China over the years gained a reputation for its often obscure and unintelligible translations. There are many 'humorous' websites dedicated to the subject, but fans of the genre may soon be mourning the end of an era.

With the 2008 Summer Olympics rapidly approaching, Beijing City officials have unveiled plans to ban the goofy English translations that regularly appear on signs and notices throughout the city. With hordes of foreign visitors expected to attend the Olympics, Beijing wants to cleanse its signs of translation nonsense. To achieve this, 10 teams of linguistic monitors, 'the language police', will patrol the city's parks, museums, subway stations and other public places searching for gaffes to fix.