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Caroline Lin

A highway operator in Gansu province, northwestern China, apologised on Wednesday after a service area sign for the hot water room, mistranslated in English as “open water rooms”, was shared on social media.
Similar translation errors, as well as spelling mistakes, on signage at public facilities have repeatedly drawn attention, including an incident in late March, when a passenger at an airport in the southwestern city of Guiyang discovered multiple misspellings.
The mistranslation of the bilingual sign at the Yuanyang service area on the Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway was revealed in a social media post on Tuesday.
A day later, the Gansu Expressway Service Group issued an official notice to say the incorrect English sign had been removed, and “special inspections and rectifications of signs across all service areas managed by the company” would be carried out.
The notice from the state-owned enterprise, which manages 78 pairs of service areas accounting for 70 per cent of the province’s total, said the company would verify Chinese-English signs across all service areas and address any identified errors immediately.

A signage management system would also be established, featuring “review before installation, with periodic rechecks”, it said. The company also promised to improve its working mechanisms, and continuously enhance its service quality and public image.
The Yuanyang service area sits on the expressway connecting the eastern province of Jiangsu and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in western China. It reopened in January following an upgrade that began in October.
Although Chinese authorities published guidelines in 2017 for the use of English in public service areas to eliminate language barriers for foreign visitors, signs with faulty wording have been repeatedly spotted across the country.
The standard outlines general principles and guidelines for English translations for public facilities, covering 13 sectors including transport, tourism, culture, healthcare and telecommunications.
It also provides standardised translations for commonly used public information in each field.
While these word-for-word translations have drawn banter from the online community, there has also been widespread concern over the potential confusion for international tourists.
Commenters were also concerned that the signage errors could damage the country’s image, especially at a time when Beijing is actively promoting China as a travel destination.
Earlier this year, Chinese media outlet Modern Express reported multiple errors in the English-language airline signs at Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport in Guizhou province.
Southern Airlines, Tibet Airlines and Air China were misspelled as “Southurn Airlines”, “Tibot Airlines”, and “Alr China”, respectively, the newspaper said, quoting a passenger who pointed out the errors online on March 31.
“The airport is Guiyang’s gateway to the world. For an international airport to make basic spelling mistakes on airline signs is simply unacceptable,” the passenger said, according to the report.
After Modern Express brought the issue to the airport’s attention, officials responded on April 1 that the translation errors were due to staff oversight and all faulty signs had been rectified.


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A screenshot from a social media post shared on Tuesday highlighting a mistranslation on a sign at an expressway service area in northwestern China. Photo: Douyin

The service area on the Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway in the northwestern province of Gansu. Photo: bjnews.com.cn

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Passengers share examples on social media of mistranslations and spelling errors, along with concern at the effect on the country’s image


Passengers share examples on social media of mistranslations and spelling errors, along with concern at the effect on the country’s image.


Air China

China’s travellers raise alarm over error-filled tourist signs in public spaces

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Passengers share examples on social media of mistranslations and spelling errors, along with concern at the effect on the country’s image

Passengers share examples on social media of mistranslations and spelling errors, along with concern at the effect on the country’s image