No more virginal chicken to be had in Beijing

The news is out: the Bureau of Tourism has released a list of translations for 2,753 Chinese (and Western) dishes, and the list is downloadable here. The purpose of this document is to ease ordering for non-Chinese speaking foreigners, as well as prevent bizarre direct translations such as “husband and wife’s lung slice” for 夫妻肺片 (fuqi feipian, pork lungs in chili sauce) and “chicken without sexual life” for 童子鸡 (tongzi ji, spring chicken).

2,753 is a lot of dishes, and it’s thus a good source of Chinese-learning information for the so inclined. The list also has a large section with names for Western dishes, guaranteeing you’ll never again lose face at a restaurant when you forget how to say “Venison Filet with Black Pepper Coated with Mushrooms and Celery” in Chinese. Also available are translations for six different kinds of cheesecake.

Links and Sources
Xinhua: Chinese Dishes Get Official English Names
Bureau of Tourism: Download list of 2,573 food and drink names in English/Chinese