Qian, also variously speltCh'ien,Chien,Chin,Tsien, and (from itsWu pronunciation)Zee, is a commonChinese surname. It is particularly common inEastern China, where members of the family ruled fromHangzhou askings ofWuyue in the 10th-centuryinterregnum between theTang andSongdynasties. In 2008, Qian was the 96th most common surname in mainland China, shared by 2.2 million people, with the greatest concentration of Qians being inJiangsu Province.[1]
Thetraditional character for the name錢 is aphono-semantic compound formed by a金 (copper, metal, gold)radical on the left and戔—a character now pronouncedjiān and meaning "to harm", "tiny", or "accumulating" in different contexts but used at the time for its closer pronunciation inOld Chinese—on the right.Jiān itself was anideograph taking its meaning from Chinesedagger-axes (戈,gē) used originally in opposition and later in conjunction. Thesimplified form of the character钱 uses a more stylized钅 on the left and a new glyph戋 on the right that adds an extra line to戈 to indicate its previous duplication.
The name literally means "money" but previously particularly referred to thecash, a low-denomination coin made from copper, bronze, and other base metals that was used inimperial and earlyRepublican China. Less commonly, the word is usedmetonymically for expense, property, value, etc.; for small round discs similar to the coins; and for themace, the smalltraditional unit of mass equivalent to the notional weight of the coins after Tang-era monetary reforms.[2] Still less commonly, it is used for small metal farm tools, particularlyspades[2] (cf.spade money, once common in China under the Zhou).
According tolegends related in theSong-eraTongzhi encyclopedia, the Qian surname supposedly originated from aZhou official named Fu who worked in the royal treasury, then known as theQianfu (錢府, "Money Office"). His descendants adopted the surname from his office and title. The legend further claimed that Fu had been a descendant ofPengzu, a long-lived and extremely virile "marquis" ofDapeng in present-dayJiangsu under theShang, who was himself a descendant ofZhuanxu, one of theFive Emperors of remote antiquity sometimes conflated with theNorth Star and its gods, who was himself reckoned a grandson of theYellow Emperor, theculture hero credited with beginningChinese civilization.[3] Dynasts and residents of Peng, the Qian family were thought to have originally congregated around its capital Xiapi, present-dayPizhou inJiangsu. The surname spread from there but remains most common inJiangnan, the region ofeastern China around theYangtze River Delta andHangzhou Bay.
Fromad907–960,Qian Liu and his descendants ruled the largely independentKingdom of Wuyue during theinterregnum between theTang andSongdynasties. Qian Liu had many, many sons by many wives andconcubines and posted them to prominent positions across different parts of his realm, greatly expanding the prominence of the surname across a territory comprising present-dayZhejiang,Shanghai, southernJiangsu, and northernFujian. Following the submission ofQian Chu to the Song in 978, he and some members of his immediate family were removed to the Song capital Bianjing, nowKaifeng inHenan. Considered loyal and capable, the family remained prominent at the Song court for generations. This period spread the family through central and northern China as well. The Chinese classic list of theHundred Family Surnames was composed under the Song. As the royal dynasty of the successful and loyal realm of Wuyue, Qian placed second in the list only behindZhao, the surname of the imperial Song dynasty itself. Further, almost all the other families in the list's first line—Sun,Zhou,Wu,Zheng, andWang—seem to have been given their placement as the families of Qian Chu's wives in their order of status.[4]
Qian Yunlu (錢運彔/钱运录; born 1944), People's Republic of China politician
Qian Wen-yuan ( (錢文源/钱文源; born 1936–2003)), Chinese-American physicist and historian
Qian Zhengying (錢正英/钱正英; born 1923–2022), hydrologist, People's Republic of China politician
Qian Zhiguang [zh] (錢之光/钱之光; born 1900–1994), Minister of Light Industry and Minister of Textile Industry
Qian Zhijun (錢志君/钱志君; born 1987), actor and subject of the "Little Fatty" internet meme
Qian Zhimin (born 1960) (錢智民/钱智民; born 1960), former President of China National Nuclear Corporation
Qian Zhongshu (錢鍾書/钱锺书; born 1910–1998), scholar and writer
Qian Zhuangfei (錢壯飛/钱壮飞; born 1895–1935), Chinese intelligence agent
Robert Tienwen Chien (錢天問/钱天问; born 1931–1983), American Computer Scientist, University of Illinois Professor, Director of Coordinated Science Laboratory
Ronny Chieng (錢信伊/钱信伊; born 1984/1985), Malaysian Chinese standup comedian and actor
Roger Y. Tsien (錢永健/钱永健; born 1952–2016), biologist, 2008 Nobel Prize winner
Shu Chien (錢煦/钱煦; born 1931), biological scientist and engineer
Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (錢存訓/钱存训; born 1909–2015), sinologist, University of Chicago professor
Qian Min (錢敏/钱敏; born 1927–2019), mathematical physicist, winner of the 11th Hua Luogeng Prize in Mathematics
Joe Z. Tsien (錢卓/钱卓; born 1962), Neuroscientist and geneticist, the pioneer of Cre/lox neurogenetics and the creator of smart mouse Doogie. He is also known for his Theory of Connectivity regarding the basic logic of brain computation and the origin of intelligence.
Chang-Kan Chien (錢昌淦/钱昌淦; born 1904–1940), engineer, builder ofHangzhou bridge, bridges on the Burma Road during WWII. Was killed by Japanese fighter planes during the war.
Qian Kun (錢錕/钱锟; born 1996), singer, member of South Korean groupNCT and its Chinese sub-unitWayV (威神V)
This page lists people with thesurnameQian. If aninternal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change thatlink by adding the person'sgiven name(s) to the link.
