Chapter 54 5. Wu Mi

Wu Mi's original name was Wu Yuheng, and his childhood name was Baldy. "Yuheng" is one of the Big Dipper.Because Wu Mi was weak since he was a child, in 1901, his grandmother invited Wu Mi's uncle, the poet Chen Bolan, to change his grandson's name to get rid of the bad luck and strengthen his health.I don't know if he was confused after drinking, so Chen Bolan wrote the word "Tuoman" with a brush. From then on, Wu Yuheng became Wu Tuoman. The name "Wu Mi" was chosen by Wu Mi himself when he applied for Tsinghua University in 1910.At that time, he flipped through the "Kangxi Dictionary", closed his eyes and pointed, and got the word "Mi", so he called himself "Wu Mi". In the spring of 1912, Tsinghua School was temporarily suspended due to the fall of the Qing government and the restructuring of the Republic of China. Wu Mi transferred to Shanghai St. John's University to study.At that time, some students of St. John's laughed at Wu Tuoman as a "countryman" in the north. They took advantage of Wu Tuoman's recess to go out and wrote the words "confused men" (homophone Wu Tuoman) on the blackboard.From then on, Wu Mi decided to use "Wu Mi" instead of "Wu Tuoman" when making speeches.

After the news of Wu Mi being mocked by his classmates spread, in one day's Chinese language test class, Mr. Pang, the Chinese language teacher, proposed to change the name of "Wu Tuoman".Mr. Pang asked, does the word "Tuoman" come from "Mandala"?Wu Mi replied, yes.Mr. Pang said, "Mandala" comes from the Buddhist scriptures and is a transliteration of a noun, referring to "red lotus". The word "Manduo" must not be reversed.After all, Mr. Pang changed "Wu Tuoman" to "Wu Mantuo" on the test paper.In class, Wu Tuoman did not veto the teacher's suggestion, but nodded in agreement.But his name was ordered by his grandmother, chosen by his uncle, and with the consent of the whole family. His siblings are all ranked with the word "Man", so how dare he change it easily?Therefore, in the following years, no matter where Wu Mi went, he always told people that his original name was "Wu Tuoman".

While studying at Harvard University, Wu Mi met Chen Yinke.Chen told Wu Mi that "Mandara" was originally a transliteration of a Sanskrit noun. The name "Tuoman" really doesn't make sense. Wu Mi's word "Rain Monk" is widely believed to come from Jiang Jie's melancholy and touching "Yu Meiren·Listening to the Rain": "Now listening to the rain monk's hut, there are already stars on the temples!".