Italian Tourist Complains Tianmen Mountain’s ‘Asshole’ Was Not Clean for His Arrival
An Italian-American tourist tried to complain that fog obscured Tianmen Cave. A disastrous Chinese translation instead announced that Tianmen Mountain’s ‘chrysanthemum’—slang for anus—was dirty.
Italian Tourist Complains Tianmen Mountain’s “Asshole” Was Not Clean for His Arrival
An Italian-American tourist attempting to complain about fog at Tianmen Mountain accidentally published what appeared to be an intimate cleanliness review of the mountain’s anus.
The RedNote creator, Luigi Caleetusi, had traveled to Tianmen Mountain in Hunan hoping to photograph Tianmen Cave, the enormous natural opening in the mountain.
Unfortunately, the site was covered in heavy mist.
His translated Chinese post announced:
“I spent thousands of dollars and traveled millions of miles. But when I leaned closer to look at that chrysanthemum, it was filthy—it did not care about staying clean for my arrival. I am still angry, and I will remain angry.”
The problem was not merely that “chrysanthemum” sounded unusually floral.
In Chinese internet slang, 菊花—literally “chrysanthemum”—is frequently used as a euphemism for the anus.
The tourist had intended to discuss a mountain hole.
The machine translation selected a different hole.
China Asked to Inspect Three Photographs for Missing Flower
Thousands of users initially searched the photographs for an actual chrysanthemum.
It was July, not the usual chrysanthemum season.
No flower was visible.
Readers moved through several possible interpretations:
- A rare flower at Tianmen Mountain had become dirty.
- Someone had polluted a flowerbed.
- The tourist was using an obscure poetic metaphor.
- The post concerned a body part and had somehow passed moderation.
- The mountain itself possessed anatomy.
Only after entering the comments did many discover that “chrysanthemum” referred to the famous cave.
One commenter wrote:
“I understand now. He wanted to photograph the cave, but the fog made it impossible to see.”
A reply thanked them for solving a post written largely in recognizable Chinese characters but not recognizable Chinese.
Machine Translation Promotes Hole to Asshole
The source of the disaster appears to have been the English word “hole.”
A basic translation would be 洞, meaning a hole or cave.
The platform instead selected 菊花, a slang term that may euphemistically refer to an asshole.
The translation was not entirely unrelated.
An asshole is technically a kind of hole.
It was merely catastrophically specific.
One of the most popular comments summarized the issue:
“Fine, both refer to openings, but this is very much the wrong opening.”
The translation system had identified a semantic relationship and then followed it directly into an area no travel writer had requested.
Fog Reclassified as Dirt
The second major error concerned the weather.
The creator apparently saw mist obscuring Tianmen Cave and described the view as unclear, cloudy or dirty-looking.
The translated version stated that the “chrysanthemum” itself was dirty and had failed to clean itself in anticipation of his arrival.
This gave the mountain both hygiene obligations and an attitude problem.
The tourist was no longer disappointed by visibility.
He was offended that a geological formation had not prepared itself for inspection.
Several commenters defended the mountain:
“That is not dirt. It is fog.”
Others reframed the scene as a beautiful Chinese landscape phenomenon, explaining that mist around Zhangjiajie can create a rare, atmospheric view.
The mountain had not neglected personal hygiene.
It was experiencing weather.
“Please Speak English” Becomes National Consensus
The comment section produced an unusual request:
“Please use English next time. We can understand it.”
This comment received tens of thousands of likes.
Many Chinese users spend years worrying that their English is inadequate.
The post gave them new confidence.
Compared with the translated Chinese, ordinary English suddenly appeared safe, transparent and culturally appropriate.
One commenter wrote:
“I never expected to hear myself telling a foreigner, ‘Please speak English; I can understand that.’”
Another said Italian would also be acceptable.
The threshold was no longer comprehension.
It was preventing further damage to Tianmen Mountain.
Chinese Users Retaliate With Deliberately Broken English
Some commenters responded by imitating the same translation style.
One offered sympathy:
“The bad weather manufactured your low mood. Next time inspect the weather forecast first. May your trip become improved. Love from porcelain.”
“Love from porcelain” was a deliberate machine-style mistranslation of “love from China,” because 瓷器 means porcelain and sounds vaguely related to the English word “China.”
The comment became enormously popular.
Others wrote phrases such as:
- “Love from the southern side of the river province.”
- “Please examine weather first.”
- “Your travel is becoming better.”
- “The fog is beautiful, love from ceramics.”
The community had converted translation failure into an international literary movement.
Tourist Accused of Traveling Millions of Miles
Readers also noticed that the creator said he had traveled “millions of miles.”
