I love gn0sis's idea described in Using Unicode on E2 for adding the native name, in Unicode, to your writeups about foreign terms, concepts, people, etc.
Here are many important terms I have gathered in Chinese, all of them already noded or certainly nodeable.
They are listed first in
English alphabetical order of the English word, English spelling, or English transliteration.
There are no doubt errors here since I don't speak Chinese, so please /msg me if you find an error, have an addition, or if you use one of these in a writeup of yours.
To use these, you can try just cutting and pasting into your writeup - this works for some browsers depending on the configuration. Otherwise, use your browser's "View Source" menu and cut and paste the HTML entities.
I've tried to list the traditional and simplified characters as well as the pinyin for each entry if I can find them all. For some personal names I have omitted the pinyin if I know that Person's native langauge is not Mandarin/Potunghua.
In pinyin it's difficult to know whether to group syllables together into larger "words" or separate them with spaces. If it's close to a common English name then I break and capitalise it same way. If it's not familiar to me I tend to go with what I find on Google or Zhongwen.
Chinese (汉语, 中文):
baozi (包子, bāozi)
Beijing,
Peking (北京, Běijīng; 北平, Běipíng)
Cang Jie (倉頡 trad., 仓颉 simpl., Cāng Jié)
Cantonese (廣東話 trad., 广东话 simpl., Guǎngdōnghuà)
char siu (叉燒)
Chien-Shiung Wu (吳建雄 trad., 吴健雄 simpl., Wú Jiàn Xíong)
China (中國 trad., 中国 simpl., Zhōnggúo)
Chinese (漢語 trad., 汉语 simpl., hànyǔ spoken; 中文, zhōngwén written)
Chinese New Year (新年 trad., 新年 simpl., xīn nián)
chow mein (炒面, chǎomiàn)
Chow Yun-Fat (周潤發 Jäu/Jaü Yeun6 Faat3
Cantonese jyutping)
Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平 trad.,邓小平 simpl., Dèng Xiǎopíng)
falun dafa (法輪大法 trad., 法轮大法 simpl., fǎlún dàfǎ)
falun gong (法輪功 trad., 法轮功 simpl., fǎlún gōng)
feng shui (風水 trad., 风水 simpl., fēngshǔi)
The Forbidden City (?)
Great Leap Forward (?)
The Great Wall,
The Great Wall of China (长城, Cháng chéng)
green tea (绿茶, lǜ chá)
gwailo/
gweilo (鬼佬, gǔilǎo)
Hakka (客家語 trad., 客家语 simpl., Kèjiā)
Hong Kong (香港, Xiānggǎng)
Hu Jintao (胡锦涛)
Jackie Chan (成龍, Sing Lung
Cantonese jyutping)
Jet Li (李連杰, Lǐ Lián Jié)
Jiang Zemin (江澤民 trad., 江泽民 simpl., Jiāng Zémín)
jiaozi (餃子 trad., 饺子 simpl., jiǎozi)
John Woo (吴宇森)
jyutping (粵拼)
Kowloon (九龍 trad., 九龙 simpl., Jǐu Lóng)
kung fu (功夫, gōngfū)
Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀, Lǐ Guāng Yào)
Lhasa (拉萨 simpl., 拉薩 trad., Lāsà)
Macau,
Macao (澳門 trad., 澳门 simpl., Àomén)
Mao Zedong,
Mao Tse-Tung (毛澤東 trad., 毛泽东 simpl., Máo Zédōng)
Min (閩語 trad., 闽语 simpl., Mǐn)
panda,
giant panda,
panda bear (熊貓 trad., 熊猫 simpl., xíongmāo)
PRC,
People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国)
putonghua (普通話 trad., 普通话 simpl., pǔtōnghuà)
Republic of China (中華民國)
renminbi (人民幣 trad., 人民币 simpl., rénmínbì)
Shanghai (上海, Shànghǎi)
Sichuan,
Szechuan,
Szechwan (四川, Sìchuān)
Singapore (新加坡, Xīnjiāpō)
simplified characters (簡體字 trad., 简体字 simp., jiǎntǐzì)
South China Sea (南海, Nánhǎi)
Spring Festival (春節 trad., 春节 simpl., chūn jié)
Sun Tzu (孫子 trad., 孙子simpl., Sūn Zǐ)
Sun Tzu's The Art of War (孫子兵法 trad., 孙子兵法 simpl., Sūnzǐ bīngfǎ)
tai chi,
tai-chi (太極 trad., 太极 simpl., tài jí)
Taipei (台北, Táiběi)
Taiwan (台灣 trad., 台湾 simpl., Táiwān)
Tiananmen square (天安门广场, Tiān ān mén Guǎng chǎng)
Tibet (西藏, Xīzàng)
tong (堂 Yale: tong4)
traditional characters (繁體字, fántǐzì)
triad (三合會 trad., 三合会 simpl., sānhéhùi; 幫會 trad., 帮會 simpl., bānghùi)
Ürümqi (烏魯木齊 trad., 乌鲁木齐 simpl., Wūlǔmùqí)
Wu (吳語 trad., 吴语 simpl., Wú)
Xinjiang (新疆, Xīnjiāng)
Yangtze River (长江, Cháng Jiāng)
Yellow Emperor,
Huang Di (黃帝, trad., 黄帝 simpl., Huáng Dì)
Yellow River,
Huang He (黄河, Huáng Hé)
Yin Yang,
Yin and Yang (陰陽 trad., 阴阳 simpl., yīnyáng)
yuan (元; 圓 trad., 圆 simpl., yuán)
Yue (粵語 trad., 粤语 simpl., Yuè)
Yunnan (雲南 trad., 云南 simpl., Yúnnán)
Sources:
Google
Foreign language dictionaries at various Sydney libraries
http://www.geonames.de/
http://www.zhongwen.com/
Thanks to Gritchka for recommending splitting the larger entries out of my writeup for Using Unicode on E2.
Thanks to kalen for tips on pinyin capitalization.