Wo kao! Bus ads cause 'heated' debate in sweltering Chongqing

As the metropolis of Chongqing swelters in the Yangtze valley's summer heat, the city of Lichuan in neighboring Hubei has embarked on an ad campaign to draw visitors from the melting municipality to its own cooler climes. Starting from June, Lichuan's tourism bureau has paid for slogans on Chongqing buses, but the fact that one of the slogans features what may be seen as a racy play on words has caused "heated" debate online, according to Duowei News, a website operated by overseas Chinese.

Many buses in Chongqing feature slogans such as "Chongqing 42℃, Lichuan 24℃" and "Hot! Go to Lichuan to cool down!" But it is "I'm close to Chongqing, cool city Lichuan" is the one that has drawn the most attention, as the first two characters, "wo kao," which literally mean "I am close to" or "I rely on" are also a slang exclamation for a positive expression of surprise: "Fuck!" or "Damn!" Despite the strength of the English translation, the exclamation is not considered particularly obscene, thus a slang rendering of the slogan might be: "Damn! [It's hot in] Chongqing, Lichuan is cooler."

Searches for the slogan have been banned on search engines after it generated debate on microblogs.
Sun Fumin, chief of Lichuan's tourism bureau denied the slogan was intended in a slang sense. The reason for using the words "wo kao" comes from four aspects, he said. The first is to note that Lichuan is geographically close to Chongqing; second, Lichuan relies on its larger neighbor economically; third, Lichuan relies on Chongqing to develop its tourism; and fourth, Lichuan has a close relationship with the cities and counties around Chongqing and has teamed up with them to promote theme tours. The wording therefore does not have the sense that internet users have noted and there was no intent to court controversy to gain extra attention, Sun said.

Given that a media company was engaged to write the advertising copy, this explanation sounds at best naive but is more likely disingenuous.

The important thing is that Lichuan has made an impression on the public, Sun said.
Because of the stir on the internet surrounding the campaign, the Chongqing trade and industry bureau demanded the media company in charge of the promotion, Bole, to pull the ad, but the authorities in Lichuan insist that the ads are not offensive and went through a process of official approval. If the ads are forced to be replaced, they will prosecute the media company, they said.