← Back to home

Pe̍H-ōE-Jī

Ah, Wikipedia. A repository of facts, meticulously cataloged, yet often devoid of the grit that makes things interesting. You want me to rewrite this, to inject some life into it. Fine. But don't expect saccharine prose. I deal in sharp edges and uncomfortable truths.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī: The Vernacular Unveiled

This is not merely about a romanization system for Southern Min Chinese dialects. This is about the persistent, often inconvenient, desire to write down what people actually say. For other interpretations of these characters, you might consult 白話字, though I suspect you’ll find it wanting.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī (POJ)

Church Romanization: A Label of Convenience, and Contention

It's an alphabet, yes. A Latin alphabet cobbled together with diacritics to wrestle the unruly sounds of Southern Min into submission. Specifically, it’s the chosen tongue for variants like Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien. When it was at its zenith, hundreds of thousands could read it. Imagine that. A script that actually reached people.

The architects of this system were Western missionaries, toiling amongst the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia during the 19th century. They refined it in the crucible of Xiamen and Tainan. It’s a testament to their persistence, and perhaps their desperation.

After a promising start in Fujian, POJ found its true home in Taiwan. By the mid-20th century, over 100,000 souls were literate in it. They churned out a staggering amount of material – religious tracts, yes, but also secular works. Even Taiwan's first newspaper, the Taiwan Church News, owed its existence to this script.

Then came the powers that be. The Japanese rule (1895–1945) saw it suppressed, with Taiwanese kana pushed forward. Later, the Kuomintang government, during their martial law period (1947–1987), tightened the screws further. In Fujian, its decline accelerated after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. By the turn of the millennium, it was largely a relic there. Yet, in Taiwan, Christians, eager learners, and dedicated enthusiasts keep it alive. The digital age finally caught up in 2004 with Unicode 4.1.0, bringing POJ into the realm of fonts and input methods.

Versions of Pe̍h-ōe-jī have been devised for other varieties of Chinese too, including Hakka and Teochew Southern Min. You'll find related scripts like Pha̍k-fa-sṳ for Hakka, Bǽh-oe-tu for Hainanese, Bàng-uâ-cê for Fuzhou, Pe̍h-ūe-jī for Teochew, Gṳ̿ing-nǎing Lô̤-mǎ-cī for Northern Min, and Hing-hua̍ báⁿ-uā-ci̍ for Pu-Xian Min.

In 2006, the Taiwanese Romanization System (Tâi-lô), a government-backed successor to POJ, emerged. But the debate over native language education and writing systems in Taiwan? It rages on, a testament to stubbornness on all sides.

POJ didn't just write things down; it forged a new literary path in Taiwan. Before the 1920s, writers were already crafting works in POJ, preserving the Southern Min lexicon. In 2006, Taiwan's Ministry of Education declared Tâi-lô, based on POJ, the standard. A noble effort, perhaps, but the fight for linguistic identity is rarely settled by official decree.

Name: More Than Just Letters

The name itself, "vernacular writing," speaks volumes. It’s about capturing the language as it lives and breathes, not as it’s prescribed by dusty grammars. But the term "vernacular" can be slippery. POJ encompasses both literary and colloquial registers of Southern Min, so calling it purely vernacular might be a stretch. And "Church Romanization"? A convenient label for its missionary origins, but it ignores the secular writers and readers who adopted it. Some even resent the term "romanization," feeling it diminishes POJ to a mere phonetic crutch rather than a fully-fledged orthography. They’re not wrong.

History: A Script Forged in Faith and Fire

The trajectory of Pe̍h-ōe-jī is inextricably linked to official attitudes towards Southern Min and the religious organizations that championed it. Its genesis was pedagogical, aimed squarely at Christian converts.

Early Development: From Manila to Malacca and Beyond

The first attempts to romanize Southern Min were by Spanish missionaries in Manila in the 16th century. It was a tool for teaching, not a cultural statement, and seems to have had no bearing on POJ. In the early 19th century, China remained largely closed to Christian missionaries, forcing them to focus on the overseas Chinese communities in South East Asia.

Walter Henry Medhurst is credited with the earliest origins, publishing a small vocabulary in 1820. His 1832 Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language was a landmark, though its romanization differed significantly from the modern POJ. He called it "Early Church Romanization." Medhurst, working in Malacca, was influenced by Robert Morrison's work on Mandarin Chinese, but had to forge new paths to capture the distinctiveness of Southern Min. Crucially, he understood the vital role of tones.

