Dozens of people have changed names to include ‘gui yu’ to take advantage of sushi promotion

Under a two-day promotion, any customer whose ID card contained ‘gui yu’ would be entitled to all-you can-eat sushi along with five friends. Photograph: Ridofranz/Getty Images/iStockphoto

A Taiwanese official has pleaded with people to stop changing their name to “salmon” after dozens made the unusual move to take advantage of a restaurant promotion.

In a phenomenon that has been labelled “salmon chaos” by local media, about 150 mostly young people visited government offices in recent days to officially change their name.

The cause of this sudden enthusiasm was a chain of sushi restaurants.

Under the two-day promotion, which ended on Thursday, any customer whose ID card contained “gui yu” – the Chinese characters for salmon – would be entitled to an all-you-can-eat sushi meal along with five friends.

Taiwan allows people to officially change their name up to three times.

But Taiwanese officials were not amused.[…]

Continue reading: Taiwan official urges people to stop changing their name to ‘salmon’