Chinese Name

I have a new Chinese name. It is 巫明. My Chinese office manager says it means 'necromancer.' 巫 (Wu) by itself refers to shamanism and sorcery, and is also a traditional surname. 明 (Ming) means clear, bright, to understand. I like it because it reminds me of 昆明 (Kunming), the city where I first got to know China. Wu Ming can also be written 无名, which literally means 'no name.'

My old Chinese name was 黑太阳 (hei taiyang), 'Black Sun.' I picked it out for my Chinese class in Yunnan because I had a dream that that was my name. Hei is not a real family name and the phrase 'black sun' connotes the Japanese occupation of China for older generations, so I had to scrap it and go with 巫明 for my business card. I liked Hei Taiyang and was kind of bummed to have to get a new one, which is why I chose no name.

Posted via email from Megalopoli