Baijiu Blue in Ningbo

Last December at the Ningbo Railway Station, I saw yet another example of advertising for Yanghe Distillery's blue-bottled brands of baijiu. As I saw more recently in Changsha, in this case Mengzhilan M6 was featured.

Just as they often do above aboveground, the advertisements stood out in the underground area at the railway station. Nearby Ningbo (perhaps in Ningbo), I once noticed a man drinking baijiu (and beer as well) on a high-speed train. But since he stored the baijiu in a Tibetan spring water bottle, I don't know whether or not he was drinking the blue.

Putting a Face on Property in Changsha

Just a block away from the baijiu advertisement I saw at Huangxing Square in Changsha was another visually striking advertisement. One billboard displayed a mundane advertisement for AIST — the "beauty hospital" whose promotions have caught my attention before. However, below it another advertisement stood out in the busy shopping area.

If your first thought after looking at the two painted faces was "there must be some residential property for sale" then pat yourself on the back. The advertisement reminded me of a "colorful" billboard with eye-catching faces promoting a commercial real estate project in Guiyang.

Baidu Map, a Banana, and Baijiu: From Guiyang to Changsha

Not so long ago in Guiyang, I woke up early one morning and caught a taxi. At the first intersection, the driver took an unexpected turn. Based on the traffic signals, it seemed plausible it was a wise choice, and I said nothing. A couple of blocks later, he signaled to make a turn heading in a direction nearly opposite of where I was headed. It didn't seem likely this choice was in my best interest, so I asked why he wasn't turning a different direction on another road. After some back and forth, I mentioned I had checked the routes on Baidu Map. The best option was rather clear and the most reasonable alternatives didn't involve what he had in mind.

He said "Oh, you checked Baidu Map. Then we will go that way."

It worked out pretty well.

Once I was inside the departure hall of the Guiyang North Railway Station, I wasn't surprised by the small crowd. I was catching an early morning train at 6:52 a.m. after all.

But I found it notable that the retail space on the upper levels on two sides of the departure hall, a design common in China's larger new railway stations, appeared to be completely vacant and lacking any restaurants or cafes. There wasn't even a Texas Burger. It reminded me of a similar pattern I saw five years ago at the Shenzhen North Railway Station — a place that is more occupied and busier now.

Soon I was on the high-speed train, which departed on schedule. Like my previous two trips, I was traveling a route for the first time. This route spent less time in tunnels than my previous trip though. And the train traveled at a much higher speed (about 300 km/h) than on the previous two routes (which maxed out at about 200 km/h).

A college student sitting next to me on the train kindly offered a welcomed banana, providing some balance to having had a mangosteen stolen in Guiyang. After discovering I liked spicy foods, she then gave me two small packages of spicy treats. One of them was especially tasty, and I was confident I was not going to go short on my salt intake for the day.

When I later mentioned I was catching a flight out of the Changsha the very next day, she asked whether I couldn't have flown out of Guiyang instead. Indeed, I would have done that had I better predicted things when I purchased the ticket. My schedule during the past month or so hadn't gone exactly as first planned. I spent more time than expected in Hengyang, which meant I had to skip Yongzhou. I then spent more time than expected in Guilin, which meant I had to skip Liuzhou and some other potential locations. I had just spent more time than expected in Guiyang, which meant I had to skip Kaili and Huaihua. In short, I wasn't arriving in Changsha a few days before my flight from a closer city as I had first expected. All of this reflects a tension between spending more time in individual cities versus visiting more cities. Both have their merits.

So after a three hour and twenty-something minute train ride, I had about 24 hours in Changsha. I initially thought I would put together a "day in Changsha" post similar to the one when I was last in Changsha, which also involved a one day stay followed by a flight. But that visit had occurred less than half a year after an earlier visit to Changsha, when I spent much more time there. A quick catchup here made sense. But this visit involved a one and half year gap from the previous one day visit and a nearly two year gap since my last extended stay. Not only was there much more which had changed, I more effectively maxed out my time. By the end of the day I wasn't just exhausted, I felt like all of what I had found deserved more than being put together in a single post.

So instead of a new "day in Changsha" post, for now I will share a single scene from Huangxing Square in Changsha which reminded me of scenes I have shared from Guangzhou and from Shenyang.

Yes, on the digital billboard is yet another blissfully blue baijiu advertisement from Yanghe Distillery. But instead of featuring their Tianzhilan baijiu, it features their Mengzhilan M6. which according to Yanghe:

. . . inherits the element of the ancient Yanghe Liquor, and transforms itself gracefully in the new historical period by perfectly interpreting the definition of the treasured Liquor with pure and exquisite technology.

