The surname and its history

Grand Preceptor of Chu

The eleventh generation from Ji Sun. He began as a senior officer; when King Mu of Chu put the crown prince in his charge he rose to Grand Preceptor, governing the affairs of the state at a rank equivalent to chancellor. Chu was well governed while he held power.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 84

General of the Right Guard, Chu

A celebrated general of Chu. He outshot a renowned archer in a contest, to the admiration of Chu's commanders. In the battle between Jin and Chu he carried the King of Chu out of the melee, and was afterwards enfeoffed as General of the Right Guard.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 84

Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, Jin

The gifted man of letters of the Jin, and the fortieth generation from Ji Sun. His grandfather Pan Jin was prefect of Anping and his father Pan Kun administrator of Langya. Known from boyhood for the quickness of his mind, handsome and an exceptional writer, diligent in office: first magistrate of Heyang, where his record was outstanding, and later Gentleman of the Yellow Gate. He was also called An — which is why “as handsome as Pan An” has meant a beautiful man ever since.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 85

Chamberlain for Ceremonials, Duke of Anguo

Chamberlain for Ceremonials under the Jin, and son of Pan Man, administrator of Pingyuan. Gifted from a young age, he pleaded illness and would not serve when Wang Lun usurped the throne. The Qi king later made him an adjutant and enfeoffed him as Duke of Anguo. He wrote the Discourse on Settling Oneself.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 85

Duke of Han, posthumously Prince of Zheng

A founding commander of the Northern Song, who won his campaigns for Emperor Taizu: the conquest of Southern Han, the pacification of Lingbiao, the taking of Chengdu, the settling of Jiangnan, the breaking of the Liao army. He was enfeoffed Duke of Dai, then Duke of Han, and posthumously titled Prince of Zheng.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 85

Grand Master of the Golden Seal, Northern Song

Eldest son of Pan You, Grand Preceptor of the Southern Tang. When Emperor Taizu of Song pacified Jiangnan he honoured the loyalty of Pan You's family and gave Pan Wenhuan high office, later raising him to Grand Master of the Golden Seal. He resigned and retired to southern Fujian, and is the ancestor of the Phua name in Fujian: his descendants spread throughout southern Fujian and, in time, across the South Seas.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 85

Grand Master of the Silver Seal, Northern Song

Second son of Pan You. Pan You was condemned and put to death for remonstrating against the last ruler of the Southern Tang over his excesses; after Emperor Taizu of Song pacified Jiangnan he honoured the family's loyalty, and where the elder son was given high office the second was made Grand Master of the Silver Seal. Pan Wenzhen served under the emperors Taizong and Zhenzong, then retired to southern Fujian and gave himself to literature.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 86

Grand Academician of the Song

Son of Pan Congyuan, an education officer of Jizhou. A prodigy in childhood, he took first place in the imperial examination while still young and was famous for it. He served first as a commissioner in Guangdong, rose to Grand Academician of the Palace Library, and settled in Fujian in later life. Wen Tianxiang, chancellor at the end of the Southern Song, wrote in his praise.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 86

Minister of War, Southern Song

A descendant of Pan Tong. His father Pan Yi had escorted the emperor in flight to Guangdong. Made Minister of War, he raised troops again and again in the dynasty's defence and failed. Hearing in the south that the Mongols held most of the empire and that the Song was finished, he refused food and died of it. A century later a Ming emperor gave him the posthumous title Loyal and Steadfast.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 86

Minister of War, Justice and Works, Ming

A graduate of the imperial examination in the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing, he served as censor and touring inspector before rising to Minister of Works. When the Yellow River flooded he was put in charge of controlling it, brought the waters under control, and set down what he had learned in A Survey of River Defence for those who came after. He held the ministries of War and of Justice as well.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 86

Ming writer and critic of the theatre

From Shexian, in what is now Anhui. He rose to Secretariat Drafter in the Jiajing reign, studied under the scholars Wang Daokun and Wang Shizhen, and was close to the playwrights Tang Xianzu and Shen Jing and to many actors of the day. He edited the collection Zaju of the Flourishing Ming, wrote criticism of the theatre, and left a book of poems.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Philosopher of the Ming–Qing transition

From Cixi in Zhejiang. He lived when Neo-Confucianism held the field and had the nerve to argue against all of it, criticising Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi, Wang Shouren and Lu Jiuyuan alike on the ground that their teaching did not answer to Confucius and Mencius. He held that truth is to be sought in ordinary practice, and that from the Son of Heaven down to the commoner all are one and equal — a bold thing to say in an age when the throne was beyond question.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Scholar of the Ming–Qing transition

From Wujiang in Jiangnan, now part of Jiangsu. After the Ming fell he lived in retirement and would not take office. He wrote Variant Readings in the National History and, on the model of the Records of the Grand Historian, a Record of Ming History — which so angered the Qing court that he was put to death for it.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Qing poet and critic

Also known as Sinong, from Shanyang in Jiangsu, now Huai'an. He passed the provincial examination in the Daoguang reign and served as a county magistrate in waiting. A poet, whose criticism rested on the Confucian idea of poetry as instruction.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Physician and Confucian scholar, Qing

His family came from Henan and settled in Hangzhou when he was a child, fleeing banditry. He lost his father at four and was raised by his mother, a widely read woman and an accomplished physician — a rare thing for a woman of that time. Trained by her, he practised in Hangzhou, giving treatment and medicine freely, and was known well beyond the city as one of the great physicians of late-Qing Zhejiang.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Peking opera actor and revolutionary

From Ganquan in Jiangsu, known early by the stage name Xiao Liansheng. He trained in bangzi opera before turning to the older male roles in Peking opera, where his acting rather than his singing was admired, and played for years in Shanghai. He staged new works, joined the anti-Qing underground, and fought in the assault on the Jiangnan Arsenal during the 1911 revolution. He held military posts from 1912, was proscribed for opposing Yuan Shikai, and in the end left the army and returned to the stage.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Painter and teacher of painting

From Ninghai in Zhejiang. He painted and taught painting for most of his life, and trained many of the notable Chinese painters of his century. After 1949 he was vice-chairman of the China Artists Association and president of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. He painted birds, flowers and landscapes in the free style, bringing poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal-carving together into a manner of his own, and wrote on the history and theory of painting.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87

Modern poet

Also called Xun, and Kaiyao, from Xuanping in Zhejiang, now Wuyi. He began writing in 1920 and published with Ying Xiuren and others the collections Lakeside and Songs of Spring, which is why he is counted among the Lakeside Poets; later he turned to fiction. His work is about life as it was lived, the darkness in society, and the voice of people who had none. He joined the Communist Party in 1927 and headed its propaganda department in Tianjin. Arrested in December 1933, he died a year later on hunger strike in prison.

40th-anniversary booklet (1996), p. 87