Well, a Chinese room can simulate a computer, a computer can run a physics simulation and a brain is a physical thing and brains are conscious. So it's pretty

Well, a Chinese room can simulate a computer, a computer can run a physics simulation and a brain is a physical thing and brains are conscious. So it's pretty open and shut imho; yes, a Chinese room can be conscious. That much is clear. Now what it means to say that something is conscious is another question. I've never seen the word rigorously defined.