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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Four: Finding meaning in details > Cigarette shop, Old Town, Lijiang, China, 2006
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01-APR-2006

Cigarette shop, Old Town, Lijiang, China, 2006

The sign is new; the building is old – very old. The cigarette business is lucrative here. I noticed that smoking is still very common in China. There is a wealth of expressive detail in this image, but none more important than the English translation of the name of the store. The English words are not only whimsical, but also quite incongruous. Given the nature of everything else on this building, it was surprising to discover it.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/30s f/3.6 at 24.8mm iso80 hide exif
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Date/Time01-Apr-2005 16:31:57
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ30
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length24.8 mm
Exposure Time1/30 sec
Aperturef/3.6
ISO Equivalent80
Exposure Bias
White Balance (10)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (2)
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Phil Douglis23-Apr-2006 00:47
It is cultural, Christine. And often the translations don't read correctly. You have heard the phrase "something got lost in translation?" In this case, I think the intention was to express the honesty of the store's management. We have a phrase "good as gold." Perhaps "goldhonest" was an attempt to say something like that?
Guest 22-Apr-2006 23:00
It is interesting to note the names Chinese companies or small business give to their organizations sometimes even outside of their country. I saw here “Fortune Bakery” and “Good Luck Cleaner”. It is probably a translation of the types of names they would have given their business in China. I think it is cultural. They probably smile at the names we give ours.
Christine
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