Chinese people who speak English

The article below interested me. Now, I'm teaching English to Chinese students. I hear that in China, students' English education histories vary according to what part of China they are from. In some classes, they don't know ABC, while there are some people who can make themselves understood in English.

By the way, I doubt that Liu Yang, who speaks in the article below, spoke like this:

"They can have very simply conversations, like: 'Who am I? Where am I going?"'

In this sentence, "simply" must be changed into "simple." I think that the write of this article tried to make Liu Yang's speech look like that of non-native speakers. That is kind of nasty.

According to Yahoo! News:

The word is out in China: Speak better English
April 11, 2007

BEIJING (AP) -- Along with spitting, run-down housing and bad manners, add unintelligible English to the list of things organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics want to ban.

Municipal officials promised on Wednesday to crack down on awkward, Chinese-inflected English, known as "Chinglish," and asked the public to help police bad grammar and faulty syntax. ...

Liu Yang, who heads the "Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program" for the city government, said 6,500 "standardized" English-language signs were put up last year on Beijing roads. But he acknowledged private businesses were not following the rules, which were handed to reporters -- a stack of glossy documents weighing 2 pounds. "We will pass the message on to authorities in the advertising sector," Liu said. "If English translation is needed it must be subject to the standards set forth in the regulations."

Liu said a language hotline may be set up for the games to encourage the public to report nonsense English. China's diplomatic missions abroad are assisting, Liu said, "and our people working in foreign companies are helping with correct usage."

"In the future when we set up new signs in public places in English, we hope all these standards will be followed to avoid more additional mistakes."

Liu said Beijing taxi drivers must pass an English test to keep their licenses. But he acknowledged most speak only Chinese, and many are skipping language classes.

"The taxi training courses are not working effectively, and there is a problem of taxi drivers missing classes," he said. "Taxi drivers need to get their licenses renewed every year, and an English test is now part of that that exam. But the exam is not so difficult."

"Some taxi drivers do speak some English, and that's a big change from the past," Liu added. "But the overall level still needs to improve. Some taxi drivers speak no English; they understand no English." ...

Liu stood by the figure, but conceded the vast majority of the English speakers fell into a category he labeled "low level."

"They can have very simply conversations, like: 'Who am I? Where am I going?"'

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-beijing-chinglish&prov=ap&type=lgns