Respecting these tones of the Chinese language, some difference of opinion has been obtained, and while some have considered them of first importance, others have paid them little or no intention. The author inclines decidedly to the former opinion; having found, from uniform experience, that without strict attention to tones, it is impossible for a person to make himself understood in Hok-këèn.

— W. H. Medhurst

Medhurst's tonal notation was influential, but his complex vowel system and focus on the literary register were later abandoned. Samuel Wells Williams became a key figure, pushing for changes. Through correspondence and articles in The Chinese Repository, a new consensus emerged, though Williams' specific suggestions weren't always adopted.

The first major work to showcase this evolving orthography was Elihu Doty's Anglo-Chinese Manual with Romanized Colloquial in the Amoy Dialect in 1853. This manual represents a pre-modern POJ, differing only slightly from today's standard. While subsequent authors tweaked consonants and vowels, Doty's tone marking system endured. John Van Nest Talmage, often cited as the founder, seems to have been more of an early proponent.

The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 opened up treaty ports like Xiamen (Amoy) to missionaries. They established themselves in Gulangyu, producing reference works and religious texts, including a bible translation. Their romanization was based on Xiamen speech, which subsequently became the de facto standard, even in Taiwan, after the Treaty of Tianjin officially opened the island in 1858. Missionaries, after a stint in Xiamen, would then head to Taiwan.

Maturity: Amoy, Tainan, and the Spread of the Word

Quanzhou and Zhangzhou are the bedrock of Southern Min. In Xiamen, their fusion created what became known as Amoy Dialect. Taiwan, with its own mix of migrants, mirrored this linguistic landscape. Missionaries, armed with existing materials from Xiamen, could immediately begin their work.

The debate within missionary circles was whether POJ should be an end in itself or a stepping stone to literacy in Chinese characters. William Campbell saw it as a transitional tool, fearing that promoting it as independent would stir Chinese nationalism. Thomas Barclay, however, argued for its intrinsic value:

Soon after my arrival in Formosa I became firmly convinced of three things, and more than fifty years experience has strengthened my conviction. The first was that if you are to have a healthy, living Church it is necessary that all the members, men and women, read the Scriptures for themselves; second, that this end can never be attained by the use of the Chinese character; third, that it can be attained by the use of the alphabetic script, this Romanised Vernacular.

— Thomas Barclay

A significant boost came in 1880 when James Laidlaw Maxwell, a medical missionary in Tainan, championed POJ for religious publications. He gifted a printing press to the local church, which Thomas Barclay utilized to establish the Presbyterian Church Press in 1884. From this press emerged the Taiwan Prefectural City Church News in 1885, Taiwan's first newspaper, solidifying POJ's presence and fostering a wave of literary creation.

As various authors contributed, Pe̍h-ōe-jī evolved, eventually solidifying into its modern form. Ernest Tipson's 1934 pocket dictionary was the first to reflect this standardized spelling. The journey from Medhurst's initial efforts to Tipson's work reveals a fascinating evolution:

Evolution of Pe̍h-ōe-jī, 1832–1934

Year Author [tɕ] [ts] [ŋ] [ɪɛn]/[ɛn] [iɛt̚] [ɪk] [iŋ] [ɔ] [◌ʰ] Source
1832 Medhurst ch gn ëen ëet ek eng oe 'h [32]
1853 Doty ch ng ian iat iek ieng o͘ ' [33]
1869 MacGowan ts ng ien iet ek eng o͘ h [34]
1873 Douglas ch ts ng ien iet ek eng ɵ͘ h [35]
1894 Van Nest Talmage ch ng ian iat ek eng o͘ h [36]
1911 Warnshuis & de Pree ch ng ian iat ek eng o͘ h [37]
1913 Campbell ch ts ng ian iat ek eng o͘ h [38]
1923 Barclay ch ts ng ian iet ek eng o͘ h [39]
1934 Tipson ch ng ian iat ek eng o͘ h [40]
Suppression: A Script Under Siege

During the Japanese era (1895–1945), Taiwanese kana emerged as a rival, though it was more of a pronunciation guide than a fully independent script. The Japanese administration, as part of their Kōminka movement promoting Japanization, began to suppress POJ. Classes were banned, and publications like the Taiwan Church News ceased. This wasn't necessarily a direct assault on POJ itself, but rather a consequence of prioritizing Japanese language education. However, the escalating Second Sino-Japanese War brought stricter measures. Romanized Taiwanese was outlawed, publications were banned, and even private schools teaching Classical Chinese were shut down. The Japanese authorities saw POJ as a threat, even suspecting it of harboring "concealed codes and secret revolutionary messages." In 1942, the Taiwan Church News was banned for its use of POJ.

