A collection of Cantonese culture — names, luck, food, and the ideas that only work in Cantonese.https://canto.institute/https://canto.institute/heat/leung-cha/https://canto.institute/heat/leung-cha/A herbal tea shop on every second corner, selling something bitter enough that nobody would drink it for pleasure.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/world-names/orchid-belt/https://canto.institute/world-names/orchid-belt/An accident of transcription turned half of Europe botanical, and then hardened into a rule.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/world-names/faa-kei-gwok/https://canto.institute/world-names/faa-kei-gwok/A dead name for America that is still alive inside a bank and a bottle of ginseng.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/world-names/flattery-canon/https://canto.institute/world-names/flattery-canon/Beautiful, heroic, virtuous, lawful — the great powers all got flattering names. The truth is duller and better.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/luck/plate-auction/https://canto.institute/luck/plate-auction/The government auctions registration plates and publishes the results. It is the best evidence anyone has that homophony moves money.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/concepts/the-mandarin-test/https://canto.institute/concepts/the-mandarin-test/Cantonese is often called a dialect. Here is a map of the ideas that don't survive the trip into Mandarin.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/hk-names/mei-foo/https://canto.institute/hk-names/mei-foo/The MTR station whose name reads like a virtue and is actually a brand of American kerosene.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/hk-names/mong-kok/https://canto.institute/hk-names/mong-kok/Mong Kok was named for a weed. Then somebody quietly upgraded it, and the English never caught up.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/heat/the-heat-scale/https://canto.institute/heat/the-heat-scale/Every food in Cantonese cooking sits somewhere between heating and cooling, and the whole household runs on knowing where.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/hk-names/tiu-keng-leng/https://canto.institute/hk-names/tiu-keng-leng/Everyone tells the same story about this name. Here is the story, and here is the part of it that can actually be shown.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/world-names/transliteration-as-poetry/https://canto.institute/world-names/transliteration-as-poetry/Two place names that stopped trying to be accurate and went for beautiful instead.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/luck/tung-sing/https://canto.institute/luck/tung-sing/An almanac that tells you which days are lucky, and which had to change its own name to stop being unlucky.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://canto.institute/world-names/two-names-one-city/https://canto.institute/world-names/two-names-one-city/Which name you use for Sydney says where you're from. So does how you say Beckham.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT