Checking In and Putting Out: Shenzhen’s Conception Hotel

Normally, I’d come to this neighborhood to get street kebabs, apples and qiegao.  That’s all good and well, and mostly harmless (except maybe towards my digestive system), but when I’m not at home, I tend to look up.  That’s when some of the worry sets in.  Random sparks raining down from construction sites (or tedium), sunsets “made” more seductive due to the wonderment of pollution, dripping socks, smocks and mukluks, and blunt-force family planning centers (aka hotels).

Although the Conception Hotel (in that location, for that matter) doesn’t exist anymore, the name inevitably caught my attention, which inevitably also caused me to hyperventilate.  Been to Southern California lately?  Same idea, ya reckon?  Wait a sec, is there any less of a patriotic move, particularly for the countries currently involved? Anyway, in the Shenzhen example, it’s likely just someone having a bit too much fun with English.  Or copious amounts of the local tipple.  Now that I think about it, many of the budget motels in China (宾馆 binguan) have for sale “man/woman oil,” in addition to the towels that require hydration to fully form and concrete slabs price-sensitive Westerners should come to accept as mattresses.

China, if you’re looking for help with translating signs that can (nay, will) be seen by hordes of people, Chinese or not, I’m glad to lend a hand.  I’d start by looking for a hospitality group to recycle the above name.

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Think you’d stay here for a night?  Nine months?  Have you ever seen such an appropriately titled building?

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