Basketball reports without “NBA”? The state of the economy without “GDP”? This could be the new reality for television viewers in China, as Beijing reportedly seeks to curb on-air use of English abbreviations.
China Central Television and Beijing Television informed the state-run China Daily that they had received notification from the government to avoid using certain English abbreviations on Chinese programs.
Broadcasters will now be asked to give the Chinese equivalent for such phrases as NBA (National Basketball Association), GDP (gross domestic product), CPI (consumer price index) and WTO (World Trade Organization).
It was not immediately clear how many English abbreviations had been listed in the government notice, the report said yesterday.
Calls to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for comment went unanswered.
Last month, Huang Youyi — a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a body that advises lawmakers on political matters — proposed tougher measures to keep English from polluting Chinese.
“If we do not pay attention and fail to take measures to stop the mixing of Chinese and English, the purity of the Chinese language will be undermined in a couple of years,’ said Huang, editor-in-chief of the China International Publishing Group.
Meanwhile, cybercafes in China that admit three or more underage patrons will have their licenses revoked under the government’s latest effort to tighten controls on web access in the world’s largest online market.
The measure will also be applied to establishments that give rise to “major malignant cases” through admitting any number of underage customers — those under 18 — state the rules posted on the culture ministry’s Web site.
The new regulations, posted on Tuesday, did not specify what would constitute a “major malignant case.”
China has taken a number of steps in recent years to tighten the screws on Internet cafes as it struggles to keep pace with an explosion in the country’s online population, now at 384 million.
The campaign has been framed by the government as a bid to protect the nation’s youth from “malignant” online content.
However, critics say it is also meant to block access to information deemed politically sensitive by ruling Communist Party authorities.
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