Kashgar Café Welcomes Big Noses

Remember the article of September, 15, called: "Big noses, curly hair on empress's coffin suggests deep cultural exchange on Silk Road" ?

The following article on Victor Mair's Language Log confirms that also in present day China people with big noses are considered Indo-European.


The Chinese sign reads:
Nánběi dàcài, nèi shè yǎzuò 南北大菜 內設雅座 ("Dishes from North and South; equipped with private rooms" [more literally, "elegant seating"]), plus the prices of special stir-fried dishes. It's curious that, where the English sign talks about "Weste[r]n & Chinese food," the Chinese sign specifies "northern and southern dishes" (probably referring to the two main parts of the Xinjiang region).

There's no mention in the Chinese of the "big nose friends" who are welcome. This is interesting because Kashgar is the heart of Uyghurdom, and many Uyghurs have noses every bit as big as those of Europeans. Anyway, if they had wanted to write "big nose" in Chinese, it would be dà bízi 大鼻子.

[A tip of the hat to Stanley Insler and Valerie Hansen]