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The Dragon Boat (Duan Wu) Festival is around the corner, so you might come across more stalls selling bak zhang, or Chinese rice dumplings, in the coming weeks.
Taiwan’s Carrefour was no exception, as the supermarket chain has also started advertising its assorted bak zhang flavours.
Art of knot-tying
In a Facebook post dated May 30, Carrefour shared several photos of bak zhang tied up in unusual, elaborate knots of different colours.
Each had a name and description of the type of ingredients within.
“Here comes a big wave of different flavours of bak zhang. With their tasty, tied-up fresh meat exposed, can you resist these shibari summer delicacies?”
“Having been tied up with fancy knots, it really makes them irresistible to eat."
"Finding it troublesome to tie yourself? Come to Carrefour, we'll serve it to your table tied. Create the joy of unwrapping the gifts yourself."
Shibari refers to the practice of rope bondage that originated in Japan.
Here are some of the bak zhang:
- Shoe lace
Image via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour
- Chest
Image via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour
- Tortoise shell
Image via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour
- Pocket knot
Image via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour
Carrefour also added a disclaimer that the images were created solely for entertainment purposes, so the actual in-store products may differ.
As for what they were trying to do, I'm sure you get it.
Netizens amused
As of time of writing, Carrefour's post has garnered more than 4,700 likes and 2,300 shares.
Many were entertained by the photos, as one can see from the number of laughing emojis, while some proceeded to poke fun at the bak zhang.
Screenshot via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour
“I want to try the chest knot…I meant the bak zhang,” said one Facebook user.
This invited a cheeky response from Carrefour, who replied that the user probably wanted to be the bak zhang itself.
Screenshot via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour
Others lauded the supermarket’s marketing strategy, while some jokingly questioned how such an idea was approved.
Top images via Facebook/家樂福Carrefour