Cui clan of Qinghe

The Cui clan of Qinghe (清河崔氏)^[1][2][3] was an eminent Chinese family of high-ranking government officials and Confucian scholars. The clan's ancestral home was in Qinghe Commandery (清河郡), which covered parts of present-day Shandong and Hebei provinces.

The Cui clans of Boling and Qinghe both traced their ancestry to a common ancestor, Cui Ming, an official who lived in the Spring and Autumn period.^[4]

The first notable member of this clan, according to the New Book of Tang, was Cui Ye (崔業), who held the peerage of Marquis of Donglai (東萊候) during the Han dynasty.^[5]

Cui Lin, a high-ranking official of the Cao Wei state during the Three Kingdoms period, was from the Cui family of Qinghe,^[6] as was his relative Cui Yan, a notable official who served in the administration of the Grand Chancellor Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty.^[7] Cui Yan's niece, Lady Cui, married Cao Zhi, a famous poet and prince of the Cao Wei state. Another member of the clan married Liu Kun, a general and poet of the Jin dynasty.^[8]

The Liu clan of Zhongshan, the Lu clan of Luyang and the Cui clan of Qinghe formed a network.^[9]

The Cui clan of Qinghe expanded its power over many official positions in the Northern Wei dynasty through political marriages, and became one of the four main clans of Northern China at the time.^[10] Cui Hao's family, a cadet branch of the Cui clan of Qinghe, was exterminated during the Northern Wei, but other branches of the clan survived.^[11]

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Cui clan of Qinghe was able to maintain its prosperity by producing a total of 12 statesmen from various branches who served as grand chancellors in the imperial government. Among them was Cui Qun. Around the time of the Sui dynasty, Lady Cui, a daughter of Cui Biao, married a son of Yang Su.^[12]

During the Tang dynasty, the Li clan of Zhao Commandery (趙郡李氏), the Cui clan of Boling, the Cui clan of Qinghe, the Lu clan of Fanyang, the Zheng clan of Xingyang (滎陽鄭氏), the Wang clan of Taiyuan (太原王氏) and the Li clan of Longxi (隴西李氏) were seven families who were legally banned from intermarriages.^[13][14] It is known that the Cui clan of Qinghe intermarried with the Ming clan of Ge County.^[15]

The Cui clan of Qinghe lost their political privilege by the end of the Tang dynasty^[1] and dissolved into different social classes.

Branches

These were the branches of the Cui clan of Qinghe and some of their cadet branches:^[16]

• Eastern ancestry (東祖)
• Western ancestry (西祖)
• Southern ancestry (南祖)
  • Wushui branch (烏水房)
• Senior branch of Qinghe (清河大房)
• Junior branch of Qinghe (清河小房)
• Qingzhou branch of Qinghe (清河青州房)
• Zhengzhou branch of Qinghe (清河鄭州房)
• Xuzhou branch of Qinghe (清河許州房)
  • Yanling branch (鄢陵房)

Prominent members

• Cui Yan (崔琰; 163–216), official who served under Yuan Shao and Cao Cao
• Cui Lin (崔林; d. 245), Cao Wei official who became one of the Three Excellencies

References

1. Nienhauser, William H (2010). Tang Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader. World Scientific. pp. 78. ISBN 9789814287289.
2. Knechtges, David R (2010). Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.I): A Reference Guide, Part One. BRILL. p. 167. ISBN 9789004191273.
3. McBride, Richard D. (2008). Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaŏm Synthesis in Silla Korea. University of Hawaii Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-8248-3087-8.
4. Milburn, Olivia (21 December 2015). The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan. BRILL. p. 91. ISBN 978-90-04-30966-1.
5. Xin Tang Shu vol. 72.
6. de Crespigny, Rafe (28 December 2006). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). BRILL. p. 100. ISBN 978-90-474-1184-0.
7. Luo, Guanzhong (1994). San Guo Yan Yi. Translated by Roberts, Moss. University of California Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-520-22478-0.
8. Chang, Kang-i Sun; Owen, Stephen (2010). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-521-85558-7.
9. Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, Reviews. Coda Press. 2006. p. 43.
10. Zhenguan Zhengyao (貞觀政要) vol. 7.
11. Knechtges, David R.; Chang, Taiping (10 September 2010). Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol. I): A Reference Guide, Part One. BRILL. p. 167. ISBN 978-90-04-19127-3.
12. Ebrey, Patricia (2 September 2003). Women and the Family in Chinese History. Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-134-44293-5.
13. Tackett, Nicolas Olivier (2006), The Transformation of Medieval Chinese Elites (850-1000 C.E.) (PDF), p. 67, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2016-06-18
14. Nienhauser, William H. (2010). Tang Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader. World Scientific. p. 78. ISBN 978-981-4287-28-9.
15. Davis, Timothy M. (16 November 2015). Entombed Epigraphy and Commemorative Culture in Early Medieval China: A Brief History of Early Muzhiming. BRILL. p. 57. ISBN 978-90-04-30642-4.
16. The edited list of chancellors in the New Book of Tang by Zhao Chao (1998) (ISBN 7-101-01392-9).

• https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/6318443 Zhong gu shi jia da zu Qinghe Cui shi yan jiu = Zhong ... - SearchWorks
• http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?5998320 Zhong gu shi jia da zu Qinghe Cui shi yan jiu = Zhong gu shi jia da