Street signs in Guangzhou’s Yuexiu and Liwan Districts have become a target for language-based vandalism, with pinyin on many signs being spray-painted over.
Pinyin, for those tragically uninformed, is the Romanization system for Mandarin. Utilizing English letters, as well as four diacritical marks denoting tones, it serves as an important means of communication for those not familiar with simplified Chinese characters.
In an effort to find the vandal, staff at Yuexiu District’s public security bureau accessed mass surveillance footage from areas near the damaged street signs. Authorities were eventually able to identify a suspect, a man described as between 165 to 170 centimeters tall, wearing black shoes and long sleeve pants with a bag slung over one shoulder (a bit vague, we know, but you got to start somewhere).
Paint covers the pinyin on a street sign on Huangsha Dadao in Liwan District.
Although reports of sign vandalism only began circulating in the past couple months, there is some evidence it has been going on, in some capacity, for much longer.
Michel Dumas, a retired expat living in Liwan, told That’s that he first saw a painted street sign back in 2013 on near Kangwang Bei Lu. His account puts a much larger time frame on the vandalism than initially thought, although it is impossible to know for sure whether the same individual is responsible.
While the serial painter’s motives are currently unknown, speculation is rife, with the most common assumption being the man wants to negatively affect foreigners unable to read Chinese.
READ MORE: Shanghai Wants to Ban English on Road Signs
[Images via Michel Dumas]
0 User Comments