Choosing a new name for a company is not an easy feat – it should be catchy, provide some initial insight into the portfolio, and inspire loyalty among employees. The process is far from over when the English-language advertisement specialists have settled on their brainchild. For companies active in China, the task then becomes translating the English pronunciation into a string of Chinese characters that sound similar, and also carry a comparable meaning.

That is when the local marketing staff put in all-nighters to prevent their employer from being known as “the frog that threw up”, or the “creeping corpse”. It is not difficult to imagine why a literal translation could end up being a death certificate…