Push Admin

Taiwan pleads with citizens not to change name to 'Salmon'

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/03/18/sushiro-facebook-page.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Courtesy of Sushiro Facebook Page</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>TAIPEI - A top Taiwanese official issued a plea on Thursday for people to stop changing their name to &quot;salmon&quot; after dozens made the unusual move to take advantage of a restaurant promotion.</p><p>In a phenomenon that has been dubbed &quot;Salmon Chaos&quot; by local media, around 150 mostly young people flocked to government offices in recent days to officially register a change in their name.</p><p>The cause of this sudden enthusiasm was a chain of sushi restaurants.</p><p>Under the 2 day promotion which ended Thursday, any customer whose ID card contained &quot;Gui Yu&quot; -- the Chinese characters for salmon -- would be entitled to an all-you-can-eat sushi meal along with 5 friends.</p><p>Taiwan allows people to officially change their name up to 3 times.</p><p>But Taiwanese officials were not amused.</p><p>&quot;This kind of name-change not only wastes time but causes unnecessary paperwork,&quot; deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen told reporters as he urged the public to &quot;cherish administrative resources&quot;.</p><p>&quot;I hope everyone can be more rational about it,&quot; he added.</p><p>Local media ran interviews with people who took advantage of the promotion. </p><p>&quot;I just changed my name this morning to add the characters &#x27;Bao Cheng Gui Yu&#x27; and we already ate more than Tw$7,000 ($235),&quot; a college student surnamed Ma told TVBS news channel in southern Kaohsiung city.</p><p>Roughly translated, Ma&#x27;s new moniker means: &quot;Explosive Good Looking Salmon&quot;. </p><p>&quot;I&#x27;ve changed my first name to salmon and 2 of my friends also did,&quot; a woman surnamed Tung told SET TV. &quot;We&#x27;ll just change our names back afterwards.&quot;</p><p>Other salmon-themed names reported in local media included &quot;Salmon Prince,&quot; &quot;Meteor Salmon King&quot; and &quot;Salmon Fried Rice&quot;</p><p>The United Daily News reported that 1 resident decided to add a record 36 new characters to his name, most of them seafood themed, including the characters for &quot;abalone,&quot; &quot;crab&quot; and &quot;lobster&quot;.</p><div><strong> RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1642437" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div> </div>

<p>A top Taiwanese official issued a plea on Thursday for people to stop changing their name to "salmon" after dozens made the unusual move to take advantage of a restaurant promotion.</p>

A top Taiwanese official issued a plea on Thursday for people to stop changing their name to "salmon" after dozens made the unusual move to take advantage of a restaurant promotion.