Hotel California & 黑店 (Xiehouyu)

The noted rock band Eagles has just finished their performance in Taipei. And there had been some discussions about one of their greatest hits Hotel California 加州旅館(jia zhe lu3 guan) on the newspapers.

People have different interpretations in terms of the song. It is generally believed that the hotel is a metaphor for a rotten and extravagant life, where people drink 酗酒(Xu4 jiu3) or do drugs 嗑藥(ke4 yao4)to their heart’s content. One of the members told the reporters in Taiwan that the song was about a man’s growing process from naïve 天真(tian zhen) to sophisticated 世故(shi4 gu4)

No matter how you see the song, the spooky atmosphere of the song reminds me of a famous 黑店(hei dian4), literally meaning “black store” in the Chinese literature, as well as the Xiehouyu related to it.

Now we call a hotel 飯店(fan4 dian4) or a 旅館(lu4 guan3) and 汽車旅館(qi4 che lu3 guan3) for a motel. In the old times people called an inn 客棧(ke4 zhan4), where people got the board and lodge. And the most noted客棧 in the Chinese literature is probably run by孫二娘(sun er2 niang2), a female character in水滸傳(shui3 hu3 zhuan4), Water Margin, or Outlaws of the Marsh.

It is well-known because some of the customers, especially the plump ones, disappeared after they lodged at her inn. They were killed and served as the meat filling of their 包子(bao zi), the steamed filled bun. Such包子is called 人肉包子(ren2 rou4 bao zi), baozi with human meat filling. Terrifying, isn’t it?

Thus came the Xiehouyu, 孫二娘的店—進不得(sun er2 niang2 de dian4, jin4 bu4 de2), you’d better not enter 孫二娘‘s inn. You can use this Xiehouyu when talking someone out of getting engaged in something.

That’s also why her inn is called黑店.  We’ll use it to call whatever shop where you feel you got ripped off, or irritated by their products of bad quality or bad service.

Another famous 黑店 is 龍門客棧(long2 men2 ke4 zhan4), the Dragon Gate Inn, in the movie of the same title. Like孫二娘的店, it is run by a woman with extreme beauty. Coincidently the owners of these two黑店 and that of the Hotel California are all women. Given that, I’ll have to say, be alert, gentlemen, to the “fatal attraction” of these黑店!

加州旅館=加州旅馆

嗑藥=嗑药

飯店=饭店

汽車旅館=汽车旅馆

客棧=客栈

孫二娘=孙二娘

水滸傳=水浒传

孫二娘的店—進不得=孙二娘的店—进不得

龍門客棧=龙门客栈