Chinese surname From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"錢" redirects here. For Korean won, see Korean won.
Qian (simplified Chinese:钱; traditional Chinese:錢; pinyin:Qián; Wade–Giles:Ch'ien²; Shanghainese: [ʑ̊i]), also spelt Chin, Chien, Tsien, or Zee in Wu Chinese, is a common Chinese family name. The name literally means "money". Qian is listed at the second place in the Song Dynasty text Hundred Family Surnames, in the line 趙錢孫李 (Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li). As the royal surname of the kingdom of Wuyue, Qian was regarded as second only to Zhao, the imperial surname of the Song. As of 2008, Qian is the 96th most common surname in China, shared by 2.2 million people, with the province with the most people sharing the name being Jiangsu, an area formerly within the Wuyue kingdom.[1]
King Qian Temple, a shrine to the kings of Wuyue in Hangzhou, China. Such shrines were historically commonly found throughout the former territory of Wuyue.
According to the Song dynasty book, Tongzhi, the Qian surname is descended from Zhuanxu, one of the legendary Five Emperors, via Pengzu, the founder of the Peng kingdom in modern-day Jiangsu during the Shang dynasty. A Zhou dynasty official, Fu, was a descendant of Pengzu and served in the royal Treasury, the Qianfu ("Money Office"). His descendants adopted the surname "Qian", literally "money", from his title.
Being descendants of the Peng kingdom, the Qian family originally congregated around Xiapi, in modern-day Jiangsu. The surname spread from there, now has its highest concentration of it in the Jiangnan region. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-960), Qian Liu and his descendants ruled the independent kingdom of Wuyue in south-eastern China. Qian Liu had many sons, who were posted to different parts of his kingdom, greatly increasing the density of the Qian surname within the former territory of Wuyue. This area comprises today's Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Fujian. After Wuyue submitted to the Song Dynasty in 978, the last king moved to Bianjing, the Song capital in modern-day Henan. The Qian family was thereafter prominent at the Song court, with Qian Chu's son, Qian Weiyan, serving as a prominent Chancellor. During this period, the Qian family also spread to northern China.
Pre-modern
Qian Chenqun[zh] (1686–1774), Qing dynasty minister
Robert Tienwen Chien (錢天問) (1931-1983), American Computer Scientist, University of Illinois Professor, Director of Coordinated Science Laboratory
Ronny Chieng (錢信伊), Malaysian Chinese standup comedian and actor
Roger Y. Tsien (錢永健) (1952-2016), biologist, 2008 Nobel Prize winner
Shu Chien (錢煦) (born 1931), biological scientist and engineer
Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (錢存訓) (1909−2015), sinologist, University of Chicago professor
Qian Min (钱敏) (1927–2019), mathematical physicist, winner of the 11th Hua Luogeng Prize in Mathematics
Joe Z. Tsien (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 (1904-1940) Engineer, builder of Hangzhou bridge, bridges on the Burma Road during WWII. Was killed by Japanese fighter planes during the war.
Qian Kun (钱锟) (born 1996) Singer, member of South Korean group NCT and its Chinese sub-unit WayV (威神V)
This page lists people with the surnameQian. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.
