Thanks to all who wrote in with guesses about the meaning of this not-entirely-obvious "thou shalt not" sign in Beijing's Ritan Park:
And this smaller oddball one, from the Central Business District:
After the jump, another Beijing sign that should make the meaning of the first one immediately clear. For now, congratulations to Alex Woods, who was first with the right answer; and to Osama Abbas Khan, who was about two minutes later.
Some other worthy guesses:
I'm guessing the first one is something like, "Don't harm the trees."
The best guess within our office on the second one is "No al-Qaeda bombings in this block." If it was in London, it might translate as "No al-Qaeda bombings in this block. We apologise for any inconvenience."
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"No Fishboning Permitted!!!"
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"Don't pull the martial arts weapons off the pine trees"
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The sign must mean: "Don't step on the fishbones lying on the ground, because it will make a funny noise."
__My guess - "cutting down trees and/or removing tree branches is prohibited."__
Beware of falling Douglas fir twigs?
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For the second one: "Low Clearance Ahead - Do Not Proceed with Peacock Displaying on Roof."
[From another reader: "As for the car bomb graphic, it might also be admonishing drivers not to allow a peacock to escape via the sunroof!"
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No chickens allowed in redwoods
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No Rapture?
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Don't spit your bones on the floor
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I've been to Beijing (perhaps even to this park?) but I can't say I've ever seen that sign before. To me it looks like a pine branch and suggests "don't muck up the pine trees" but that would be a bit weird. So I'm going to guess it means something more like "Don't walk on the grass / stay on the path". That would make sense given that it's a park and there are times that sections might need to be re-seeded and there definitely is an element of "don't trample" in that sign.
So that's my guess, from a confused White guy.
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What is "No collecting firewood", Alex?
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It obviously means, "Don't catch yourself in your zipper."
And that's good advice in any language!
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Don't bury fishbones in the park.
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So I'm dying to know what the sign meant. My guess was don't climb the trees.
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No firewood collection. Or no breaking limbs from trees for firewood.
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It means "Do not jostle the pine branches." Not knowing any better, I actually did this as a visitor last year at Mt. Huangshan because the wafts of pine pollen are much too mesmerizing and was warned by a security-person to stop.
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My guess: Don't leave fish bones lying around after picnicking on fish.
Do I win a free subscription?
This more explicit warning sign, also from Beijing last week, should make the other one's meaning clear.