Chinese to English—what’s in a name
Classy name for what may well be a sex shop! Remember, China is where there is an o'clock (hourly) rate for hotel rooms.
We’ve been laughing ourselves silly over some of the store names that get displayed in English. Realistically, we shouldn’t poke fun. Good grief, I couldn’t write a shop sign in Chinese, but if I tried to do one at least I’d get someone to check my work.
We wonder how all these translate into Chinese? Certainly they can’t be as hilarious. Then again, maybe they are more explicit.
Some of our favourite signs have been for the Abundance Clothing Store, Homely Treasures, Trendy Very Hot Catch It Hair Salon, Famous Name Cigarettes Healthy, The Service Center of Traveller by Himself, the Mom Taste Naxi Flavour Museum (restaurants are often called museums—we saw a donkey museum too and assume that is the featured meat), the Lijiang Amorous Feelings Outlets and my all-time favourite—seen in the city of Shangri-La—the Couples Health Care Things Shop. We suspect the “Things’ may have some inner connections with the ‘Amorous Feelings’, but who knows.
Our restaurant tonight was a fine example of accurate signage and truth in advertising. In English, the sign said ‘Delicious Hot and Sour Fish’. To order, Poor John went outside and pointed to the Chinese version written above the English. We got delicious hot and sour fish, so delicious that I’m going to write a post about it too.
NOTE: If you have access to Facebook, please feel free to share this post with others. I can’t get on Facebook in China, so it’s impossible for me to let people know I am adding to the blog now. Thanks.
Never saw anything for the traveller by herself.
Where to next? 
Leave a comment