My new favorite passage describing a character is from ch 337 of 2Ha, describing Jiang Xi:
他的打扮永远让人觉得他在说:“我很有钱,欢迎来抢”,但是没有人抢得了他。
His style of dressing always led people to feel he was saying, “I am very rich. You are welcome to rob me,” but no was ever able to rob him.
他那张俊脸上好像也写着:“想睡我吗,我知道你想”,但没有人能睡得了他。
That handsome face of his also seemed to announce “You want to sleep with me. I know you want to,” but no one was ever able to sleep with him.
(Translations are mine. You can tell because they are very bad and don’t convey just how clever this passage is. Translating is hard!)
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How To Name Your Chinese Characters:
1) LAST NAMES:
I’ve pasted the Top 100 common last names in alphabetical order, and bolded the ones that appear in CQL:
B: 白 Bai
C: 蔡 Cai ; 曹 Cao ; 常 Chang ; 曾 Ceng ; 陈 Chen ; 程 Cheng ; 崔 Cui ;
D: 戴 Dai ; 邓 Deng ; 丁 Ding ; 董 Dong ; 杜 Du ;
F: 范 Fan ; 方 Fang ; 冯 Feng ; 付 Fu ;
G: 高 Gao ; 葛 Ge ; 龚 Gong ; 顾 Gu ; 郭 Guo ;
H: 韩 Han ; 何 He ; 贺 He 洪 Hong ; 侯 Hou ; 黄 Hua ; 胡 Hu ;
J: 贾 Jia ; 蒋 Jiang ; 姜 Jiang ; 江 Jiang ; 金 Jin ;
K: 康 Kang ;
L: 赖 Lai ; 李 Li ; 黎 Li ; 廖 Liao ; 梁 Liang ; 林 Lin ; 刘 Liu ; 陆 Lu ; 卢 Lu ; 路 Lu ; 吕 Lü ; 罗 Luo ;
M: 马 Ma ; 麦 Mai ; 毛 Mao ; 孟 Meng ;
N: 倪 Ni ; 牛 Niu ;
P: 潘 Pan ; 彭 Peng ;
Q: 钱 Qian ; 秦 Qin ; 邱 Qiu ;
R:任 Ren ;
S: 邵 Shao ; 沈 Sheng ; 史 Shi ; 石 Shi ; 施 Shi ; 宋 Song ; 苏 Su ; 孙 Sun ;
T: 陶 Tao ; 谭 Tan ; 唐 Tang ; 田 Tian ;
W: 万 Wan ; 王 Wang ; 汪 Wang ; 魏 Wei ; 吴 Wu ;
X: 邢 Xing ; 夏 Xia ; 蕭 Xiao ; 谢 Xie ; 徐 Xu ; 许 Xu ; 薛 Xue ;
Y: 阎 Yan ; 严 Yan ; 杨 Yang ; 姚 Yao ; 叶 Ye ; 余 Yu ; 于 Yu ; 袁 Yuan ;
Z: 张 Zhang ; 赵 Zhao ; 郑 Zheng ; 钟 Zhong ; 周 Zhou ; 朱 Zhu ; 庄 Zhuang ; 邹 Zou ;
Above are all single character last names, but there are some double character Chinese last names, seen below (list not exhaustive):
独孤 Du’Gu ;
公孙 Gong’Sun ;
南宫 Nan’Gong
欧阳 Ou’Yang ;
司马 Si’Ma ; 上官 Shang’Guan ;
宇文 Yu’Wen ;
长孙 Zhang’Sun ; 诸葛 Zhu’GE ;
2) GIVEN NAMES/COURTESY NAMES
《Elements》:
Light*: 光 (guāng) - light, 亮 liàng - bright / shine, 明 (míng) - bright, 曦 (xī) - early dawn, 昀 (yún) - daylight, 昭 (zhāo) - light, clear,照 (zhào) - to shine upon,
Fire: 焰 (yàn) - flames, 烟 (yān) - smoke,炎 (yán) - heat/burn, 烨 (yè) - dazzling light,
Water: also see “weather” OR “bodies of water” under nature; note the words below while are related to water have meanings that mean some kind of virtue: 清 (qīng) - clarity / purity, 澄 (chéng) - clarity/quiet, 澈 (chè) - clear/penetrating, 涟 (lián) - ripple, 漪 (yī) - ripple, 泓 (hóng) - vast water, 湛 (zhàn) - clear/crystal, 露 (lù) - dew, 泠 (líng) - cool, cold, 涛 (tāo) - big wave,泽 (zé),浩 hào - grand/vast (water),涵 (han) - deep submergence / tolerance / educated
Weather: 雨 (yǔ) - rain, 霖 (lín) - downpouring rain, 冰 (bīng) - ice, 雪 (xuě) - snow, 霜 (shuāng) - frost
Wind: 风 (fēng) - wind
