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Taiwan was engulfed in "salmon chaos" (鮭魚之亂) this week as more than 300 people legally changed their names to "salmon" (鮭魚) to take advantage of a promotion at a Taiwanese sushi chain. A thread. 1/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/18/taiwan-official-urges-people-to-stop-changing-their-name-to-salmon …
On Wednesday & Thursday, Taiwanese conveyor belt sushi chain Sushiro ran a promotion called "Returning (Salmon) Love Festival" (愛の迴鮭祭), an elaborate pun on the Chinese word for "returning" (回歸), which also sounds like "salmon returning" to their spawning ground (迴鮭). 2/pic.twitter.com/Jv6j9zBcw8
The Chinese word for salmon (鮭魚) is pronounced "gui yu." People with a Chinese character in their name pronounced "gui" or "yu" got 10% off, people with two characters pronounced "gui" and "yu" got 50% off, and people with the exact same characters for salmon ate for free. 3/pic.twitter.com/L5F4iIImOp
Sushiro required a national ID card as evidence, but it turns out it's extremely easy and cheap to legally change your name in Taiwan. It only costs ~$3 US ($80 NTD). This led dozens to rush out and change their names, like this person, who changed their name to "Salmon Liu." 4/pic.twitter.com/vxJWHwiEoI
While many simply renamed themselves "Salmon," others got more creative, such as "Whirlpool Naruto Salmon Xie" (謝渦鳴人鮭魚) and "Die (like salmon) Together Pan" (潘同鮭魚盡), punning on the Chinese idiom for "perish together" (同歸於盡). 5/https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E9%AE%AD%E9%AD%9A%E4%B9%8B%E4%BA%82%E6%88%B0%E6%9E%9C%E5%87%BA%E7%88%90-300%E4%BA%BA%E6%94%B9%E5%90%8D-%E5%8D%83%E4%BA%BA%E6%AC%A1%E5%90%83%E7%88%86%E5%A3%BD%E5%8F%B8%E9%83%8E-2%E5%A4%A9%E9%A4%90%E8%B2%BB%E4%B8%8A%E7%9C%8B500%E8%90%AC-073746365.html …
One certain Mr. Chen decided to put a whole bunch of other food in his new name as well (in case of future promotions?), becoming the nearly untranslatable "陳愛台灣鮑鮪鮭魚松葉蟹海膽干貝龍蝦和牛肉美福華君品晶華希爾頓凱薩老爺." 6/pic.twitter.com/brmkinmUpn
Many members of the newly constituted Taiwanese "Salmon Gang" (鮭魚們) reported eating sushi for all six meals on Wednesday and Thursday (one reported eating 15 meals!), in order to make the most of their new moniker and $3 investment, leading to long lines at Sushiro. 7/pic.twitter.com/CS8e98pZys
Some netizens and Sushiro staff also complained that since the sushi was free, the Salmon Gang only ate the fish and wasted lots of rice. 8/ https://chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20210320000984-260405?chdtv …pic.twitter.com/LTICZeFzlw
Tragedy also struck for some Salmon Gang members, such as this medical student, who did not realize that Tawainese law only allows people to change their name three times ever. Out of name changes, he is stuck with his new name, "Salmon Dream Chang." 9/ https://taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4154988 pic.twitter.com/JYKD6uNczo
However, a Taiwanese lawyer who read about Mr. Chang's plight pointed out a loophole in the law, whereby if Mr. Chang and his father have the same exact name, Chang is still allowed to change it. 10/https://setn.com/News.aspx?NewsID=912279 …
The lawyer helpfully suggested that Mr. Chang have his father also change his name to "Salmon Dream," allowing Mr. Chang to change his name back, and then have the father change his name back later as well, as long as *he* still has name changes left. 
11/
Meanwhile Taiwanese government officials urged restraint, bemoaning the wasted labor and unnecessary paperwork frivolous name chances involve, and urging Taiwanese citizens to "cherish administrative resources." 12/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/salmon-chaos-taiwan-people-change-their-names-get-free-sushi-n1261506 …
But despite all the chaos (and all the free sushi they had to give away), Sushiro seems to consider the promotion a success, and is reportedly already debating whether its next promotion should be based on tuna or eel. So get ready for Tuna Pandemonium and Eel Madness! 13/
Also worth mentioning the reason Taiwanese can go out to all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants and cause "salmon chaos" is because the government was super organized, everyone wore masks, and the pandemic was defeated early on, with Taiwan basically virus free for the past year. 14/
Here's a map of all 331 salmon gangsters, by city of residence. New Taipei City leads with 100, followed by Kaohsiung with 56, Taipei City with 51, Taichung with 46, Tainan with 30, and Taoyuan with 21. The salmon crying for their eaten big brothers is a macabre touch. 15/pic.twitter.com/bbjzE3f5q3
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