OLYMPICS/ Facelift
Campaign to correct wrong public signs
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-05 10:44
China launched a campaign in major cities on Tuesday inviting the public to correct public signs improperly using the Chinese language.
The campaign will be carried out in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan and other major cities. Business names, street name plates and advertisements shall all be targeted.
Citizens are encouraged to take pictures of public signs with incorrect Chinese characters and send them to the organizer.
Linguistic scholars and experts will analyze the pictures. Certificates and books will be offered to outstanding participants.
Wang Dengfeng, official with the Ministry of Education, said in a press conference on Tuesday that incorrect use of Chinese characters in public areas has brought inconvenience and misunderstandings to citizens and ruined city's image.
Medical institutes are also taking part in the campaign by urging doctors to write neatly on their prescriptions.
Chinese doctor's scratchy handwritings has been criticized for years since few people can read their doctors' prescriptions, resulting in misunderstanding in some cases.
Wang also proposed that local schools should teach students to use hand rather than mouse and keyboard to write Chinese characters to avoid degeneration of Chinese handwritings among next generation.
"Chinese characters are more than words and symbols," Wang said, "it is an art in handwriting."
Some Chinese language application tests taken by the ministry in Shanghai, Tianjin and Hebei Province early this year have shown that the ability to use Chinese character among college students has declined.
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