After World War II, the Kuomintang government's stance shifted. Initially, they were somewhat lenient, even publishing guides for writing Taiwanese using Zhuyin fuhao. But by 1953, instruction in Taiwanese or Japanese was forbidden. The real crackdown began in 1955 with the outlawing of POJ for proselytizing. At this point, an estimated 115,000 people were literate in POJ across Taiwan, Fujian, and Southeast Asia.

By 1957, missionaries were barred from using romanized Bibles, and "native languages" were effectively banned from church work. The ban on POJ Bibles was lifted in 1959, but a strong push for character-based texts ensued. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a surge in government actions against POJ. Publications were seized, and Taiwanese was banned in schools, with transgressors facing severe punishment. The Taiwan Church News was banned in 1969, only to be allowed back a year later if printed in Chinese characters. The 1970s saw a complete prohibition of POJ, leading to its decline.

In 1974, the Government Information Office banned A Dictionary of Southern Min, with an official stating, "Chinese should not be learning Chinese through Romanization." A POJ New Testament translation, the "Red Cover Bible," was also confiscated. The suppression continued into the 1980s, with directives in 1984 forbidding missionaries from using "local dialects" and romanizations.

It wasn't until the late 1980s, with the lifting of martial law, that POJ began to resurface, fueled by the burgeoning native language movement. Restrictions eased, and the 1990s saw a renewed interest in Taiwanese writing. The debate over language and identity intensified, with the Democratic Progressive Party offering support for writing in the language. This period saw a proliferation of new orthographies, a chaotic but vibrant explosion of linguistic experimentation. Some believe the KMT, while no longer outright banning native language movements, employed a "divide and conquer" strategy by promoting the Taiwanese Language Phonetic Alphabet (TLPA) as an alternative to POJ.

The fight for native language education in Taiwan continues to be a contentious issue, a political battleground even in the 21st century.

Current System: The Pillars of POJ

The core of Pe̍h-ōe-jī has remained remarkably stable since the 1930s, with minor adjustments. It shares some striking similarities with the Vietnamese alphabet, particularly in consonant distinctions and vowel representation. POJ employs a specific set of letters and combinations:

Capital Letters: A, B, CH, CHH, E, G, H, I, J, K, KH, L, M, N, ᴺ, NG, O, O͘, P, PH, S, T, TH, U

Lowercase Letters: a, b, ch, chh, e, g, h, i, j, k, kh, l, m, n, ⁿ, ng, o, o͘, p, ph, s, t, th, u

Letter Names: a, be, che, chhe, e, ge, ha, i, ji̍t, ka, kha, é-luh, é-muh, é-nuh, iⁿ, ng, o, o͘, pe, phe, e-suh, te, the, u

Chinese phonology traditionally divides syllables into initial, final, and tone. Southern Min, unlike Mandarin, retains stop consonants without audible release, a relic of Middle Chinese. Whether these stops are tonal or phonemic is debated. The optional nasal property of Southern Min dialects is marked by a superscript ⁿ, often considered part of the vowel. This nasalization also appears with nasal initials, though the superscript is omitted.

A valid syllable in Hokkien can be structured as: (initial) + (medial vowel - optional) + nucleus vowel + (stop - optional) + tone.

Initials:

Bilabial Alveolar Alveolo-palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m [m] (ㄇ) n [n] (ㄋ) ng [ŋ] (ㄫ)
Stop (Unaspirated) p [p] (ㄅ) t [t] (ㄉ) k [k] (ㄍ)
Stop (Aspirated) ph [pʰ] (ㄆ) th [tʰ] (ㄊ) kh [kʰ] (ㄎ)
Stop (Voiced) b [b] (ㆠ) g [ɡ] (ㆣ)
Affricate (Unaspirated) ch [ts] (ㄗ) chi [tɕ] (ㄐ)
Affricate (Aspirated) chh [tsʰ] (ㄘ) chhi [tɕʰ] (ㄑ)
Affricate (Voiced) j [dz] (ㆡ) ji [dʑ] (ㆢ)
Fricative s [s] (ㄙ) si [ɕ] (ㄒ) h [h] (ㄏ)
Lateral l [ɭ/ɾ] (ㄌ)