* some “Light” words overlap in meaning with words that mean “sun/day”
《Nature》:
Season: 春 (chūn) - spring, 夏 (xià) - summer, 秋 (qíu) - aumtum, 冬 (dōng) - winter
Time of Day: 朝 (zhāo) - early morning / toward, 晨 (chén) - morning / dawn, 晓 (xiǎo) - morning, 旭 (xù) - dawn/rising sun,昼 (zhòu) - day,皖 (wǎn) - late evening,夜 (yè) - night
Star/Sky/Space: 云 (yún) - cloud,天 (tiān) - sky/ heaven,霞 (xiá) - afterglow of a rising or setting sun,月 (yuè) - moon,日 (ri) - day / sun,阳 (yáng) - sun,宇 (yǔ) - space,星 (xīng) - star
Birds: 燕 (yàn) - sparrow, 雁 (yàn) - loon, 莺 (yīng) - oriole, 鸢 (yuān) - kite bird (family Accipitridae),羽 (yǔ) - feather
Creatures: 龙 (lóng) - dragon/imperial
Plants/Flowers:* 兰 (lán) - orchids, 竹 (zhú) - bamboo, 筠 (yún) - tough exterior of bamboos, 萱 (xuān) - day-lily, 松 (sōng) - pine, 叶 (yè) - leaf, 枫 (fēng) - maple, 柏 bó/bǎi - cedar/cypress, 梅 (méi) - plum, 丹 (dān) - peony
Mountains: 山 (shān), 峰 (fēng) - summit, 峥 (zhēng),
Bodies of water: 江 (jiāng) - large river/straits, 河 (hé) - river, 湖 (hú) - lake, 海 (hǎi) - sea, 溪 (xī) - stream, 池 (chí) - pond, 潭 (tán) - larger pond, 洋 (yáng) - ocean
* I didn’t include a lot of flower names because it’s very easy to name a character with flowers that heavily implies she’s a prostitute.
《Virtues》:
Astuteness: 睿 ruì - astute / foresight, 智 (zhi), 慧 (hui), 哲 (zhé) - wise/philosophy,
Educated: 博 (bó) - extensively educated, 墨 (mo) - ink, 诗 (shi) - poetry / literature, 文 (wén) - language / gentle / literary, 学 (xue) - study, 彦 (yàn) - accomplished / knowledgeable, 知 (zhi) - to know, 斌 (bīn) - refined, 赋 (fù) - to be endowed with knowledge
Loyalty: 忠 (zhōng) - loyal, 真 (zhēn) - true
Bravery: 勇 (yǒng) - brave, 杰 (jié) - outstanding, hero
Determination/Perseverance: 毅 (yì) - resolute / brave, 恒 (héng) - everlasting, 衡 (héng) - across, to judge/evaluate,成 (chéng) - to succeed, 志 (zhì) - aspiration / the will
Goodness/Kindness: 嘉 (jiā) - excellent / auspicious,磊 (lěi) - rock / open & honest, 正 (zhèng) - straight / upright / principle,
Elegance: 雅 (yǎ) - elegant, 庄 (zhuāng) - respectful/formal/solemn, 彬 (bīn) - refined / polite,
Handsome: 俊 jùn - handsome/talented
Peace: 宁 (níng) - quietness/to pacify, 安 (ān) - peace, safety
Grandness/Excellence:宏 (hóng) - grand,豪 (háo) - grand, heroic,昊 (hào) - limitless / the vast sky,华 (huá) - magnificent, 赫 (hè) - red/famous/great, 隆 (lóng) - magnificent, 伟 (wěi) - greatness / large,轩 (xuān) - pavilion with a view/high,卓 (zhuó) - outstanding
Female Descriptor/Virtues/Beauty: 婉 (wǎn),惠 (huì), 妮 (nī), 娇 (jiāo), 娥 (é), 婵 (chán) (I didn’t include specific translations for these because they’re all adjectives for women meaning beauty or virtue)
《Descriptors》:
Adverbs: 如 (rú) - as,若 (ruò) - as, alike,宛 (wǎn) - like / as though,
