Yes, it is that time of year again. Four years after the Athens 2004 Olympics, was the Beijing 2008. People are busting up Beijing’s hotels with bookings and everyone is getting trendy merchandise as a memory of these very Olympics, but OH, NO! The street signs!!!! What are we going to do about them??

All of us has had a good, long laugh at these atrocious translations but some damage China’s reputation as a clean country! Signs like this in a medical centre…:

…are very offensive to some people and this actually leaves a mental scar. People have taken pictures of them and uploaded them on the Internet, and these have circulated all the time. However, closer to the Olympics Chinese people abroad have emailed and wrote to the Chinese government concerning these signs. They were becoming increasingly warning about reputation and the injury to China’s tourism industry courtesy of some little signs. Well, the government had no choice but to investigate, appointing people who actually know some English. In the end, most were fixed (especially the very offensive) in time for the Olympics, but now from time to time you might see one sign which is left in its original glory (NOT)!!