( CULTURAL BRIEFING N^O 05 )

Subway in China and Taiwan

The fast-food chain’s accidental misstep

_EN

            I had a good laugh when I first stumbled upon Subway in Shanghai years ago — I think it was the branch at 南京东路 or 静安寺. Not because of the sandwiches, but because of the name.

            In China, Subway is called《赛百味》. On the surface, it works.「赛」is a neat phonetic translation of “Sub”, and also means race. While「百味」means a hundred flavours. Put together, it becomes a race of a hundred flavours, which is oddly poetic for a fast-food chain.

            But here’s the twist:「赛」is pronounced exactly like sai — “shit” in Hokkien (Southern Min). Anyone who grew up in Singapore or parts of Southeast Asia will immediately hear the wrong thing. It’s impossible not to.

            Which makes it an obvious oversight. Whoever named it didn’t check for dialect connotations — a basic step in any multilingual market. And here is why I’m almost certain that is true: look at Subway in Taiwan. They simply call it “Subway”, without a Chinese name. Sometimes, it pays to be cautious.

            As a postscript, I love Subway. My usual is egg mayo with an extra scoop of tuna, plus a double chocolate chip cookie.

Notes from Ben:
This Cultural Briefing was first observed in Jan 2017, and written in Nov 2025. Slight revisions were made in Feb 2026, with further edits in May and Jun 2026.

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