Chinese Poem is Brothel Ad

By Miss Cellania in Everything Else on Dec 18, 2008 at 10:48 am

The Max Planck Institute in Germany printed a lovely poem in Chinese characters on the front of their latest journal issue. At least they thought so. They had consulted an expert on China to find the right poem, but the expert was German, not Chinese. After publication, it turns out the poem is actually an ad for a brothel!

The use of traditional Chinese characters and references to “the northern mainland” seem to indicate the text comes from Hong Kong or Macau, and it promises burlesque acts by pretty-as-jade housewives with hot bodies for the daytime visitor.

The cover has since been changed, and the institute has issued an apology. Link -Thanks, Daniel Kim!

Tags: Chinese, journal, mistranslation

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Gauldar
Dec 18th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Reverse-Engrish?
Gauldar
Dec 18th, 2008 at 11:05 am
er Gelman?
Scooter
Dec 18th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
maybe it is a poem and an Ad, can’t it be both.
sloane
Dec 18th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
If no one there could read it what made them think it was a poem to begin with. Where did they come up with it from. Did someone just find it laying around somewhere and say hey here’s a chinese paper must be a poem let’s find someone who agrees.
Botanica
Dec 18th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
????????
??????????
????????
????????
????????

That’s what it says. It’s pretty funny to me as to how that was a poem for an institute of science. Good thing they took it out~hehe.
Most dictionaries won’t give you a “good” definition of it, but it’s pretty much an ad that both promo and recruit.
Botanica
Dec 18th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
????§?u???n????
?[???D????v?C?K??k
???A?U?d?_?????R
?????S?????a???
????g?H?Y????

should work now…
or else there is something wrong with firefox’s language thing…
Neslock
Dec 18th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I showed this to my girlfriend, who is Taiwanese, and asked her what it said. She read for a few seconds, and then said “Oh, my goodness…” and started laughing
Ali S.
Dec 18th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Well…I guess it’s better that they caught this without anyone calling in for services at the magazine’s HQ.
liphttam1
Dec 19th, 2008 at 7:13 am
I realy can’t say anything about this.

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