A worker makes Zongzi (rice dumplings), a traditional Chinese dish made from rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, at a market in Yiliang County of Kunming, Yunnan province June 6, 2008. (Stringer/Reuters)
Posted on 06/18/2008 6:26:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIJING (Reuters) - It's official. Hungry foreign hordes craving a fix of diced chicken fried with chili and peanuts during the Beijing Olympics will be able to shout "kung pao chicken!" and have some hope of getting just that.
As it readies for an influx of visitors for the August Games, the Chinese capital has offered restaurants an official English translation of local dishes whose exotic names and alarming translations can leave foreign visitors frustrated and famished.
If officials have their way, local newspapers reported on Wednesday, English-speaking visitors will be able to order "beef and ox tripe in chili sauce," an appetizer, rather than "husband and wife's lung slice."
Other favorites have also received a linguistic makeover.
"Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman," as the Beijing Youth Daily rendered the spicy Sichuanese dish, is now "Mapo tofu." And "chicken without sexual life" becomes mere "steamed pullet."
According to one widely repeated story, the Chinese name of "kung pao chicken" comes from the name of an imperial official who was fed the dish during an inspection tour.
With the Beijing Olympics 51 days away, a notice on the city tourism bureau website ( http://www.bjta.gov.cn ) told restaurants to come and pick up a book with the suggested translations.
In China, where meetings are almost as popular as banquets, agreeing on the English-language menu has taken many rounds of discussions over previous drafts since last year.
Just as predictably in this country where nationalism and the Internet make a potent brew, controversy has already broken out over the blander new translations.
""I don't like this new naming method, it's abandoning Chinese tradition," one Internet comment declared. "There are many stories in the names of these dishes."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A worker makes Zongzi (rice dumplings), a traditional Chinese dish made from rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, at a market in Yiliang County of Kunming, Yunnan province June 6, 2008. (Stringer/Reuters)
Headline:
China tightens screws against dissidents ahead of Olympics.
Same as:
DemocRATS tightens screws against dissidents ahead of 08 election.
http://www.theobamafile.com/
http://www.exposeobama.com/calls.html
http://www.exposeobama.com/emails.html
What are those things swimming around in that bucket?
puke!
Yeah, and it probably comes in "regular" and "unleaded".
Oh dear, the menu is getting a PC makeover for the Olympics.
And I suppose dog will be dropped for the duration.
I gather that the debate over “General Tso’s Chicken” will never be officially resolved.
Just don’t order the cream of sum yung gui
Uh, grains of rice.
Andrew Zimmern Ping!
“...whose exotic names and alarming translations can leave foreign visitors frustrated and famished.”
Really? I thought, “Cheeseburger! No Coke! Pepsi!” was pretty much understood world-wide. ;)
Softened chunks of cardboard.
Looks like some maggots to me.
“George likes his chicken spicy.”
I’ve has zhongzi before. It is tasty. There is very little real Chinese food I have eaten in China that I don’t like. The only thing that stopped me dead in my tracks was the air sack from a fish. That made me gag a little at the thought of it. I didn’t care for the beef meatballs either. They were more like super balls that meatballs.
For the olympics, the Chicoms substitute diced political prisoner for dog.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.