The reason is simple: "Fuk", in Chinese, is a good thing, a very good thing. (But it is not THAT good thing, hush your evil mind!)

"Fuk" (or "Fook" as it is sometimes transliterated in English) is the Cantonese word that means luck, or blessings. The character looks like this: 福 and in Mandarin Chinese it is pronounced "Fu"

The "Fuk" character shows up everywhere in Chinese culture--it's often the main decoration on the red calendars given out at Chinese new year, and it also is part of the name of a Chinese province (Fujian, or Fuk-kin, in Cantonese). At new year's, and on other happy occasions, you wish someone "Maahn Fuk!"--10,000 blessings.

Chinese like to give auspicious names to businesses and especially to restaurants. So you'll see a lot of "Fuks" and "Fooks".

As for Chinese menus, they are much more complicated (yet fascinating) to read, translate and understand than this article suggests...especially at high-end Chinese restaurants, where you almost have to have a background in classical literature to unravel some of the meanings!

Students of Chinese will know exactly what I mean....

daisann:

Interesting post by you. When I would travel in China, I was always accompanied by an escort even when I suggested we could do it alone. Japanese plant managers are fussy about thir guests.

"Fuk Sao" to me is a defensive move meant to block a countering block, hold it, until I counter with a chun choi to the chin, head, or body. It too is a good thing in "wing chun do."

Chinese food is very good and it would take me a few days to master chop sticks again. I did eat turtle, snake meat, prawns, the rice, and the veggies. I did not care for "baijiu" as it had an after taste to it like gasoline (my opinion). Tsingtao beer is good; but then, I never found a bad one in China. It should be interesting to see what Americans order to eat. They can always find KFC, McDonalds, TGIF, Hard Rock and a host of other places to eat also.

I did celebrate Little New Years in Tinajin.

Did they mention me when you were in China?

I'm quite well known over there. In fact, I'm famous in many culinary circles as, "The round eyed guy who will eat anything we put in front of."

Interesting cuisine. Very tasty, with huge regional variations. Wish I could go over while the Olympics are going on, but not to the Olympics. I'd rather be elsewhere, with the real people of China.