For years now (more than five), I have traveled around Shanghai in a fog when it comes to the written language. Although I’ve struggled constantly to add new words to my spoken Mandarin, I have left reading and writing strictly alone. The blizzard of characters, each as different and imponderable as a snowflake as far as I was concerned, floated by me — on commercial signs, traffic directions, newsstands, wherever.
But since I’ve taken up the study of hanzi, characters, this fall, life has become one big flashcard. Not that I can actually comprehend many phrases, let alone whole sentences, but the few hundred characters I’ve supposedly mastered jump out at me from billboards everywhere, constantly sending me scurrying to my dictionary in on-the-tip-of-recalling frustration.
One of the new words I learned to write this week is 老, the character lao, meaning “old.” After scratching its six strokes 50 times into my little copybook, I’m quite certain I’ve conquered it, at least for the moment. I’m even sure that the strokes are formed properly and in the right order.
Imagine my delight yesterday when I spotted a substantial sign with three consecutive characters that I recognized, including the word I’d just learned: 老 西 门, lao xi men, old west gate. (Ok, my pleasures are admittedly simple….)
But what’s this! Check out the English translation below! 
If they get something this simple so wrong, what else have I been misunderstanding as I go through life here?
I guess I better get back to work on the remaining several thousand I need to learn and retain before I’ll be able to read a newspaper.