How about that?

Anyway, more soon. I will be in less of a exploratory mode during the next few weeks, so I hope to get slightly caught up on some things. Just need to decide what is next. Perhaps more about Changsha. Perhaps where I headed after Changsha. Perhaps where I was before. Perhaps some other new historical period.

Two More Mother's Day Promotions in China

This year I have no stories to share of Mother's Day promotions involving fashion shows or QR codes in China, though I would bet examples exist. The rain and a desire for some rest ensured my explorations were limited today in Guiyang. Yesterday, though, I saw a beauty salon's "Super Mummy" promotion at the Century Golden Mall* (世纪汇金广场) where live sessions were displayed on a large screen.

And today I saw a children's clothing store at the Hunter City Mall (亨特城市广场) with a simple Mother's Day sale.

That's all from me on this holiday. Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers.




* "Century Golden" is prominently displayed next to the mall's Chinese name on the building. However, a much smaller outdoor sign used the English name "Golden Plaza", and online I have seen "Huijin ONE Mall" used.

Colorful Guizhou at Night

Bordering a construction site at Dashizi (大十字) in Guiyang, Guizhou

A Heavy Dose of Core Socialist Values Signage at an Intersection in Guangzhou

Earlier I shared a photo taken of a sign promoting China's 12 "core socialist values" at Guangzhou's Shangxiajiu Square. An easy walk from there along the Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street takes one to the intersection where Wenchang South Road heads northward and Shibafu North Road heads southward. On the southeast corner of the intersection another sign displays the values.

And a smaller sign promotes the values on the northwest corner.

The northeast corner also sports a similarly themed sign.

And so does the southeast corner.

If there were a fifth corner, it too might have a patriotic sign. I don't recall seeing any other intersections in China with such a high density of core socialist values signs.

On most of the signs it isn't hard to see earlier advertisements which had been displayed on the billboards. For example, if you look closely at the sign in the last photo, you may be able to spot the iconic image of Colonel Harland David Sanders in an ad for KFC. Like baijiu, which was promoted near the earlier sign, KFC is popular in China but not explicitly mentioned in the core values.

I don't know whether the current signs more reflect fulfilling requirements, their owners' patriotism, or an inability to find interested buyers for the advertising space. Whatever the case, if you are a connoisseur of core socialist values signs, you may want to get here quickly before things possibly change. 

Two Guangzhou Samples of Text

Both seen today . . .

I have in mind a point connecting all of the posts since last week beyond the simple "Two Guangzhou [X]" theme. After at least one more two I will try to make it.

Two Guangzhou Cokes

Two roses, two toys, and now two . . .

Beef Brisket, Burger Queen, and Goddesses: International Women's Day Promotions in China

Two years ago in Zhongshan, Guangdong, I saw a sale for International Women's Day at War Ground — a military-themed clothing retailer. Last year in Jieyang, Guangdong, I saw two Women's Day sales featuring laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid.

In an article featuring some of this year's online Women's Day sales in China, Yvette Tan shares how some in China aren't happy about the sales:

It's worth noting that organisers for March 8's "A Day Without A Woman", aimed at calling attention to the economic inequalities faced by women, has called on women to avoid shopping for the day.

Some Chinese netizens are unimpressed with the commercialism of the day.

"Queen's Day, Girls Day, Princess Day, whatever you call it, I think it's disgusting," said one user on Weibo. "You took a perfectly good celebration and made it into this."

Tan also mentions one of the more thought-provoking promotions: a collaboration in Shanghai between Burger King and Y&R Shanghai captured in a video:

Prompted by the question, ‘Can you be our Burger Queen?’, most female interviewees, despite their various differences, doubted or questioned their worthiness of such a regal title.

Having sparked huge curiosity about who would be crowned Burger Queen, female customers opening their burger boxes today face the ultimate unveil – a mirror topped with a crown and the message ‘Every one of you is our Burger Queen.’

Regardless of how one feels about Burger King, the video is worth watching for the variety of perspectives captured.

For Women's Day this year I am yet again in Guangdong province, but this time in its capital Guangzhou. And yet again, I have seen sales for the holiday, including several days ago at a grocery market specializing in imported goods.

This was the only Women's Day sale I noticed that featured beef brisket. But it was similar to a number of other sales in lasting for multiple days before or after the holiday. Another common feature of other sales I noticed in Guangzhou were discounts based on the holiday's date March 8 (3-8). For example, sometimes prices were discounted to 38% of the original price or reduced by 38 yuan (about US $5.50).

