tongyong pinyin is a romanization of mandarin chinese, or a way to write mandarin in the roman alphabet, that was invented in taiwan. it was created by the taiwanese to oppose hanyu pinyin, which is the official romanization of mandarin in mainland china, the un, and most other international organizations, because many taiwanese do not want to use a writing system created by the chinese communist party. in 2002, it became the official romanization in taiwan, even though no one was forced to use it. however, in 2009, taiwan replaced tongyong with hanyu as the island's official romanization. while taipei mostly uses hanyu spelling today, many cities, particularly in southern taiwan, still use many different romanizations, including tongyong spelling, and it can still be seen in many places.