As a part of preparation for 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China is trying to clean up English translations on the menus in city's restaurants. I recently heard on NPR that the Chinese tourism officials found a menu with a dish steamed carp, with letters 'a' and 'r' accidentally interchanged:-) Yummy for mud bugs!
On a serious note, I heard from Jim (my boss, a Chinese American, visited China last month) that China is all pumped up on showing off its ability in organizing this grandiose event, and making a lasting impression on the world community. Olympics are scheduled to begin on 08/08/08 (August 8, 2008) at 08:08:08 PM (as '8' is a good number according to Chinese numerology!). Here is some interesting information I heard from Jim.
To reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, Beijing will be taking one million cars off the roads during Olympics. Also, all chemical and industrial operations in and around Beijing will be shut down during these events. I was told that a popular joke in China these days is the question, "what is the national bird of China?"
The answer is "Crane"! (because there are cranes every where, due to rapid construction activities)
1 comment:
Thank you for this nice and amusing info, Gopa.
Good to know that there are some folks who aren't afraid of the 8! Guess the D8C8s also aren't afraid of the Chinese, as we finished two months of Mandarin y'day :-)
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