It was created to replace the complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh system, which used tonal spelling—and to co-exist with the Wade–Giles romanization as well as bopomofo.
Based on the earlier and more complex Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the tentative version of MPS II was released on May 10, 1984, by the Ministry of Education under the Chiang Ching-kuo administration.
[1] To distinguish bopomofo (注音符號; zhùyīn fúhào) from MPS II, the former is officially called "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式).
Despite its official status for almost two decades until it was replaced by Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, MPS II existed only in some governmental publications (such as travel brochures and dictionaries).
However, MPS II was not used for the official romanized names of Taiwanese places, though many road signs replaced during this period use it.