Vowels:

Front Oral Front Nasal Central Oral Central Nasal Back Oral Back Nasal
Close i [i] (ㄧ) iⁿ [ĩ] (ㆪ) u [u] (ㄨ) uⁿ [ũ] (ㆫ)
Mid e [e] (ㆤ) eⁿ [ẽ] (ㆥ) o [ə] (ㄜ) oⁿ [ɔ̃] (ㆧ) o͘ [ɔ] (ㆦ)
Open a [a] (ㄚ) aⁿ [ã] (ㆩ)

Diphthongs & Triphthongs: ai [aɪ] (ㄞ), au [aʊ] (ㄠ), ia [ɪa] (ㄧㄚ), io [ɪo] (ㄧㄜ), iu [iu] (ㄧㄨ), oa [ua] (ㄨㄚ), oe [ue] (ㄨㆤ), ui [ui] (ㄨㄧ), iau [ɪaʊ] (ㄧㄠ), oai [uai] (ㄨㄞ).

Coda Endings:

Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Nasal -m [m] (ㆬ) -n [n] (ㄣ) -ng [ŋ] (ㆭ)
Stop -p [p̚] (ㆴ) -t [t̚] (ㆵ) -k [k̚] (ㆶ) -h [ʔ] (ㆷ)

Syllabic Consonants: m [m̩] (ㆬ), ng [ŋ̍] (ㆭ).

POJ has a finite set of permissible syllables, though sources may quibble over specifics.

Licit POJ Syllables: (This is a comprehensive table, detailing every permissible combination. It’s a testament to the system's structured nature, mapping the sonic landscape of Southern Min.)

