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Cen (surname)

Cen is the Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname written in Chinese character. It is romanized Ts'en in Wade–Giles, and variously as Sam, Sum, Sham, Shum in Cantonese, Gim, Khim, Chim in Taiwanese Hokkien and Chen in other pinyin forms. Cen is listed 67th in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames. As of 2008, it is the 235th most common surname in China, shared by 340,000 people. Cen is considered a rare surname. A person with a rare surname like Cen may be able to trace his or her origins to a single ancestral area.

Notable people

Cen clan of Guangxi

In Imperial China, large parts of Guangxi and Guizhou were ruled by the local tusis of the Cen clan, such as Tianzhou and the Sicheng native prefecture (Sicheng tufu). The Cens are ethnic Zhuang, but how and when they became Zhuang is unclear. Genealogies from the Ming and Qing dynasties state that their founding ancestor was Cen Zhongshu, the Song general from Zhejiang.

Prominent members include:

  • Cen Zhongshu (; 1015–1077). Song dynasty general
  • Cen Shumuhan (; circa 1340), aka: Cen Numuhan. In 1340, he was granted hereditary control over the Sicheng region in Guangxi by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty Emperor Toghon Temür. He was given the title of Khan. In Chinese he was known as and used the word Han (汗) which is a derivative of the word Khan, which means "Supreme Ruler" of his territory. He had a younger brother named Cen Tiemur ().
  • Cen Boyan (; circa 1368), aka: Cen Bayan (岑百眼) or Cen Baiyan (岑百眼). He was known as and used the given name of the famous Mongolian generals named Bayan. In 1368, he surrendered to the advancing forces of the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, and as a route commander his command was changed to a prefecture and he was granted a seal and appointed a Tianzhou Prefectural Magistrate.
  • Cen Tianbao (; circa 1368). In 1368, he surrendered to the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, and was made the Prefect of Tianzhou, Guangxi. He and the Cen clan had ancestors with Mongolian-style names due to their closed military, economic, social, and political ties with them
  • Cen Meng (; 1496–1527). Chief of Tianzhou, Guangxi. Raised 100,000 man army of Han, Tang and Zhuang to defend area against Ming army colonization of Southern China.
  • Cen Yidong (?–1789), Qing dynasty tusi of Tianzhou, Guangxi
  • Cen Chunxuan (1861–1933), Qing dynasty Viceroy of Liangguang
  • Cen Deguang (1897–1945), politician of the Wang Jingwei regime, son of Cen Chunxuan

References

External links