practically needed. The name can be abbreviated after first reference if the abbreviation is properly introduced. Examples where this may be the case include:
  • Articles about the ROC, in contexts where the disambiguation is not yet made.
  • Articles dealing with both the modern period and earlier periods, where older Chinese entities could be at issue.
  • Initial sentences in the lead of an article, where "People's Republic of China" is an essential part of the definition of the topic (including articles where the title itself has plain "China", as per "#Other_page_titles").

Territories

• "China", by itself, can be used to refer to present-day controlled territories of the PRC in earlier periods just like any other country.

ROC and its territories in other articles

State

• "Taiwan", by itself, should be used to refer to the ROC in all other articles in contexts where this is practically unambiguous. Examples of contexts that are typically unambiguous:
  • Lists and enumerations of countries (including lists in article text, many navigation boxes and similar items).
  • Geographical specifiers where the reader naturally expects the name of a country, e.g. as a specifier of a placename in a biography article (e.g. "X was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan")
  • Discussions dealing with international politics, economy or similar topics, where the context makes it clear that de facto countries are referred to.
  • Subsequent references in contexts where the referent has previously been established through some appropriate disambiguation.
• "Republic of China" should be used where disambiguation with Taiwan Island is practically needed. The name can be abbreviated after first reference if the abbreviation is properly introduced. Examples where this may be the case include:
  • articles dealing with earlier periods, where "Taiwan" is used to refer to Taiwan Island.
  • initial sentences in the lead of an article, where "Republic of China" is an essential part of the definition of the topic (including articles where the title itself has "Taiwan", as per "#Other_page_titles").
• "China", by itself, can be used to refer to the Republic of China in contexts where this is practically unambiguous. This is largely limited to articles dealing with periods before the PRC was founded.

Territories

• "Taiwan", by itself, can be used to refer to present-day controlled territories of the ROC in earlier periods just like any other country.