By KHT Staff. Images via KH City Govt/AI illustration based on the original photo by 港都高雄人.
KAOHSIUNG — “Where are you?”
“On Poyu Road.”
“I know it’s an asphalt road. I’m asking where you are!”
The imagined exchange, shared by local Facebook page 港都高雄人 — Gǎngdū Gāoxióng Rén, captures a joke visitors might otherwise miss while walking through Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center.
A green sign along a tree-lined walkway reads “Poyu Rd.” Its Chinese name is 駁遊路 — bó yóu lù, pronounced exactly like 柏油路 — bó yóu lù, meaning “asphalt road.” The Ministry of Education’s dictionary confirms that pronunciation for the paving term in Taiwan Mandarin.
For people learning Chinese, the joke is a useful example of how identical sounds can carry different meanings. Here, even the tones match: bó and yóu both have rising second tones, while lù has a falling fourth tone.
Only by understanding the written characters does one know they aren’t on “Asphalt Road.”
The name takes 駁 — bó — from Pier-2’s Chinese name, 駁二 — Bó’èr. It pairs that with 遊 — yóu, associated with travel, recreation, or wandering, and 路 — lù, meaning road.
The Facebook post interprets the combination as suggesting a visit to Pier-2, while preserving the sound of an ordinary asphalt road.
The spelling “Poyu” on the sign follows Kaohsiung’s not-exactly-loved Tongyong romanization system. Hanyu Pinyin would render the two syllables as bó yóu.
The route’s playfulness extends beyond its name. Reporting from 2018 described a roughly 500-meter art project featuring unusual pedestrian crossings and traffic signs. Crossing designs included fish bones, a zipper, and a whale shark beneath rippling water.
A city publication identifies Canadian artist Roadsworth as the creator of playful crossing designs along the walkway, using familiar street markings as material for public art.
The Facebook dialogue is a joke, rather than an account of documented visitors getting lost. But it offers a reason to look twice at a street sign, and a small reward for learning to read the characters.
