A while back, I signed my name in my email to one of my friends, which he returned with questions, “When did you change your name? And if so, why not to change to an English name rather than another Chinese name?” Puzzled, I replied with my question, “What do you see is my name now?”
It turned out that the misunderstanding on my name since my birth caused the confusion. My official given name on my registration card was Jing while everyone including my family, teachers, friends and myself has been calling me Qing due to the similarities of the two Chinese characters. I wrote Qing in Chinese and Jing in English spelling when applying for my Chinese passport and was rejected and had to reapply. As funny as it is, every Chinese I know, in both
