Two-cell Chinese Braille

The first cell indicates the initial, generally in dots 1 to 4, and the medial in dots 5 and 6. This design exploits restrictions on co-occurrence of initials and medials to fit all the allowable combinations in a single cell.

The medial -i- is represented by dot 5 (⠐), the medial -u- by dot 6 (⠠), and the medial -ü- by both dots 5 and 6 (⠰). The z c s series is derived from zh ch sh as if they contained a -i- medial; these two series are not distinguished in many Mandarin dialects. As in traditional Chinese Braille, k g h and q j x are unified, as they never contrast.

A null/zero initial (a vowel-initial syllable) is indicated with the null consonant ⠾.

At least one letter in each place of articulation comes from international use (⠖ f, ⠞ ti, ⠇ l, ⠅ k, ⠓ xi, ⠉ zh), with at least some of the others derived from these (cf. ⠅⠃⠁ k h g and ⠍⠋⠉ ch sh zh).

The second cell represents the rime, generally in the top half of the cell, and the tone, generally in dots 3 and 6.

Tone 1 (mā) is indicated by dot 3 (⠄), tone 2 (má) by dot 6 (⠠), and tone 3 (mǎ) by dots 3 and 6 (⠤). (In rime -ei, which already contains a dot 3, the dot 3 for tones 1 and 3 is replaced by dot 5 (⠐or⠰).) Tone 4 (mà) and neutral/toneless syllables use the basic rime.

A null/zero rime (a syllable ending with medial i u ü) is written with ⠃.

• ⠃ is the 'zero' rime transcribed as -i after z c s zh ch sh r in pinyin; here it's also used to carry the tone for syllables where the medial is the rime, such as guormi. After b p m f, it is equivalent to pinyin -u.
• ⠊ is transcribed in pinyin as o after b p m f w and the medial u; otherwise it's e.

The rime er is written as if it were *ra; this is possible because *ra is not a possible syllable in Mandarin. At the end of a word, ⠔ -riserhua, as in ⠣⠞⠔ huār (花儿). Within a word, hyphenate erhua (⠔⠤) to avoid confusion with an initial r- in the following syllable.

The exclamation êis⠐⠊,^{[dubious – discuss]} yois⠈⠊, and ois⠠⠊, with appropriate modification for tone.

Combinations of onset and rime follow the conventions of zhuyin, and are therefore not obvious from pinyin transcription.

• for pinyin -in, use medial -i- with rime -en; for -ing, use -i- and -eng
• for -un (the equivalent of wen), use -u- and -en; for -ong (the equivalent of weng), use -u- and -eng
• for -iong (the equivalent of yueng, though written yong in pinyin), use -ü- and -eng

Several syllables are palindromes, with the onset and rime written the same:

⠾⠾ ǎ, ⠊⠊ bò, ⠪⠪ mó, ⠮⠮ tuǒ, ⠯⠯ nuǎn, ⠗⠗ liāo, ⠧⠧ lǔ, ⠑⠑ jìng, ⠕⠕ qīng, ⠥⠥ kǔn, ⠓⠓ xiào, ⠣⠣ hú, ⠉⠉ zhòu, ⠙⠙ zàng, ⠍⠍ chōu, ⠝⠝ cāng, ⠋⠋ shàn, ⠛⠛ sài

A toneless or 4th-tone zero rime is omitted at the end of a polysyllabic word. (Words ending in ⠔⠃ rì (日) 'day' are an exception, to prevent confusion with the erhua suffix.) When context makes it unambiguous, the zero rime in other tones may also be omitted.

Sandhi is not rendered; rather, the inherent tone of a morpheme is written.

The following are rendered as toneless syllables:

• Interjections and grammatical particles such as 啊 a, 呀 ya, 哇 wa, 吧 ba, 啦 la, 呢 ne, 吗 ma.
• The verbal aspectual suffixes 了 -le, 着 -zhe, 过 -guo
• The nominal suffixes 子 -zi and 头 -tou.

