In the 1994 film 'Chung King Express / 重慶森林' (directed by Wong Kar-Wai), there is a scene in which Faye lets herself into Cop 663's apartment and removes the labels off his many cans of 'Fried Dace with salted black bean' (豆豉鯪魚) and replaces them with 'sardines in tomato sauce' labels.
Cop 663 returns home and is enjoying a meal of instant soup noodles and what he believes to be sardines in tomato sauce. He wonders if it's the change of season which has contributed towards his increased powers of observation.
In the original Cantonese, he says: "連茄汁沙甸魚都有豆豉味". In the English subtitles, this sentence is mistranslated as "even sardines taste different". The actual translation/meaning is: even sardines with tomato sauce have a black bean flavour.
To be continued...
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