Sharon/Sarah

Sharon, Liu Xu Ming, is from Chongqing, where her father works in the Propaganda Ministry to communicate the Communist Party's policies to the local people. Her mother is a housewife. Sharon dreams of opening her own book store some day. She loves to read and understand the world more deeply. She hopes to pursue graduate school in Hong Kong.

What's in a name? Sharon has changed her English name to Sarah because she is upset with Sharon Stone's comments about the Sichuan earthquake. (Stone, a follower of the Dalai Lama, had said the devastating May earthquake could have been "bad Karma" following the Tibet incident in March). Previously, Sharon had wanted to use the name Sarah, after the "Terminator" character, Sarah Connor, because she was so "pure and resolute". Sarah/Sharon wanted to share those characteristics and she saw that in English Sarah and Sharon meant the same thing. She chose Sharon because the sh sound is similar to the xu sound in her middle name. But now in the wake of the Sharon Stone indicident, she has reverted to her first choice, Sarah.