Suffixes

Words

Some common homophones are distinguished by prefixing with a dot 4 ⠈ or 5 ⠐, or by dropping the rime:

• tā: 他 (he) ⠎⠞, 她 (she) ⠈⠎⠞, 它 (it) ⠐⠎⠞
• zài: 在 (at) ⠙⠛, 再 (again) ⠈⠙⠛
• shì: 是 (to be) ⠋, 事 (thing) ⠋⠃

  是 as a suffix is ⠖, like an initial f-

The three grammatical uses of non-tonic de are irregular:

• de: attributive 的 ⠌, adverbial 地 ⠜, complement 得 ⠌⠔ ^{[dubious – discuss]}

Often printed Chinese can be contracted, compared to speech, as unambiguous where a phonetic rendition such as braille would be ambiguous; in such cases, the sign ⟨⠘⟩ may be used to indicate the omitted syllables. For example, in the clause 露从今夜白 Lù cóng jīnyè bái, 露 lù means 'dew' (colloquial 露水 lùshuǐ). However, there are several other words transcribed ⠧⠃ lù in braille. To clarify, the –水 element of the colloquial word can be added with the ⟨⠘⟩ prefix:

⠧⠃⠘⠫⠼⠀⠽⠱⠀⠑⠅⠒⠊⠀⠊⠻

Lù(shuǐ) cóng jīnyè bái

露（水） 从 今夜 白

In other cases a synonym may be provided; here the prefix is ⟨⠸⟩.^{[clarification needed]} For example, in print the meaning of

两岸猿声啼

Liǎng'àn yuán shēng tí

(from both sides, the voices of monkeys cried out)

is clear, but in a phonetic script 猿 yuán 'monkey' and 啼 tí 'cry' can be obscure. The first can be clarified as 猿猴 yuánhóu 'primate' and the second with the parenthetical 叫 jiào 'call':

⠗⠽⠾⠋⠘⠀⠲⠫⠘⠃⠩⠋⠕⠀⠞⠣⠸⠑⠓

Liǎng'àn yuán(hóu) shēng tí (jiào)

两岸 猿（猴） 声 啼 （叫）

When longer parenthetical explanations are provided, the sign ⟨⠸⟩ is repeated before each word (not each syllable).

Numbers are the same as in other braille alphabets. Use the number sign ⠼ followed by ⠁ 1, ⠃ 2, ⠉ 3, ⠙ 4, ⠑ 5, ⠋ 6, ⠛ 7, ⠓ 8, ⠊ 9, ⠚ 0.

Notes are indicated as ⠔⠼⠁, ⠔⠼⠃, etc., sections as ⠬⠼⠉ etc.

emphasis	⠠
proper name	⠨
foreign script	⠰
number	⠼

⠼ is also used for reduplication rather than repeating a syllable or word. When attached to a word, it repeats a syllable; standing alone, it repeats a word:

⠳⠧⠼⠬⠎⠼

xǔxǔ-duōduō

许许多多

⠓⠙⠕⠫⠐⠀⠼⠐⠀⠼⠰⠂

Xiàngqián, xiàngqián, xiàngqián!

向前， 向前， 向前！

Chinese braille punctuation is based on that of French Braille, but they are generally split between two cells. This gives them the 'full-width' feel of print Chinese, as well as avoiding confusion with letters.

clausal comma ⟨，⟩	⠐
phrasal comma ⟨、⟩	⠠
full stop / period ⟨。⟩	⠐⠆
question mark ⟨？⟩	⠐⠄
exclamation mark ⟨！⟩	⠰⠂
wave dash ⟨〜⟩	⠤
interpunct ⟨·⟩	⠐⠂
colon ⟨：⟩	⠠⠄
semicolon ⟨；⟩	⠰
ellipsis ⟨……⟩	⠐⠐⠐

	Outer	Inner
quotation marks 「 ... 」	⠰⠄ ... ⠠⠆	⠰⠢ ... ⠔⠆
title quotes 《 ... 》	⠐⠤ ... ⠤⠂	⠐⠄ ... ⠠⠂
parentheses （ ... ）	⠰⠤ ... ⠤⠆	⠰⠦ ... ⠴⠆

square brackets 〔 ... 〕	⠰⠆ ... ⠰⠆
dashes —— ... ——	⠠⠤ ... ⠤⠄