Verbs: 飞 (fēi) - to fly, 顾 (gù) - to think/consider, 怀 (huái) - to miss, to possess, 落(luò) - to fall, to leave behind,梦 (mèng) - to dream, 思 (sī) - to consider / to miss (someone),忆 (yì) - memory, 希 (xī) - yearn / admire
Colours: 红 (hóng) - red, 赤 (chì) - crimson, 黄 (huàng) - yellow, 碧 (bì) - green,青(qīng) - azure,蓝 (lán) - blue, 紫 (zǐ) - violet ,玄 (xuán) - black, 白 (baí) - white
Number:一 (yī), 二 (er) - two, 三 (san) - three, 四 (si) - four, 五 (wu) - five, 六 (liu) - six, 七(qi) - seven, 八 (ba) - eight, 九 (jiu) - nine, 十 (shi) - ten
Direction: 东 (dōng) - east, 西 (xi) - west, 南 (nan) - south, 北 (bei) - north,
Other: 子 (zǐ) - child, 然 (rán) - correct / thusly
《Jade》: *there are SO MANY words that generally mean some kind of jade, bc when ppl put jade in their children’s name they don’t literally mean the rock, it’s used to symbolize purity, goodness, kindness, beauty, virtue etc*
琛 (chen), 瑶 (yao), 玥 (yue), 琪 (qi), 琳 (lin)
《Spirituality》
凡 (fan) - mortality
色 (se) - colour, beauty. In buddhism, “se” symbolizes everything secular
了 (liao) - finished, done, letting go
尘 (chen) - dust, I’m not… versed in buddhism enough to explain “chen”, it’s similar to “se”
悟 (wu) - knowing? Cognition? To understand a higher meaning
无 (wu) - nothing, the void, also part of like “letting go”
戒 (jie) - to “quit”, but not in a bad way. In buddhism, monks are supposed to “quit” their earthly desires.
极 (ji) - greatness, also related to the state of nirvana (? I think?)
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Ch 226
“我余生所求皆在于此,你别想再靠近半步。”
姜曦暴怒:“你余生所求,就是鱼死网破吗?”
(xu shuanglin says) "This is all that I seek in what remains of my life, don't think you can get even a step closer."
Jiang Xi exploded, "Is a life and death struggle what you seek in what remains of your life?"
So it's an intense conversation but I laughed because the words for "remains" and "fish" sound the same. In this case remains is used in place of "what is left of". ( This pun is potentially intentional because the phrase for life and death struggle meatbun used is literally "the fish dies, the net breaks".) Anyway, if we want, we can "hear"/pun this conversation into:
(xu shuanglin says) "This is all that I seek in my life as a fish, don't think you can get even a step closer."
Jiang Xi exploded, "Is a life and death struggle what you seek in your life as a fish?"
And now I'm just imagining Xi Shuanglin as a fish in the middle of a magical array, surrounded by 5 elemental divine weapons, flopping.
Also, cultural note: for the Lunar New Year the reason we serve fish is for this pun. There the idea to have excess every year -- which means you have enough (money, food, etc). And the word for excess in this case is remains -- like to have something left over.
Replacing remaining with fish, the phrase becomes have fish every year.
So for auspiciousness, we eat fish every year! :)
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