Home FAQ Guestbook Gallery Products & Services Search Links

FAQ

1.) Authentic Chinese Names.

An authentic Chinese name is usually 3 Chinese characters, with family name comes first. The following is an order for another customer. I think this would you an idea of the process of creating an unique authentic name.

“English name- Megan Evelyn Soars. Please see the attached image with a list of characters and their meaning for your Authentic Chinese name .
When adopting a Chinese last name, we usually chose a character that sounds closest to your own last name. There are four last names start with the letter S. I am leaving that for you to choose, and see which character you like the best.
Chinese first name is usually 2 characters, therefore we will create a name for you with 2 characters from a list of 14 characters. (However, if you like to keep it short, we can also create a full name with 2 characters.) From the list below, a character might have great meaning by itself, however, when putting it together with another character, it may look or sound odd in Chinese. Therefore, I would like you to choose a few combinations that you like the best from the list. I will then make suggestion from there to find the best authentic name for you.

Here are the characters based on the information you gave us for your name. Some of them are inspired by other facts you provided.

Last name:
A) song4
B) su1
C) sun1
D) shen3

First name:
1.) ya2- elegant, graceful. (Your personal trait.)
2.) ci2- Generous , kind and charitable. (Your personal trait.)
The following “mei”characters fits with your first name Megan, which is usually translated as “Mei-gen” in Chinese. Therefore, I kept the first sound of the name.
3.) mei3- beauty (Your physical trait.)
4.) mei2- rose (Though this character means “Rose”, Chinese also associate this character with your favorite color pink, color red and genialness. )
5.) mei4- charming, attractive (Your physical trait.)
6.) ai4- love (Again, with the first Chinese character for your middle name Evelyn.)
7.) meng4- dream
8.) ming2- bright, brilliant (Your personal trait.)
9.) fang1- fragrant, virtuous, beautiful.
10.) kang1- peaceful, quiet, happy. (Your personal trait.)
11.) min3- sensitive (a personality trait of Scorpio.)
12.) qiu1- Autumn (The season you were born.)
13.) shu1- comfortable (comfortable to be with)
14.) you3- friend, friendly (You are outgoing, therefore, must be very friendly.)

As you can see that the customer and us are in fact working together to create a meaningful name. We make suggestions and offer the knowledge of name choosing. Therefore our naming choosing fee isn’t only paying for the image itself, but also the process of work and time involved.

2.) What is the ordering process?

1. Place Order – go to the order page of the kind of product you wish to purchase
2. Order Confirmation – we will send an e-mail to confirm your order and the amount due
3. Payment – Paypal is preferred but you may pay by check or money order
4. Payment Verification – we will verify your payment by e-mail upon receipt
5. Shipping – order will be shipped within a week of payment (some custom orders may take longer, notification will be sent in these special circumstances)
6. Confirmation of Receipt – we request that you confirm receipt of order by e-mail

3.) What are my payment options?

We accept online payments with Paypal (using your credit card, checking or savings account). We also accept money orders and personal checks. Please wait for conformation before sending your payment.

Ø Credit Cards - We accept credit card through Paypal, which is widely use with more than 30 million members worldwide. It is the number 1 online transaction service provider, which is use with major online business like e-bay, Amazon, etc. PayPal is also the fastest method to receive your order as the payment is usually received in 24 hours. PayPal lets you pay for your order with your credit card or from your bank account. This works for both the U.S, and international customers. Learn more about PayPal

Ø Money Order, International Money Order or Cashier's checks - Please make Checks payable to Hui-Jung Hsieh . Let us know you have selected this option and we will provide you with a mailing address for payment with your order confirmation.

Ø Personal checks - Please make checks payable to Hui-Jung Hsieh. Personal Checks will be delayed 10 business days until bank clearance. Not acceptable for international payments.

Ø Payments made by money orders and personal check, please know that it will take longer for the payment to arrive by mail. You also have the risk of losing payment in mail. As we are not responsible if the money is lost in the mail, it is advised that any funds be sent "registered" or "certified" mail to assure delivery.

4.) Is it safe to use my credit card online?

