![]() Websites like Engrish ( 2006) and The Chinglish Files ( 2008) allow visitors to submit their own personal photos of ‘Chinglished’ signs, funny menus, or unusual product slogans.Īll of these factors raise questions about the legitimacy of a localised variety of English that is unique to China. YouTube is chock full of home-made videos on the subject, and every westerner in China wants to be an expert on the subject. Even Wikipedia has a lengthy article on the subject of Chinglish, with examples and photographs. ![]() Tourists and foreigners in China often make a habit out of photographing and collecting the ‘funny English’ found on signs around the country. This English Boom has spurred the development of localised varieties, as well as the so-called Chinglish phenomenon. The roles of English extend to all ends of the Chinese social spectrum: mass media to tourism, sport to government. Thus, the English Boom was born, and, nowadays, hundreds of thousands of ESL teachers flock to China each year for annual contracts teaching at all levels, from primary upwards. From then on, a gradual modernisation programme was instituted that allowed for the development of a more open market economy. Prior to 1978, China was largely cut off from international contact, but the death of Mao Zedong two years earlier allowed for changes within the country's policy structure. With so many learners there, it stands to reason that a variety of English peculiar to China would eventually develop, and there is much evidence to suggest that it has already begun. A simple Google search for ‘English in China’ yields more than 36,000,000 results! It cannot be argued that English is unpopular in the Middle Kingdom. China is a country of nearly a billion and a half people, most of whom now begin learning English at the age of ten (Dong, Reference Dong2005: 11). Roughly 90,000 taxi drivers in Beijing learned English in preparation for the Summer Olympic Games (Beijing 2008) of some 600,000 total residents of the city that have jumped on the English bandwagon in the past few years ( People's Daily, 2001).
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