Nation names ??

[deccan]

ywl said:
Tien does sound likes sky or heaven but the right PinYin for that should be Tian. Chi sound like many things but earth... The closest thing I can think of that sounds like Tien Chi is something like the Lake (or Pond) of Heaven. Or the Dynasty of Heaven - if you pronounce Chi in a funny way...

Hmm, closest phonetically is 天气 but I really doubt they wanted the word for weather.

天地 would be meaningful but sounds nowhere close. 天子 meaning "Son of Heaven" might be a good bet.

ywl said:
Non-Chinese might not feel it but it actually feels weird for me to have a general called Lui-Bei under you - imaging having one of your knights called King Arthur...

Worst for me was having an eunuch named "Kwan Yin".

ywl said:
The three immortals are three of the eight mythical figures in legends, or more exactly fairy tales. The pronounciation there is not Pin Yin though.

Good catch, I didn't know that.

Sorry about the formatting. UBB doesn't like Chinese.