Presumably the largest number of sales occurred today. This afternoon I visited the popular Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street, which captures one side of Guangzhou's vast range of shopping experiences. No modern luxury malls line the street, but there are plenty of stores and shoppers.

Unsurprisingly, the Woman & Baby Company had a Women's Day sale.

A leather goods retailer also had a holiday promotion.

Retailers for several Chinese sportswear brands were in the holiday spirit as well, including 361 Degrees.

And Li-Ning . . .

And Anta . . .

And even New Banluce . . .

Some people may notice New Banluce's name and logo are remarkably similar to another sportswear brand. I didn't see a sale specific to the Women's Day holiday at New Barlun though.

This touches on some of the challenges faced by a far more globally recognized sportswear brand, New Balance, in China. I will save that for another day. I don't think there is a New Balance store on this pedestrian street, but there are stores elsewhere in Guangzhou.

Back to the Women's Day sales, Sino Gem didn't miss out.

The most remarkable promotion I saw today was at one of the stores of another jewelry retailer — Zhou Liu Fu Jewelry.

Instead of using the term "Women's Day", like some other retailers they went with another name, in this case "Goddess Day" (I'll take the liberty to fix the English spelling).

Just to be sure, I confirmed with one of the employees that the sale was for Women's Day.

But I haven't gotten to the part that left the biggest impression. I had the fortune to stop by during a special moment. I don't have right words to express it, so this happened along with majestic music:

And things didn't stop there, soon the well-dressed group took a short walk down the pedestrian street.

Upon returning to the store, they graciously allowed a few people to take photos with them.

I wonder if the baby on her back was excited by it all.

Anyway, I can't top that promotion today.

The commercialization of Women's Day hasn't reached the levels of Christmas in China, but it does seem to be growing. Some see the sales as a sign of women's growing economic power. Some would like to see women in China heard more in other ways.

Two Creative Year of the Rooster Promotions in Hong Kong

As in Jieyang, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Macau, I saw many artistic depictions of chickens in Hong Kong to welcome in the Year of the Rooster. I will share two of the more creative examples I saw there.

The first was one of several sculptures in a Lunar New Year promotion involving the local designer Eric So and MT masking tape at the iSquare shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.

I am going to take the liberty of naming it "Fowl Happiness".

The other chickens were in an advertisement for Apple I saw in Causeway Bay. It featured a piece of art made with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. As I noted before, it isn't clear in many cases whether the chicken depicted is specifically a rooster or a hen. In this case, I think there is one of each, though the rooster is more prominent.

No witty (or less than witty) name is coming to mind, but fortunately the artist Victo Ngai provided a namer of her own: Apple Lucky Rooster. Follow the link for some details about the creative process behind the piece and photos of some other locations where it appeared.

Advertising Lunar New Year Plastic Surgery in Zhongshan

About two years ago, I mentioned a promotion in Zhongshan for lip hair removal services by the AIST "beauty hospital". The use of flowers to make a mustache around a large photos of a woman's lips was one notable aspect. The promotion occurring on International Women's Day was another.

Recently, I saw a new advertisement for AIST at several street-side locations in Zhongshan.

As the rooster suggests, the ad was for the Lunar New Year. The message expressed by the large red characters "不俏不過年" may be less clear though. Several Chinese speakers I asked, including a translator, expressed confusion over its meaning. After thinking about it more, I now suspect fully appreciating the unusual message requires recognizing an implication which wouldn't leap out to everybody. My current translation would be "If you're not pretty, don't celebrate the Lunar New Year." The unsaid implication is that the long holiday would be a good time to recover from plastic surgery, which some people consider.

The phrase in the red box also intrigued me. I see it used in some places for the practice of combining astrology and plastic surgery, which could connect to the Lunar New Year theme as well.

So, I have a basic story for the ad but am not sure it is the right one. I would be interested to speak to the ad's creators about their intentions. I would also be interested to know how their target audience, which might not include any of the few people I asked, interpreted the ad.

But I won't be digging into this further. However, as always, I would be happy to hear from any readers. At the very least, I feel safe in saying that the ad isn't about plastic surgery for chickens.

Signs of Baijiu and Socialist Values in Guangzhou

As you may have guessed, I am currently in Guangzhou. My previous visit to Guangzhou was about four and half years ago. Before that gap, I was in Guangzhou far more frequently — sometimes for a lengthy period of time. Good to be back.

There are still some things I would like to share about Hong Kong, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai while they are still somewhat timely. But for a taste of Guangzhou first, I will quickly share a scene from Shangxiajiu Square I noticed on my first day back to the city.

I have seen the blue baijiu advertisement on the left side in numerous Chinese cities such as Shenyang. The sign on the right side promotes China's 12 "core socialist values" — an even more common sight in China. The values don't include drinking baijiu, at least not explicitly. More about them some other day. More about other things sooner.

Swatching and Listening to Valentine's Day in Hong Kong

Promotion two days ago at the Kai Chiu Road Swatch store in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Lunar New Year Burger Wars in China: Prosperity Burgers, Shrimp Burgers, and (Good) Luck Burgers

Advertisements in Zhongshan, Guangdong, for Burger King's and McDonald's special Lunar New Year burgers

The Lunar New Year in China not only brings a change of zodiac symbols, it also brings the McDonald's Prosperity Burger. Although available in Hong Kong and Macau, this special holiday treat mystifyingly remains unavailable at McDonald's in mainland China.

This year I found myself in Macau at the right time. Normally the idea of eating at McDonald's in Macau, a city with wonderful Macanese and Portuguese delights, would seem sacrilegious. I made an exception this time, though I didn't give up a meal for it. Instead, I took one for the team and had two dinners one night. You're welcome.

Upon entering the Macanese McDonald's, I saw there were four Prosperity Burger options — a choice of beef or chicken and with or without a hash brown.

Curious to try something new, I went with the chicken & hash brown option.

It only took me one bite before asking "Why?" The addition of a hash brown wasn't disastrous, but it also didn't do much for the burger except add intense caloric mass while diluting the taste of the Prosperity Sauce. It struck me as an uninspired way to try to mix things up. Next time, I am definitely going for an option sans hash brown. It will have to wait until next year though.

But that's not the end to this new year burger story. Not even close.

Although the Prosperity Burger mysteriously remains unavailable in mainland China, McDonald's there has a different set of burgers available for the Lunar New Year. For an intro, I will hand it over to Angela Doland in Ad Age:

McDonald's China just introduced intriguing new products for Chinese New Year: the Emperor's Best Shrimp Burger, the Empress' Pineapple Burger and a beverage that translates, loosely, as Smiling Concubine's Lychee Bubble Tea. Names like that beg for an explanation.

To build buzz about the unexpected ingredients, a campaign from Leo Burnett Shanghai tapped into China's passion for historical TV costume dramas. The shows, such as "The Empress of China," starring actress Fan Bingbing, feature elaborate costumes, tales of love and palace intrigue. Playing on that pop culture phenomenon, the agency did a series of surprising cartoon ads with a historical theme, which rolled out on digital channels including ubiquitous mobile app WeChat.

It can be dicey for Western brands to be too literal when referring to Chinese culture, but this approach works because . . .

Read Doland's piece for her thoughts on the promotion's effectiveness and the story behind it. Campaign Brief Asia has a review of three videos which were part of the promotion.

Although I was excited to try the two burger, I ran into an unexpected problem. Many McDonald's I checked didn't have either of the burgers. A couple of days ago at a McDonald's in Zhongshan with only the shrimp burger, an employee handing out flyers featuring the burgers told me they had sold out of the chicken burger at least half a month ago. And another McDonald's confirmed their lack of the items was due to selling out.

Regardless of the difficulty of finding the burgers, street-side advertisements for them are still easy to find in Zhongshan. I don't know whether this McDonald's promotion was wildly successful or they only prepared a very minimal number of burgers, but either way there a bit of a problem here.

I never did find anywhere still serving the chicken pineapple burger, but one recent day in Zhongshan I sat down for the shrimp burger set meal.

The curly fries must have been sitting out for a bit and were room temperature. If you imagine sugar stuffed into sugar with lychee flavoring in water, then you have an idea of the lychee bubble tea.

And the burger . . .

A deep-fried shrimp patty topped with deep-fried shrimp is a bit more deep-fried than I would usually go, but I must say it was decent and reasonably shrimpy. I wouldn't need to do it again, but I'm glad I tried it. I would put it above the chicken hash brown Prosperity Burger but not the original Prosperity Burger.

That is all I have for McDonald's, but Steven Schwankert had better luck than I did and reviewed both mainland China burgers for The Beijinger along with explaining the puns in their Chinese names.

But we're still not done, because Burger King is in the new year burger action too with two portobello mushroom burgers.

The promotion includes the mixed-language pun "菇大 Luck". "菇" means "mushroom". "大" means "big". And together their sound "gūdà" roughly sounds like the English word "good". In case people who know a bit of English miss the pun, Burger King helpfully puts "good" in parentheses above the relevant Chinese characters. On some signs Burger King provides the English names "Grilled Portobello Chicken Burger" and "Grilled Portobello Beef Burger". But I am going to go with "(Good) Luck Burgers".

