Chinese road signs now appear in Russian in Shandong, Heilongjiang and other places, attracting attention on Sino-Russian relations

Road signs containing Russian language have recently appeared in Shandong, Hebei and Heilongjiang. On a stretch of road in Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, passers-by discovered that in addition to English, Russian text was added below the Chinese road signs. Three weeks ago, tourists discovered that in a scenic spot, Russian words appeared below the Chinese road signs, but there was no English. The above phenomenon has aroused concern.

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Cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Russia are becoming increasingly close. Weibo user "Feiyang Military Iron Vest" posted four pictures on his account on Tuesday night, recording the appearance of Russian markings on road signs in Jiaozhou, Shandong. The picture records the Chinese road signs that appear on the 0 to 5 kilometer road sections leading to Shaohai Scenic Area, Ciyun Temple, Banqiao Fang, Zhengyang West Road, Shanghe Banqiao New Town, etc. In addition to being supplemented by English, they are also Added Russian annotation. These pictures sparked heated discussions among netizens. Netizen Da Panda left a message in the comment area. If there is English, can’t he use Russian? There are also messages saying that the Russian ethnic group is also one of the 56 ethnic groups in China. It is also said that Qingdao is a SCO demonstration area, and Russia is an important member of the SCO, so it is quite normal for Russian to be spoken here.

Ms. Lu, a Shandong netizen, told this station on Friday (15th) that these road signs with Russian text have never been seen before, and they are obviously new additions. She said that officials are creating a friendly atmosphere with Russia: "This is definitely new. There was no (Russian) sign before, and I have never seen any Russians come here to play. It should be said that the relationship (with Russia) has been strengthened. The Chinese people still feel that Russia is the boss of China, and this feeling is quite serious, plus the government deliberately creates this atmosphere."

Mr. Li, a netizen in Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, told this station that last year he saw signs in Russian appearing in many places such as Harbin in Northeast China: "After October last year, I saw that some road signs in Northeast China (Harbin) also had Russian characters, and below the Chinese characters were Chinese pinyin and Russian, English was changed to Chinese Pinyin, I don’t know what happened.”

Roads and scenic spots in Shandong, Hebei and other places now have Russian signs

Another netizen uploaded a road sign in Beidaihe, saying that it is also found in Beidaihe, and that there are related schools nearby. Many Russians come to vacation in the summer. Will Khrushchev's eastern seaport finally be realized? Lu Chenyuan, a Shandong commentator, said in an interview with this station: "I saw that the top of the road sign was in Chinese, the bottom was in English, and the bottom was in Russian. It actually has no effect. The possibility of Russians coming to Shandong is almost zero." This is an official gesture. The so-called 'back-to-back' relationship between China and Russia is what Xi Jinping strongly promotes."

According to Chinese official announcements, the China Scholarship Council, directly under the Ministry of Education of China, issued the “Selection Notice on Launching the 2023 Support Program for Outstanding High School Graduates to Study Abroad in Russia” to the education departments of all provinces and municipalities on January 16, 2023. In order to promote China-Russia People-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries encourage more middle school students to learn Russian and cultivate various professional talents for Sino-Russian cooperation. The China Scholarship Council plans to select outstanding fresh graduates from Russian-speaking ordinary senior high schools in various provinces and send them to Russia through the Russian government scholarship channel Study abroad. Just two years ago, education departments in Shandong, Henan, Hubei and other places promoted experimental Russian classes in some schools, sparking heated discussions.

Showing goodwill to Russia in response to the United States and other Western countries

Lu Chenyuan believes that in addition to showing friendship to Russia, China's recent actions also hope to obtain Russian military technology: "Including the current joint military exercises between China, Russia and Iran, and the push for Chinese students to study in Russia, I think these are unsustainable Yes, it’s a matter of panic and not choosing the right path.”

Regarding the recent signs in Russian in Shandong and other places, current affairs commentator Lu Jun believes that this is an official gesture. He told this station: "Street signs reflect a gesture. For example, the subway station name signs in Beijing a while ago replaced the English with Chinese pinyin. Chinese people will not read those pinyin, and foreigners cannot understand it. This is It’s called politics. This street sign phenomenon also reflects the authorities’ thinking.”

The Army said that if combined with the fact that education departments in Henan and other places have promoted Russian language to students and sent students to Russia in recent years, it is obvious that the authorities are closely strengthening relations with Russia, which will deepen the confrontation with the United States and other Western countries.