"Fool", Countdown at 250 Days

There are 250 days left until the Beijing Summer Olympics. The number 250 in Mandarin (er bai wu) means "fool or stupid". We learned this while negotiating prices at the markets. If a restaurant check is for 250 yuan, the restaurant always rounds down the price so as not to insult the customer (even a lao wai, if they want you to come back).