Abstract:

The Chinese and western punctuation systems use colons in different forms, and they should not be
confused. The national standards of China employ a ratio sign different in form from that of international standards,
thus leading to the inconsistency of it’s application in many publications. The solution to this problem is to keep the form
and position of a ratio sign in conformity with the international standards. It is also improper to use the Chinese-style colon
as a punctuation mark to separate the time elements.