Having dinner at a restaurant in China can be scarring. You can see items on the menu such as Tofu Made by Woman with Freckles (Chinese:麻婆豆腐), Drunk Crab (Chinese: 醉蟹), Red Burned Lion Head (Chinese: 红烧狮子头) and other highly imaginative titles.
Things may change as the Beijing government, with the aid of local universities like Peking University, published a guide book with translations of 2,158 Chinese dishes in a move to remove the illusion and suspicion over the foods served in restaurants.
Since most Chinese foods are commonly named quite fantastically, the book seeks to use pinyin or transliteration to render those already widely accepted by the foreigners, such as Baozi (Chinese: 包子) and Kung Pao Chicken (Chinese: 宫爆鸡丁). For foods whose names cannot indicate their ingredients or cooking methods, the book explains the foods with both pinyin and English annotation, including 锅贴 Guotie (Pan-Fried Dumplings) and 豆汁儿 Douzhir (Fermented Bean Drink).
In China, where Chinglish abounds, such a move is widely interpreted from many perspectives on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
User 密斯L1u wrote："#Chinese Foods Translation# Pinyin and English annotation? That is so funny."
User Jinlilemar wrote："I felt nothing to do and browsed through today’s mobile newspaper. A piece of news says over 100 Chinese foods have standard English names, such as 童子鸡 (spring chicken). What a joke!"
User 北漂的刺刺 wrote：“The Beijing authorities published English names for Chinese foods, what do you think of their translation? It doesn’t matter, what really matters is the putting the foods in the mouth. For those who just like enjoying foods without bothering to order, that (the translation) is not that important.”
User 南半球的飞雪天 wrote："Each time I see a Chinese/English menu, I would browse the English edition because their Chinese names can’t indicate what their ingredients are."
By Xu Xinlei
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