Earth’s circumference is roughly 25,000 miles, meaning millions of miles would require circling the planet repeatedly or arriving from another solar system.
Some commenters interpreted it as ordinary English exaggeration, equivalent to saying one traveled “a thousand miles” without submitting GPS records.
Others concluded that the tourist’s trip had begun somewhere beyond Mars.
This strengthened the possibility that he was not Italian-American but an alien conducting a highly personal inspection of Chinese geology.
Photograph Allegedly Resembles Homelander
The first photograph introduced another viral element.
Many commenters thought the creator resembled Homelander, the unstable superpowered character from The Boys.
This changed the perceived tone of the post.
A normal tourist complaining about poor weather is mildly disappointed.
A smiling Homelander announcing that a mountain’s anus is dirty sounds like the opening scene of a national emergency.
One commenter wrote:
“I thought Homelander had gone to Tianmen Mountain and something happened to him.”
Others saw Cristiano Ronaldo, Henry Cavill or a generic foreign supervillain.
The creator had already lost control of the translation.
He also lost control of his face.
Tianmen Mountain Tourism Department Becomes Collateral Damage
Local residents expressed despair.
The attraction is famous for its enormous natural arch, dramatic stairway, cable car and cloud-covered scenery.
After the post, thousands of readers said they could no longer view Tianmen Cave without remembering the translation.
One commenter declared:
“Tianmen Mountain has spent years promoting itself, and now it has become a chrysanthemum.”
Another said the tourism authority’s “sky had collapsed.”
A geological landmark that survived millions of years of erosion had been reputationally altered by one automated word choice.
Commenters Offer Cleaner Alternatives
Users began posting photographs taken on clearer days.
They introduced these images with phrases such as:
“Let me show you Tianmen Mountain’s clean chrysanthemum.”
This was intended as assistance.
It did not improve the situation.
Others recommended that the creator return during better weather, wait for the fog to lift or check the forecast before traveling.
One suggested Shanghai as an alternative destination because the place name Puxi can generate another bilingual anatomical pun.
The tourism advice became progressively less useful.
Traditional Chrysanthemum Defenders Demand Restoration of Flower’s Dignity
A smaller faction objected to the slang itself.
In Chinese culture, chrysanthemums traditionally symbolize qualities such as integrity, endurance, reclusion and indifference to worldly status.
They are one of the “Four Gentlemen” of classical Chinese art, alongside plum blossom, orchid and bamboo.
These commenters asked the public to stop using a refined flower as slang for anatomy.
One wrote:
“Please return the chrysanthemum to the chrysanthemum.”
The appeal arrived too late.
The platform had already assigned the entire mountain to the anatomical definition.
Translation Professionals Announce They Are Still Needed
The post also delivered welcome news to human translators.
As automated translation improves, professional translators are frequently told that their work will soon become unnecessary.
This incident demonstrated that software can translate every individual word while still creating an international anus complaint.
One commenter celebrated:
“I knew our translation profession was not finished.”
Another observed that the post proved human translators still had “room to be useful.”
The machines had not failed to generate language.
They had generated far too much meaning.
Creator Learns What He Actually Posted
In the replies, commenters explained the slang to Luigi.
He reportedly responded that a friend had told him the word meant an opening or a flower and that he now understood this was not fully correct.
Technically, the friend’s explanation may have contained fragments of truth.
菊花 does mean chrysanthemum.
It can also euphemistically refer to an anatomical opening.
It does not normally mean a mountain cave.
The creator had received three definitions and used them in the only context where all three became maximally confusing.
Complaint Becomes More Famous Than Destination View
The post accumulated more than 18,000 likes, over 6,000 comments and approximately 12,000 shares.
Its popularity did not come from the mountain photographs alone.
Users shared it because the language created a sentence that no intentional travel writer would have dared construct:
“It did not care about staying clean for my arrival.”
Applied to a scenic cave, this is melodramatic.
Applied to the translated slang meaning, it becomes an accusation of highly specific personal negligence.
The creator wanted a clear photograph.
The platform gave him a viral identity.
Final Corrected Translation
The likely intended message was simple:
“I spent a lot of money and traveled a long way to see Tianmen Cave, but when I arrived, it was obscured by fog. I was disappointed and am still upset.”
This version is understandable.
It is also unlikely to receive 12,000 shares.
The machine-translated version offered more:
- a mountain with an anus;
- an anus with cleanliness obligations;
- an angry Italian-American resembling Homelander;
- millions of miles of travel;
- a national request that foreigners stop using Chinese;
- renewed employment prospects for human translators.
The fog eventually clears.
The translation will remain online forever.