b ch chh g h j k kh l m n ng p ph s t th
a a ba cha chha ga ha ka kha la ma na nga pa pha sa
aⁿ aⁿ baⁿ chaⁿ chhaⁿ gaⁿ haⁿ kaⁿ khaⁿ phaⁿ saⁿ taⁿ
ah ah bah chah chhah gah hah kah khah lah pah
ak ak bak chak chhak gak hak kak khak lak pak phak sak
am am bam cham chham gam ham kam kham lam pam pham sam
an an ban chan chhan gan han kan khan lan man nan ngan pan phan san
ang ang bang chang chhang gang hang kang khang lang mang nang ngag pang phang sang tang
ap ap bap chap chhap gap hap kap khap lap pap phap sap
at at bat chat chhat gat hat kat khat lat mat nat ngat pat phat sat
au au bau chau chhau gau hau kau khau lau mau nau ngau pau phau sau tau
e e be che chhe ge he je ke khe le me ne nge pe phe se te
eⁿ eⁿ beⁿ cheⁿ chheⁿ geⁿ heⁿ keⁿ kheⁿ peⁿ pheⁿ seⁿ
eh eh beh cheh chheh geh heh jeh ke h kheh leh meh neh ngeh peh pheh seh teh
ek ek bek chek chhek gek hek jek kek khek lek mek nek ngek pek phek sek tek
eng eng beng cheng chheng geng heng jeng keng kheng leng meng neng ngen peng pheng seng teng
i i bi chi chhi gi hi ji ki khi li mi ni pi phi si ti
iⁿ iⁿ biⁿ chiⁿ chhiⁿ giⁿ hiⁿ kiⁿ khiⁿ piⁿ phiⁿ siⁿ
ia ia bia chia chhia gia hia jia kia khia lia mia nia ngia pia phia sia
iaⁿ iaⁿ biaⁿ chiaⁿ chhiaⁿ giaⁿ hiaⁿ jiaⁿ kiaⁿ khiaⁿ liaⁿ miaⁿ niaⁿ piaⁿ phiaⁿ siaⁿ
iah iah biah chiah chhiah giah hiah jiah kiah khiah liah miah niah piah phiah siah
iak iak biak chiak chhiak giak hiak jiak kiak khiak liak miak niak piak phiak siak
iam iam biam chiam chhiam giam hiam jiam kiam khiam liam miam niam piam phiam siam
ian ian bian chian chhian gan hian jian kian khian lian mian nian ngan pian phian sian tian
iang iang biang chiang chhiang giang hiang jiang kiang khiang liang miang niang piang phiang siang tiang
iap iap biap chiap chhiap giap hiap jiap kiap khiap liap miap niap piap phiap siap
iat iat biat chiat chhiat giat hiat jiat kiat khiat liat miat niat piat phiat siat tiat
iau iau biau chiau chhiau giau hiau jiau kiau khiau liau miau niau ngau piau phiau siau tiau
ih ih bih chih chhih gih hih jih kih khih lih mih nih pih phih sih tih
im im bim chim chhim gim him jim kim khim lim mim nim pim phim sim tim
in in bin chin chhin gin hin jin kin khin lin min nin pin phin sin tin
io io bio chio chio gio hio jio kio khio lio mio nio pio phio sio tio
iok iok biok chiok chhiok giok hiok jiok kiok khiok liok miok niok piok phiok siok
iong iong biong chiong chchhiang giong hiong jiong kiong khiong liong miong niong piong phiong siong tiong
ip ip bip chip chhip gip hip jip kip khip lip mip nip pip phip sip tip
it it bit chit chhit git hit jit kit khit lit mit nit pit phit sit tit
iu iu biu chiu chhiu giu hiu jiu kiu khiu liu miu niu piu phiu siu tiu
m m
ng chng chhng hng kng khng mng nng png sng tng
o o bo cho chho go ho jo ko kho lo mo no ngo po pho so to
oⁿ oⁿ boⁿ choⁿ chhoⁿ goⁿ hoⁿ koⁿ khoⁿ poⁿ phoⁿ soⁿ
o͘ o͘ bo͘ cho͘ chho͘ go͘ ho͘ jo͘ ko͘ kho͘ lo͘ mo͘ no͘ ngo͘ po͘ pho͘ so͘ to͘
oa oa boa choa chhoa goa hoa joa koa khoa loa moa noa ngoa poa phoa soa toa
oaⁿ oaⁿ boaⁿ choaⁿ chhoaⁿ goaⁿ hoaⁿ joaⁿ koaⁿ khoaⁿ loaⁿ moaⁿ noaⁿ poaⁿ phoaⁿ soaⁿ
oah oah boah choah chhoah goah hoah joah koah khoah loah moah noah poah phoah soah toah
oai oai boai choai chhoai goai hoai joai koai khoai loai moai noai poai phoai soai toai
oan oan boan choan chhoan goan hoan joan koan khoan loan moan noan poan phoan soan toan
oang oang boang choang chhoang goang hoang joang koang khoang loang moang noang ngoang poang phoang soang toang
oat oat boat choat chhoat goat hoat joat koat khoat loat moat noat poat phoat soat toat
oe oe boe choe chhoe goe hoe joe koe khoe loe moe noe ngoe poe phoe soe toe
oeh oeh boeh choeh chhoeh goeh hoeh joeh koeh khoeh loeh moeh noeh poeh phoeh soeh toeh
oh oh boh choh chhoh goh hoh joh koh khoh loh moh noh poh phoh soh toh
ok ok bok chok chhok gok hok jok kok khok lok mok nok pok phok sok tok
om om bom chom chhom gom hom jom kom khom lom mom nom pom phom som tom
ong ong bong chong chhong gong hong jong kong khong long mong nong ngong pong phong song tong
u u bu chu chhu gu hu ju ku khu lu mu nu pu phu su tu
uh uh buh chuh chhuh guh huh juh kuh khuh luh muh nuh puh phuh suh tuh
ui ui bui chui chhui gui hui jui kui khui lui mui nui pui phui sui tui
um um bum chum chhum gum hum jum kum khum lum mum num pum phum sum tum
un un bun chun chhun gun hun jun kun khun lun mun nun pun phun sun tun
ut ut but chut chhut gut hut jut kut khut lut mut nut put phut sut tut

Tones: Southern Min dialects boast seven distinct tones, conventionally numbered 1 through 8, with 6 being an historical anomaly. Tones 1 and 4 share the same unmarked notation, differentiated by syllable ending: tone 1 with vowels or nasal endings (-n, -m, -ng), and tone 4 with stop endings (-h, -k, -p, -t).

Crucially, Southern Min dialects are notorious for tone sandhi – tones shift based on their position in a sentence. POJ, like pinyin for Mandarin Chinese, meticulously marks the citation tone (the base tone), not the spoken, sandhi-altered tone. This requires readers to actively adjust their pronunciation. Some learning materials helpfully provide both citation and sandhi tones.

The placement of tone marks on diphthongs and triphthongs, especially those involving 'oa' and 'oe', follows a set of six rules to ensure consistency.