Yes. According to PayPal’s literature it was the 2002 SIIA Codie Awards winner for "Best eCommerce Solution" and is recognized by PC Magazine as one of "The Top 100 Web Sites." By making payment through Paypal, which is a secure merchant account system that automatically checks your credit card number and deposits the money into our Paypal account. Your credit card and bank account information are stored only in encrypted form on computers that are not connected to the Internet. Paypal will then generate a receipt for your order as a third party. So it's completely secure.

5.) How long will it take to receive my order?

All JPG format e-mail orders are delivered via within 2 days of confirmed payment. The time that would take to receive order is depends on the type of payment. Once the payment confirmed, orders are usually send within a week. Roughly, you would receive your order about 3- 14 days.

6.) Do you take international orders?

Yes, we do. If the orders are not send by e-mail only (jpg images), we just need to check the postage for you. Payment may be made by Paypal from most countries. We also accept international money orders in US dollars.

7.) How are orders shipped?

Most orders are ready to ship within a week from date of payment and may be sent as e-mail only, US post, US Priority Mail, US Express Mail, Global Priority, and Global Express. Alternate shipping methods (UPS, Fedex, etc.) are available with an additional handling fee.

Ø E-mail only - Orders are send as JPG images. This image may be saved to disk and used in a variety of programs. This is good for people who do not need an actual paper copy of the order. There is no shipping cost.

Ø Priority Mail – This is our default shipping method. It is fast and efficient usually arriving within 3-5 days.

Ø Express Mail - If you are in a hurry, we may also send your order with next day delivery (after order processing).

Ø International Mail or Other Special Mailing Instructions - We will contact you regarding cost.

8.) How are names translated?

Authentic naming is available in which names are given in a similar fashion to naming in China. However most English names are translated phonetically (transliteration) by the sound of each syllable. Generally, each English syllable will be transliterated into one Chinese character. For example, Matthew is two syllables and therefore two characters. Often non-Chinese name are translated by pronunciation alone, which means finding characters that sounds similar to the name. This is why you can sometimes see different translations for the same name. For this reason, many non-Chinese names rarely have much meaning when looking at the characters alone. However, we will provide you with a translation that not only represent the name, but also uses meaningful characters. For more on Chinese names see this page from Zhongwen.com with information on how foreign words and names are imported into Chinese

9.) How do I know if what I am getting is accurate?

The artist is a native speaker of Mandarin from Taiwan trained in Kai Shu style calligraphy by Master Yu Tian-Hsu. Additionally, she learned English at a young age and has lived in the US for a number of years. She has had over five years of experience translating names, phrases, poems and documents for her online customers.

10.) Is Chinese read vertically or horizontally?

Traditionally Chinese was written vertically and read from right-to-left. However, today it can be read either vertically or horizontally, right-to-left or even left-to-right.

11.) What will my order look like?

There are several options for receiving the calligraphy that will determine what it looks like. E-mail orders have several options for the style of calligraphy. These are rendered as high quality JPG images (scanned from original works) and may be used in a variety of applications (for business use see below). Brushed calligraphy are made by hand thus no two orders will be exactly the same. Other services, such as iron-on transfers, greeting cards, rubber-stamps, etc. may use either hand brushed calligraphy or computer images. See more on these option on the Products Overview page and in the WebGallery.

12.) What is the red symbol/stamp on the calligraphy?

The red symbol/stamp is the artist’s (Hui-Jung Hsieh) name seal. It used as her signature. You can learn more about name seals and seal carving at these links:

· CityTango – Seal Carving

· The Chinese Art of Seal Carvings

13.)What’s personal use or business use?

There’s a different rate for personal use or business use. All calligraphy orders are intended for personal use unless otherwise stated. Personal use may be any non-commercial, non-profit purposes including as gifts, personal website use, personal letterhead, personal tattoos (note we sell a flipbook of Chinese characters for tattoo shops), wall hangings, personal presentations, etc. All the orders are all right reserved.

For promotional or marking purposes, the images are used over again and again for making profit. Therefore, the price difference is giving the license of copyrights to use the images multiple times. For example, using the images for publishing books, magazines, newspapers, promotional/marketing materials, manufactured goods, commercial websites, etc. We do give our customers an additional discount for giving us credit on the materials and linking back to our site.