HK Pokemon fans offended by Pikachu’s new Chinese name
HONG KONG: Gaming fans in Hong Kong have called a decision “absurd” by Japan’s Nintendo to rename the popular Pokemon character Pikachu using the official language of mainland China instead of the local Cantonese.
Their fury taps in to concerns in the semi-autonomous city that its Cantonese culture is being eroded as Beijing’s influence grows.
Hong Kong fans said they were insulted when Nintendo decided to unify all local translations of many Pokemon characters into Mandarin for the Chinese market.
Mandarin is the main language of mainland China, but in Hong Kong, Cantonese is predominant.
Pikachu, a yellow creature with pointed ears and lightening boltshaped tail, used to be called ‘BeiKa-Chiu’ by Hong Kongers, but the new official name has become Pikaqiu which would sound ‘BeiKa-Jau’ in Cantonese.
Local gamers are understandably infuriated. More than 6,000 fans in Hong Kong have signed a petition which has been sent to Nintendo management in Japan.
“The absurd replacement... will be like changing “Pikachu” to “Pikayau” in English - who is willing to pay for something they don’t recognise at all?
“If this is to happen, the sales of the series in Hong Kong are likely to suffer,” the letter said.
One campaign group member who did not want to be named said he felt the decision did not respect local culture and that his childhood memories had been ruined.
“It’s hard to believe it will be changed...we just want our local name back,” he said. — AFP