Plumcake

5.15.2008

The greatest thing about walking around Beijing is the incredible sights you see all the time, everywhere. I'm not talking about amazing old palaces or (increasingly disappearing) hutong, but the people. What they're doing, carrying, and -- especially-- what they're wearing.

Now, when it first became popular in the States to wear clothing with Asian characters on it, I thought it a bit odd. Ya, it looks kinda cool I guess, but how do you know what it says?

You don't.

Walking around Beijing you'll see a ton of people wearing shirts with English words on it. They're wearing it for the same reason: they think English looks "cool." But I have to wonder, do they really know what their clothing says?

I apologize to all of you for not having my camera on me at ALL times, because whenever I see these shirts, I never seem to have my camera. I should in the least carry a notepad and a pen so I can make note of them, but alas, I don't do that either. Today was an especially great Shirt Siting Day, so I decided it was time to share some of the most memorable with you:

A plain, white shirt with very large black letters on the front stating: "Ready, Set, Begin!"

A grey shirt with white letters, all caps, saying, "DO YOU HAVE A MINUTE?"

Some of the best ones are the One Worders, like:

"Air"

or

"Hesitate"

or

"Electric"

or

"Lamp" (okay on that one I was just looking around the room and saying things)


Some just make zero sense like, "Teddy Bear Farm" or have random words put together like, "Fashion Sun Girl Love."

Today as we waited in line [waiting in a line? in China? noo...] Collin burst into laughter and said, "Best shirt yet!" I looked over to see a girl wearing a tan and black striped polo shirt. She turned her back toward us and in big, black letters it said:

"STAY OUT OF MY LIFE"

Hilarious.

However, I think my personal favorite is still one I spotted at the infamous buffet where Collin ate grasshoppers. It was a bright purple shirt, worn by a male, and in white block letters centered across the front, it read:

"PLUMCAKE"

What does that even mean? Is that even a real food? Not that I know of. This is the only time I actually did have my camera on me, and I tried to pull a stealth shot. However, according to Murphy's Law, every time I tried to get a clean shot something would get in my way or he would move just in time. He got up to go to the bathroom at one point and Collin said, "Give me your camera-- I'll have a perfect shot when he walks back." He took the picture, dead on. We looked at it: blurry. Like Bigfoot. We now refer to him as "The Elusive Plumcake." One of my greatest regrets is not getting a picture of The EPC.

Even better, though, are the Chinglish signs. We have a whole folder of pictures on my laptop dedicated to these horribly translated signs. I promise an album will be sent out soon!