( 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 — it must have been the branch at 吴江路休闲街 or 静安公园. And no, there wasn’t anything weird with the food or advertising. It was 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.

            What’s funny is this:「赛」is pronounced exactly like sai — ‘shit’ in Hokkien (Southern Min). Most of us Chinese diaspora who grew up in Singapore or parts of Southeast Asia will cheekily think of the wrong thing. It’s impossible not to.

            That’s an undeniable 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.

            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. Further edits were made between May–Jul 2026.

( CULTURAL BRIEFINGS )

Executive briefings on cultural matters

( SENSING PLACES )

Sensing cities as cultural barometers

不勞工作室
位于新加坡、意向東亞

We are a cultural intelligence practice
Cultivating brands with clarity