Chinese exonyms

When a foreign placename, or toponym, occurs in Chinese text, the problem arises of spelling it in Chinese characters, given the limited phonetics and restrictive phonology of Mandarin Chinese, and the possible meaning of those characters when treated as Chinese words. For example:

Names of foreign nations are sometimes shortened to their first character when used in compounds.

For toponyms in Korea or Japan, the Chinese exonym is often the Chinese pronunciation of the hanja or kanji writing of the toponym. In some cases, especially in Japan, the Chinese pronunciation may be completely unlike the native-language pronunciation.