English-speaking visitors to Beijing have long enjoyed the city's entertainingly erratic bilingual signs. Who could resist messages in the Forbidden City that tell tourists: "Don't Fall Down", or the enigmatic emergency advice to "Being Urgent Call 110 Quickly"?

Such delights could be under threat, however, as the municipal government steps up efforts to avoid errors and improve consistency by issuing new standards for bilingual signs used on its transport network or at tourist and cultural sites.