As a start, I would like to clarify some things with a lot of people.....especially my friendsss. My family name is Chan and a lot of people eventually thought it's pronounced as "Chen", "Chun" or "Chan", written as 陳. Now, this is where everyone have made a mistake...."BIG MISTAKE".......(well, not really anyway)
- First to clarify: I'm not a Cantonese (where it's spelt as Chan) and I'm not a Teochew (where it's spelt as Tan). I'm a Chawan. Now, don't ask me what is that or where does Chawan people come from. Frankly speaking, I have nooooo ideaaaaa. I don't even know how to speak! I think Chawan is a kind of Hokkien. That's all!
- Secondly, surname is spelt 'Chan', pronounced as "Tian", "Tien" or "Tin", written as 田 (meaning field in Chinese).
Now folks, I present to you the origin of my surname......
It's the 57th most common last name in China. They are the descendents of ancient king Shun Di. Among them Wu Gongman, or Chen Wu Gongman was awarded the duke of Chen (at Weiyang in Henan). During duke Chen Heng Gongs time, there was a rebellion, and Heng Gong was killed. His brother Chen Tuo succeeded him as duke, known as Li Gong. Unfortunately, another rebellion soon followed, killing Li Gong. His son Chen Yuan fled to Qi kingdom. The duke of Qi wanted to make Chan Yuan a judge in his kingdom, but Chen Yuan rejected, and accepted a position as a supervisor of the carpenters. The duke of Qi awarded a piece of land to Chen Yuan and he later changed his name to Tian (meaning field). Some historians believe that he changed his name because the ancient pronunciation of Chen and Tian were the same. Others believe that the land that was awarded to him was an agricultural field, or a land that looked like a field.
It's a bit boring but I get to clarify now that my name is pronounced as 'Tian' and please don't get it wrong again...It's actually quite hard to correct people all the time.
Thank you thank you for those people who is willing to listen to me.
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