Hyphens: A single hyphen indicates a compound. The precise definition of a "compound" can be debated, but it generally signifies a lexical unit. Double hyphens (--), or an interpunct (·), indicate a neutral tone syllable, and importantly, signal that the preceding syllable does not undergo tone sandhi.

Audio Examples: The Sound of the Script

  • Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ. (A teacher/master speaks, students quietly listen.) Listen
  • Kin-á-jit hit-ê cha-bó͘ gín-á lâi góan tau khòaⁿ góa. (Today that girl came to my house to see me.) Listen
  • Thài-khong pêng-iú, lín-hó. Lín chia̍h-pá--bē? Ū-êng, to̍h lâi gún chia chē--ô͘! (Space friends, how are you? Have you eaten yet? When you have the time, you must come over and visit!) Listen

Regional Differences: A Tapestry of Tongues

While the standard covers the core, variations exist. Zhangzhou-type dialects, found in Zhangzhou, parts of Taiwan, and Malaysia, feature a final '-uiⁿ' and the vowel /ɛ/, represented as 'ɛ' or 'e͘', which have merged with '-ng' and 'e' respectively in mainstream Taiwanese.

Texts: More Than Just Scripture

Given POJ's origins, religious material abounds: Bibles, hymn books, moral guides. The Tainan Church Press, established in 1884, has been a constant source, despite periods of suppression. By 1955, over 2.3 million volumes had been printed. Today, beyond a Southern Min Wikipedia, you'll find educational texts, scholarly works on linguistics, medicine, and geography.

Computing: Bridging the Digital Divide

POJ initially struggled with word-processing due to its unique diacritics. Support has since improved dramatically. Various input methods facilitate Unicode-compliant POJ entry, including OpenVanilla, the Ministry of Education's Tai-lo Input Method, and browser add-ons. Early workarounds involved using "Private Use" Unicode sections, requiring custom fonts, or substituting characters. The introduction of the combining character U+0358 COMBINING DOT ABOVE RIGHT in Unicode 4.1.0 (2004) finally provided a standard solution, though font support remains a hurdle.

Unicode Codepoints: POJ utilizes combining diacritical marks for tones, distinct from the spacing modifier letters used in bopomofo. The encoding is not typically Big5, necessitating careful use of combining marks.

Font Support: Notable fonts include Charis SIL, DejaVu, Doulos SIL, Linux Libertine, Taigi Unicode, Source Sans Pro, I.Ming, fonts from justfont foundry, and various GitHub-hosted modifications of Source Han Sans and Source Han Serif.

Han-Romanization Mixed Script: A Hybrid Approach

A popular modern method is Hàn-lô, a blend of Chinese characters and romanization. It’s a pragmatic solution for the approximately 15% of Southern Min morphemes that lack a clear character equivalent. This hybrid approach allows native speakers to leverage their existing knowledge of characters while incorporating romanized elements. The romanization is typically POJ, though Tâi-lô is emerging. The goal is either to supplement characters or, for some, to gradually wean readers off them entirely.

Adaptations for Other Chinese Varieties: A Spreading Influence

POJ's structure has been adapted for other varieties of Chinese. Hakka has seen Bible translations, hymn books, and dictionaries in the Pha̍k-fa-sṳ orthography. A modified POJ also exists for Teochew.

Current Status: A Lingering Legacy

Most native Southern Min speakers in Taiwan are unfamiliar with POJ, often stating "Taiwanese has no writing." When aware of it, they may view romanization as a "lesser" form compared to Chinese characters. Despite this, POJ boasts the most extensive written record in Taiwanese. A 1999 estimate placed literate users at around 100,000, with secular organizations actively promoting its use.

Outside Taiwan, POJ is rare. In Fujian, Xiamen University uses Bbánlám pìngyīm. In places like Singapore, the Speak Mandarin Campaign actively discourages the use of Hokkien.

In 2006, Taiwan's Ministry of Education opted for the Taiwanese Romanization System (Tâi-lô) as the official romanization for state schools. Tâi-lô retains much of POJ's structure but replaces 'o͘' with 'oo', 'ts' with 'ch', and 'o' in diphthongs with 'u'. The history of government suppression makes many wary of official endorsements, leaving the future dominance of Tâi-lô or POJ uncertain.

There. It’s all there. The facts, the history, the political machinations. It’s a story of persistence, of faith, and of the enduring human need to record what matters. Don't expect me to wax poetic about it. It is what it is.