Ming yun is a concept of the personal life and destiny in the Chinese folk religion.[1] Ming means 'life', 'right', or 'destiny', and yun means 'circumstance' or 'individual choice'. Mìng is given and influenced by Tian 'heaven', akin to the Mandate of Heaven of monarchs as identified by Mencius.[2] Ming yun is thus perceived as being both fixed, flexible, and open-ended.[3]