鑫, 森, 淼, 焱, ??.
Do you know these characters, especially the last one?
I guess your face might be >_< or ??/p>
How about these: 金, 木, 水, 火, 土?
It’s a piece of cake, right? Even if you are a Chinese beginner, the last row of characters is easy.
When you live in China for some time and make friends with Chinese, it’s not difficult for you to find that the first five words are a common component of Chinese names. My eleven year-old cousin’s nickname is “Triple Gold” (三金 sān jīn) as his name is Xin (鑫 xīn). This word’s structure is rather special: it consists of a triplet of the character 金 (jīn). A college roommate’s name was also Xin. They both carry this second name “Xin” according to the traditional Wu Xing theory.
The Wu Xing, (五行 wŭ xíng) ? also known as the “Five Phases”, the “Five Agents” or the “Five Movements” ? are Wood (木 mù), Fire (火 huǒ), Earth (土 tǔ), Metal (金 jīn) and Water (水 shuǐ).
In Chinese geomancy (divination practices such as Feng Shui), if your destiny lacks either of these five elements, you might want to consider simply adding it, and enhancing your name with these words is a useful method. That’s why the “xin” appears in my cousin and roommate’s names.
The words at the beginning of this article are the triple structures of the five elements: Sen (森 sēn) means forest and is the triplet of Mu (木); Miao (淼 miǎo) has the meaning of “wide expanse of water” and is the triplet of Shui (水); Xin (鑫 xīn) connotes “prosperous or good profit” especially in business as the triplet of Jin (金); Yan (焱 yàn) is a formal usage of “spark” or “flame” and is the triplet of huo (火), and Yao (?? yáo) built up of three tu (土) describes a very high mountain.
Once you understand the meaning and the structure of these words, they are not only as easy as ABC, but with their fortune-enhancing properties also very powerful tools for streamlining those elements in your Chinese name! Hey, it’s your destiny after all.
