Changing China
Giant on the move
Exploding stomachs slip through language police’s net
Let’s face it, if moves by Beijing’s Government and Tourism Bureaus to take the Chinglish off menus and road signs as we reported in an earlier story really worked, dining out in Beijing wouldn’t be half as fun.
Colleagues eating at a Beijing restaurant in the final countdown to the Aug. 8 start of the Games came up with the following interesting dishes which diners can order at their peril:
- The celery fires an employee
- The clever and dextrous woman hand rips the cabbage
- The peach kernel sauce explodes the diced chicken.
Tough choice. Think I might opt for the bad fragrant fish cooked until the bones are soft.
Adventures in Chinglish
Whatever happened to the exploding shrimp? Do you know the way to Racist Park?
The Beijing authorities have been working long and hard in the run-up to the Olympics to stamp out Chinglish — but examples still abound all round town of this unique mix of Mandarin and English.
It’s fun checking out the slogans on T-shirts to find the finest example of strangulated language.
