Lived 365–427. The verse is taken from “Ni Wan’ge Ci San Shou” (Three Poems in Imitation of Coffin Bearers’ Songs). (trans.)
Evoking the unusual usernames of members of online communities, this name offers multiple interpretations depending on how its characters are grouped: huā, commonly meaning flower, or to spend, but it has other meanings as well; shēng, meaning to give birth or to produce; existence, life; raw; lái, to come. These can also combine to form other words: huāshēng, peanut; and shēnglái, by birth, innate. The name thus variously connotes: PeanutComes; Pay_Your_Life; flowersprout; Born Flower; etc. (trans.)
Evoking the unusual usernames of members of online communities, this name offers multiple interpretations depending on how its characters are grouped: huā, commonly meaning flower, or to spend, but it has other meanings as well; shēng, meaning to give birth or to produce; existence, life; raw; lái, to come. These can also combine to form other words: huāshēng, peanut; and shēnglái, by birth, innate. The name thus variously connotes: PeanutComes; Pay_Your_Life; flowersprout; Born Flower; etc. (trans.)
In the fable, written in 421, a fisherman discovers a utopian community that has remained hidden from the world for centuries after its members’ forebears fled from civil unrest during the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). (trans.)
A fictional name inspired by the famous fish market in Tokyo, Tsukiji [筑地 in simplified Chinese]. The first character, zhú, meaning to build or construct, has architectural connotations; bō is the character for “waves.” (trans.)
Translated from the Chinese by Andrew Maerkle