Abstract: The Chinese Phonetic System has been used for half a century since its birth, and it contributes much to Putonghua and simplification of Chinese characters. But, in the Teaching Chinese to Overseas Students, the research found that many overseas students have wrong pronunciations because of the system's shortcoming. This phenomenon also exists in many other related fields. The essay exemplifies some of the shortcomings and puts forward some advice to them aiming to better off the work of Chinese teaching.

Key words: mandarin finals, The Chinese Phonetic System, mandarin initials