Check your Chinese characters before you make it the cover of your journal

i-75fa6f7cebb4145668724f37f5a52b36-steve_icon_medium.jpgI've always joked around about girls who would walk into a tattoo parlor and ask for a Chinese character that means something to them... like love, hope, or faith. Of course the tattoo artists don't know one damn character in Chinese so they just pick a random character from the internet and the girl ends up with something that actually says slut, pink slippery Christmas tree, or something else random. I never imagined a scientific magazine would fall prey to something absolutely ridiculous like this.

Science journal mistakenly uses flyer for Macau brothel to illustrate report on China.

A respected research institute wanted Chinese classical texts to adorn its journal, something beautiful and elegant, to illustrate a special report on China. Instead, it got a racy flyer extolling the lusty details of stripping housewives in a brothel.... There were red faces on the editorial board of one of Germany's top scientific institutions, the Max Planck Institute, after it ran the text of a handbill for a Macau strip club on the front page of its latest journal.

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So can someone tell us exactly what this says?

-via Improbable Research-

More like this

A poster on fools mountain says: "We have offered a lot of money to hire two managers -- KK and Jaime -- to lead the girls stationing in the club during the daytime. Our young girls are elegant northern beauties with attractive physiques. We also have housewives who are coquettish and enchanting. They are appearing here and now."

By knownothing (not verified) on 09 Dec 2008 #permalink

Now that's a journal I want to read! I only read it for the articles. Seriously....

Unfortunately they seem to have changed the cover in the actual journal already. The issues with the original ad might become collectibles, so run to your local science library now :-)

By Anon E Mouse (not verified) on 09 Dec 2008 #permalink

It rather sounds like they were the victim of a prank.
Personally I blame the referees on that paper.
"Points for Authors:
In figure 1 'Madam Fifi's bad boy treatment room' there appears to be a distinct lack of appropriate controls."

The Chinese text says, "Watch this goofy cover get those people at the "Of Two Minds" science blog going."

Hahahah... LOL!
I am sooooo tempted to translate it. Well, better not make it worse.

how did this happen in the first place?!

By Katherine (not verified) on 10 Dec 2008 #permalink

I am happy to translate the text in English:

We paid handsomely to hire Manager KK and Camay full time;
They personally present young and beautiful girls;
Northern beauties in million swaying poses;
Young housewives of fiery figures;
All bewitching, seductive and are here on board today.

--translated in English by ttvfwong, Hong Kong

The piece of calligrahy is an ad copy usually placed outside a "ballroom" in the streets of Hong Kong (not Macau as the earlier report suggested).

Unfortunately they seem to have changed the cover in the actual journal already. The issues with the original ad might become collectibles, so run to your local science