Differences in Descriptions of Chinese Personal and Corporate Name Authority Data: A Comparison between China, Japan and South Korea

Purpose: Different scripts are often used for representing a particular person's name in China, Japan, etc., which leads to variations of an author's name in cataloging records used in libraries. Such variations cause serious problems in bibliographic control. This study compares descriptions among several authority files containing Chinese personal and corporate names in China, Japan, and Korea, to obtain deeper insights into this problem. Methods: First, the situation of authority control in China, Japan, and Korea was reviewed. Second, Chinese personal and corporate name authority data created by several organizations were carefully examined in order to clarify four points: 1) Chinese character forms, 2) treatments and types of Romanization, 3) separation of surname and given name with a comma, and 4) descriptions in local languages outside China. For this purpose, manuals, actual authority data and case reports of the organizations were collected. Results: 1) Chinese character forms used by each organization differ, 2) all organizations use Hanyu pinyin for Romanized forms, but description methods vary, 3) almost no organization separates surnames and given names with a comma in the vernacular form except Japan, however, they are separated in Romanization forms, and 4) yomi is mandatory in Japanese organizations; Korean organizations adopt Hangeul transcribed from Chinese characters or Hangeul from Chinese pronunciations. In particular, the examination revealed problems in description methods of Hanyu pinyin and treatments of variant Chinese characters.