With that out of the way . . .

In Zhuhai I met my first (Good) Luck Chicken Burger.

A look inside revealed two tomato slices along with the other ingredients.

The results?

Folks, this was one of the best fast food sandwiches I have ever had. Honestly, I was rather surprised. The portobello mushroom wasn't huge, but it was hearty and complemented the grilled chicken well. This is a burger I would happily eat again.

So later at a Burger King in Zhongshan, I figured I had to give the (Good) Luck Beef Burger a try. After opening up the burger, I realized my experience this time might differ.

There was only one tomato slice this time — a travesty. The positioning suggested another was to be added but for whatever reason it didn't happen. Also, the mushroom was significantly smaller than the meat patty.

I found myself less thrilled by this burger. Not only did it have the previously mentioned deficits, but I found the beef and mushroom mix to be less enthralling, though not displeasing, to my tastebuds. I am not sure what to make of that since I enjoy beef and mushrooms together in other dishes. Anyway, I would definitely go with the chicken version next time. Hopefully they don't cheat me on the tomato slices again.

Burger King has other special items available for the new year, such as their Salmon Nuggets with Cheese & Pasta.

It isn't something I would expect from Burger King but intriguing. I felt I had dedicated enough of my meals to fast food for this year's holiday though.

So to wrap up, the (Good) Luck Chicken Burger won this year's fast food Lunar New Year burger prize for me. And all of the burgers far surpassed the Year of Fortune Burger and Year of Luck Burger I subjected myself to two years ago at McDonald's in Chongqing. Kudos to McDonald's for not bringing them back this year. Somehow I missed out on a good old regular Prosperity Burger this year, but I take consolation in having enjoyed some portobellos.

For the Boss in Zhongshan

Advertisement for the Boss Apartments in Zhongshan, Guangdong

Pizza Hut Celebrates Halloween with a Spidery Black Pizza in China

One of my interests involves seeing how Western companies localize their products and services in China. Sometimes that leads to culinary explorations during holidays, such as trying McDonald's Year of Fortune Burger for the Lunar New Year when I was in Chongqing. Halloween is another holiday which offers possibilities.

Last year in Shaoguan, Guangdong, I noted that a Halloween promotion at Pizza Hut featuring M&M's didn't include an M&M's pizza. So there was no special pizza for me that day. But things change . . . This year, Pizza Hut once again had a Halloween promotion, which I saw while in Shenyang, Liaoning. Instead of M&M's, Vamplets were the main characters accompanying the "Black Halloween" spirit.

Like last year, there were fingers on the special Halloween menu, although the ingredients weren't the same. More importantly to me, the menu had a special pizza which screamed to be tried.

The menu says the Black Halloween Pizza (暗黑魔法烤肉比萨) is made with cuttlefish powder. Like their close relatives, squid, cuttlefish can shoot ink. Given the black coloring of the pizza, I assume cuttlefish ink is at least one ingredient in the powder. Whatever the case, of course I ordered the pizza.

Yes, there is a spider on the pizza. This is not the first time I have encountered a spider on a Pizza Hut pizza. Decades ago at a Pizza Hut in Pennsylvania, US, my brother discovered a spider baked into our pizza's cheese. It wasn't Halloween and spiders weren't listed as an ingredient for the pizza, so the folks at Pizza Hut made appropriate amends. Unlike that spider, the spider on the Black Halloween Pizza is made out of the black dough. Too bad, since it has been a while since I have eaten large spiders.

The black pizza dough spider deserves a closeup look.

The pizza includes New Orleans Roasted Chicken, which seems to be a common thing in China, even if not in New Orleans, and pumpkin as well. The spider web is made out of a mayonnaise so sweet that . . . well, I did my best to scrape it off. There is no tomato pizza sauce, which may be why the waitress brought out some ketchup. I was more happy to see the unrequested appearance of Tabasco sauce. Well done, waitress. It really helped.

Overall, I liked the Black Halloween Pizza more than the pizza with New Orleans style toppings I had along with Pizza Hut's durian pizza in Jieyang, Guangdong. The pumpkin was a welcomed change of pace, but I don't think I will be craving the Black Halloween Pizza anytime in the future, unlike Mr. Panda's black Inkfish Pizza, which I tried in Shanghai.

Maybe next year Pizza Hut will go with real spiders as a topping for a Halloween pizza. I would definitely give it a try.