\n
\tCorporate Banking Services<\/strong><\/p>\n \tOn Wednesday, officials from Shanghai's "quality watchdog" announced the accuracy of English-language signs in public spaces had improved 85 per cent since it launched a crackdown three years ago.<\/p>\n \tThe campaign to eradicate "Chinglish" was launched in the run-up to Shanghai's 2010 World Expo and aimed to spare the city's blushes from thousands of giggling foreign guests.<\/p>\n \tShanghai's "Commission for the Management of Language Use" had deployed hundreds of volunteer students onto the streets.<\/p>\n \tSigns that have been tracked down and removed include those telling commuters to "keep valuables snugly" or to "inform police immediately – if you are stolen". Visitors venturing outside China's major cities can still dine out on "gross noodles", withdraw money from "cash recycling machines" or kick back and relax in "personnel crush-rooms".<\/p>\n \tShen Weimin, the vice director of Shanghai's Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, boasted that English gaffes were increasingly rare in his city.<\/p>\n \t"Shanghai started to correct English spelling before the World Expo. We created standards in the use of English for 12 industries from public transportation to tourism," he said, according to the Global Times newspaper.<\/p>\n \tOther provincial governments were following Shanghai's lead, Mr Shen added.<\/p>\n \tWhile Shanghai's authorities have denounced bizarre and frequently bewildering translations as a stain on the city's international reputation, "Chinglish" has attracted a legion of international fans and spawned a series of book tributes.<\/p>\n \tStreet hawkers in several Chinese cities have turned "Chinglish" into an art form – and a profession – selling fridge magnets and badges emblazoned with nonsensical but sometimes strangely poetic translations. "Lehman Brothers give a smile face put the snake into your house," reads one particularly surreal message.<\/p>\n \tShanghai has not totally escaped "Chinglish". A sign placed in the window of a clothing boutique near the Daily Telegraph's office this week reads: "SALE: 50 per cent UP".<\/p>\n \tUnder the headline, 'Some English signs are still wrong', the Shanghai Daily newspaper complained that 15 per cent of the city's signs were still dogged by language problems.<\/p>\n \t"The city started intensive campaigns to end 'Chinglish' before the Expo, but efforts seemed to fall off after the event," it complained.<\/p>\n \tWhile there is a Chinese-language government website for reporting "Chinglish" crimes against English the newspaper said there were "few channels for expats to report incorrect English signs."<\/p>\n