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Street Banner Exhortations

Authorities in China use distinctive red banners with white lettering to urge the public to behave better

Throughout China’s capital are red street banners with white lettering urging people to be more civilized, root out dark forces, not smoke, and engage in better behaviors.

These banners are so prevalent you can almost always see one somewhere within view when outdoors. They line street fences, apartment buildings, and even the local Walmart entrance. After a while I came to appreciate seeing them on my commutes and visits to the grocery store. There is no equivalent to this in the US, in style and tone. I can’t help but agree with many of the messages, as well as the concept of using uniformly-styled banners to promote a sense of community.

I snapped photos of some of them on the fly, usually while riding a bicycle to work. I paid a colleague to translate them. His notes are included at the bottom of the page. The translations can be seen in the captions of the photos themselves.

The translations are funny to Western minds, but I keep them as they are, not (entirely) to mock them but to keep their spirit intact. This is part of the experience here.

"Everybody shall take part in controlling cigarette smoking; We shall work together to create a smoke-free environment."
Resolutely sweep away black and evil forces [organized crimes and similar activity]; Ensure the safe life and happy work of the people.
Severely punish black and evil forces [organized crimes and similar activity]; Enhance the righteous spirit in our society.
Enhance the traditional family virtues, value the family, ensure good family education [breeding], ensure good family moral conduct.
Be a civilized resident of Chaoyang District by creating a clean and sanitary exemplar for the whole country.
Everybody shall participate in creating an exemplary sanitary district; Every family will benefit from the beautiful environment.
The spirit of Comrade Lei Feng forever binds you and me and him together. [Lei Feng (1940 – 1962) was a PLA soldier, known for his altruism and devotion to the people.]
Further the campaign of Building a Safe Chaoyang District; Increase the sense of security of the masses.
Solidly carry out the health-promoting campaign; Work hard to enhance the residents’ health qualities.
Dig deeply and investigate thoroughly (to create an) umbrella of protection against the black and evil forces.
1. Use a heavy fist to crack down on black and evil forces; Follow the law in severely punishing crimes. 2. The spirit of Comrade Lei Feng forever binds you and me and him together.
Severely punish black and evil forces [organized crimes and similar activity]; Enhance the righteous spirit in our society.
Bring public hygiene [health] closer to [individual] health; Make medical services more accessible to ordinary people.
Work hard to build a civilized district that upholds morality and goodness, has a profound culture, and is harmonious and habitable.
Wherever the black forces, the evil forces or the disorderly forces show up, we will deal with them.
Enhance the traditional family virtues, value the family, ensure good family education [breeding], ensure good family moral conduct.
Sweep away the black and evil forces; Clean up the social environment; Ensure stability; Enhance security.
Establish the civilized mindset; Strive to be civilized citizens; Display our civilized image.
The volunteer spirit is for everyone to practice; the new civilized atmosphere is for everyone to create.
Resolutely sweep away black and evil forces [organized crimes and similar activity]; Ensure the safe life and happy work of the people.

Even Walmart has red banners greeting customers as they enter the building.

All people shall pay attention to fire prevention; life and safety is most important.
Implement the essential responsibility of enterprises; Conduct a thorough examination and elimination of potential dangers. Enhance the awareness of food safety; Increase the physical quality of people in general.
All people shall pay attention to fire prevention; life and safety is most important.

Notes on Banners

1. In the Chinese language, abstract concepts are not defined along the same lines as in English. Some ideas can be used as catch-all terms and mean many things. For example, being civilized may mean to be a good citizen.

2. In slogans, grammar rules tend to be dropped, such as in the absence of punctuation except for the space between phrases/clauses. Plus, it’s not always clear who shall take the action, since there’s no subject and no distinction between the indicative/statement and imperative/command.

3. Also, slogans tend to forgo the use of conjunctions and leave the readers to figure out the relationships between the clauses. Usually, the action would be followed by the purpose, such as: “Sweep away the black and evil forces; Clean up the social environment; [in order to] Ensure stability; Enhance security.”

4. In slogans, there’s a preference for parallelism to sound punchy and firm, such as making several clauses of the same length in characters. I think it might be a side effect of forgoing punctuation.