Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Names in China. It’s not a typical routine in naming where words mean more things than they appear. Of course, in English, we think we have names that mean more than what they appear, but that’s from personal associations like family, interests, or secret deep meanings. In China, English words sound like other words in Chinese, and brand name seekers hope that the meanings work out to success. Of course this leads to the best part. The name failures. From the NY Times article (NY Times - Names China) “Microsoft had to think twice about bringing its Bing search engine here because in Chinese, the most common definitions of the character pronounced “bing” are “disease,” “defect” and “virus” — rather inauspicious for a computer product. The revised name, Bi ying, roughly means “responds without fail.” Peugeot (Biao zhi) sounds enough like the Chinese slang for “prostitute” (biaozi) that in southern China, where the pronunciations are especially close, the brand has inspired dirty jokes. And in China, the popular Mr. Muscle line of cleaners has been renamed Mr. Powerful, (Weimeng Xiansheng). The product’s maker said in an e-mail that it had forgotten why.”
Continue reading
Record numbers are turning out to do this in China. 11.11.11 means, ” “one life, one lifetime” ( 一生一世, yi sheng yi shi in Mandarin), which means “forever.”” (WSJ – 11.11.11)
Continue reading
Yao Ming is in college. After being like a freedom fighter for all of China sports, he’s now back to zero. He’s at school taking two classes and getting some special tutoring. He’s 31 and a freshman. (Time – Yao Ming College)
Continue reading
It’s amazing how crowd sourcing can help. $840,000 so far and he turned down $157k from a single person. I hope the crowds will continue to help him and the many others out there including us. Ai Weiwei has become a symbol for artists and freedom. It was just a few years ago that he spoke on campuses and was as approachable as anyone else. (NY Times – Ai Weiwei)
Continue reading
The dine part is taken care of, but what about the wine? Wine in China is on a growth as luxury products of every sort is seeping in. It’s less of a drinking culture as it’s close neighbors, but the fineness and value of wine is attractive to the rich speculators. It’s not just a drink it’s an investment. The amazing thing? The tax of importing wine was removed, so it’s open season for wine makers to get their juice into the Chinese hands. China is overtaking England as 5th place consumer of wine! (SFGate – Wine)
Continue reading