Anzhu Ling

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Uprooted Bamboo

by Anzhu Ling

There was an old tale from my mother’s hometown of how mudslides had endangered an entire village until locals began planting bamboo on the mountain side. The roots kept the loose soil and mud in place, and thus saved the village from further damage in the following years. This was translated into a poem my grandpa loved, and from which my name is derived: “An” 安 means safe, tranquil. “Zhu” 竹 means bamboo. Like an excerpt from a poem, it’s meant to conjure up an image- for me it’s a sheltered clearing surrounded by tall dense thickets of bamboo.

For the proper English spelling, I’m not sure why my parents chose ‘Anzhu’ when my family immigrated here to the US. By the time we had landed in Albuquerque my first and last name were already set in stone, from passport to attendance sheet. Unfortunately, any meaning a name has in Chinese is atomized when it’s converted to ping-ying so there are very few mentions of my name on the internet, aside from a barren island somewhere in northern Siberia. There could be thousands of people with the same name as mine spelled differently, or vice versa. I haven't come across either case in my life however, and am wondering if there will ever come a day when I meet another “Anzhu”.

My surname ‘Ling’ 凌 means to approach, rise high, or thick ice - but in this case it simply functions as a surname with no meaning. The few articles I’ve found trace it back to the southern provinces of China since most of my ancestors are Hakka people- migrants from northern China who fled south during the civil unrest and wars beginning from the Jin dynasty (266–420 CE) and onwards. In Mandarin they are called “Ke Jia”, which literally translates to "guest families" or "guest people". For the English spelling, “Ling” was the clear choice for accuracy in pronunciation. It should be noted that my surname’s spelling overall is “the transliteration of several different Chinese surnames” (My China Roots), as meaning is lost through translation.

From the first time I set foot in the US until now, I’ve gone through periods where I’ve hated my name: how it’s pronounced, how unashamedly foreign it is, and the dreaded days when substitutes called out attendance. I was in a sense like the mountainous regions of which my ancestors lived: unstable. As I’ve gotten older however, I’ve become proud of the art and culture it holds, the bridge the Chinese characters and English letters form, and the ties it has to my grandpa. In a sense I’ve set down my roots like the bamboo- from New Mexico all the way to Michigan.

Works Cited

“Ling Chinese Last Name Facts.” My China Roots, www.mychinaroots.com/surnames/detail?word=Ling. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024.

“Ling Surname Origins.” My China Roots, www.mychinaroots.com/surnames/detail?word=%E5%87%8C. Accessed 12 Feb. 2024.

“Defining Hakka Identity: From History to Culture and Cuisine.” Asia Society, asiasociety.org/northern-california/defining-hakka-identity-history-culture-and-cuisine. Accessed 11 Feb. 2024.

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