Pokémon in Chinese – The Song, The Characters, Everything You Need!

As a special blog post, we decided to give you some of the names of your favourite pokémon in Chinese, and update you on all the Pokémon goings on in China in recent years.

You’ll be able to talk to and understand the hardcore Chinese fans of the series.

You’re welcome!

If you grew up during the 90s, like many of us did, you probably know of the Japanese hit TV cartoon series Pokémon.

Originally adopted from the video game of the same name (back in the days of the Nintendo Gameboy), both the TV series and the video games became a huge success around the world, not just in Asia.

They further spawned movies and merchandise (card games, toys, etc.) and are still part of beloved culture icons for many people East and West.

Here is what to look forward to in this post.

Who are your favourite Pokemon?

Find out how to same them in Chinese below!

Pokémon in Chinese | The Story of Pokémon in Chinese

Pokémon in Chinese | More Of Your Favourite Pokémon Names in Chinese

Pokémon in Chinese | Pokemon Go in China

Pokémon in Chinese | Pikachu in Chinese

Pokémon in Chinese | Pikachu Detective Movie 2019

The Story of Pokémon in Chinese

To generally summarize the story, Pokémon (神奇宝贝 shénqí bǎobèi, lit. “Magical Darlings” OR based on the video game name 口袋妖怪 kǒudài yāoguài, lit. “Pocket Monsters”) deals with the life of Ash Ketchum (小智 Xiǎo Zhì, lit. “Little Wisdom”) and his pet Pokémon monster Pikachu (皮卡丘 Píkǎqiū).

They travel the Pokéworld together, meeting all different kinds of Pokémon monsters.

They fight in different training gyms, with the ultimate aim being that Ash becomes a Pokémon Master!

On the way, they are joined by best friends Misty (小霞 Xiǎo Xiá, lit. “Little Rosy Cloud”) and Brock (小刚 Xiǎo Gāng, lit. “Little Strong”), each with their own type of Pokémon (typically, Misty uses water based Pokémon, while Brock uses Stone based ones).

On their way, they are not only hindered by different types of wild Pokémon and the various gym masters around the Pokémon world, but also by a team of professional Pokémon thieves, called Team Rocket (火箭队 huǒjiàn duì).

The evil team is mostly portrayed in the guise of the girl-boy duo Jesse and James, with their own evil cat-like Pokémon, Meowth (喵喵 miāomiāo).

On their travels, Ash and the gang are joined by new Pokémon friends who help them on their

way, such as the grass-type frog-like Bulbasaur (妙蛙种子 miàowā zhǒngzi, lit. “Wonderful Frog Seed”), the fire-type dragon-like Charmander (小火龙 xiǎo huǒlóng, lit. “Little Fire Dragon”) and the water-type turtle-like Squirtle (杰尼龟 jiéní guī, lit. “Zeni Turtle”*).

*Zeni is a Japanese word to refer to Gold or Golden, and the Chinese name for Squirtle was adopted based on the same sound (杰尼 sounds like Zeni). 

172 Animals in Chinese 😼 LTL’s Ultimate 动物 Encyclopedia  

Learn the Names of 172 Animals in Chinese 🙉 Do you know your animals in Chinese?! Well if you can’t answer yes with confidence you’re in the right place. We’ve put together a 动物 (dòngwù – animal) encyclopedia to help you…

More Of Your Favourite Pokémon Names in Chinese:

To help you remember some of your favourite Pokémon in Chinese

Pokemon Go in China

The release of the AR (Augmented Reality) mobile game Pokémon Go saw a huge resurgence of Pokémon lovers around the globe in 2016.

Fans downloaded the game to their smart phones and set out to become Pokémon Masters.

Sadly Pokémon go wasn’t officially released in China due to government restrictions.

The game was unavailable in the Chinese App Store and the game’s GPS features were blocked throughout most pasts of China.

However, some devoted fans still did their best to jump China’s firewall to play the game anyway.

Pikachu in Chinese

Ash’s super cute sidekick and partner in crime, Pikachu has become one of the most popular pocket monsters.

As we mentioned above, Pikachu in Chinese is :

Chinese Characters: 皮卡丘

Pinyin pronunciation: Píkǎqiū 

Meaning: This is a direct translation to sound as close to ‘Pikachu’ as possible. And it’s pretty close!

Can’t get enough of this little guy?

Well luckily for you, Pikachu has his own film which was released in 2019.

Pikachu Detective Movie 2019

That’s right, Pikachu is taking on a whole new role – as a Detective!

I mean who doesn’t feel like a career change every now and then…

The life-like, furry yellow character is causing a stir in China. 

Since the release of the official Pokemon Detective Pikachu movie trailer in November 2018, Chinese fans are divided about Pikachu’s new look.

Some feel that this is not the Pikachu they know and love, whereas others are excitedly awaiting the release of the 3D creation later this year.

The film was released on May 10th 2019.

For all curious Pikachu Fans, you can watch the trailer here:

Pokemon in Chinese – FAQs