Cui (surname)
Cui, alternatively spelled Tsui or Tsway, is one of the 80 most common surnames in China, with around 0.28% of the Chinese population having the surname. It is also one of the most common surnames in Korea, with around 4.7% of the population having the surname in South Korea.
In China, Cui is commonly found in Shandong and Henan, as well as provinces in the northeast and other areas of China, such as Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hebei, Jiangsu, Shanxi, and Jilin. It is romanized as Chui in Hong Kong and Macao, Choi in Macao and Malaysia, Choi in Korean, Thôi in Vietnamese and Tsoi in Cyrillic.
Unrelated to the Chinese surname, Cui was also used by Russian composer César Cui as the romanization of the Russian name Це́зарь Кюи́. In his case, the surname originated as a Russification of the French surname Queuille.
Origin
One origin of the surname came from descendants of someone who originally held the Jiang surname in the state of Qi, founded by Jiang Ziya. A grandson of Jiang Ziya named Jizi, an heir apparent, chose to relinquish his claim to the throne in favour of his brother Shuyi, and went to live in the Cui estate. His descendants later adopted Cui as their surname.During the Tang dynasty the Li family of Zhaojun, the Cui family of Boling, the Cui family of Qinghe, the Lu family of Fanyang, the Zheng family of Xingyang, the Wang family of Taiyuan, and the Li family of Longxi were the seven noble families between whom marriage was banned by law. Moriya Mitsuo wrote a history of the Later Han-Tang period of the Taiyuan Wang. Among the strongest families was the Taiyuan Wang. The prohibition on marriage between the clans issued in 659 by the Gaozong Emperor was flouted by the seven families since a woman of the Boling Cui married a member of the Taiyuan Wang, giving birth to the poet Wang Wei. He was the son of Wang Chulian who in turn was the son of Wang Zhou. The marriages between the families were performed clandestinely after the prohibition was implemented on the seven families by Gaozong. Their status as "Seven Great surnames" became known during Gaozong's rule.
The surname is one of the five surnames, now the most common surnames in Korea, closely associated with the six villages that formed the earliest state of Silla.
Many non-Han Chinese groups adopted the surname Cui. During the Qing dynasty, the Manchu clans Cuigiya Hala and Cuimulu Hala simplified their names to Cui. The Manchu Cuigiya 崔佳氏 clan claimed that a Han Chinese founded their clan. A Mongol clan Cuijuk Hala also adopted this surname during the Qing dynasty. The surname may also be found amongst the Tujia people in Hunan, the Yi (彝) people in Yunnan, as well as the Mongols and Hui (回) people.
List of notable people
Historical
- Cui Yuan (Han dynasty), a minor figure from the Han dynasty
- Cui Yan, an official from late Eastern Han dynasty
- Lady Cui (Cao Wei), a noble woman from the Three Kingdoms period
- Cui Hao, a statesman of the 5th century, Qinghe Cui family
- Cui Renshi, a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
- Cui Dunli, a general and diplomat during the Tang dynasty
- Cui Zhiwen, a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
- Cui Shi, an official of the Tang dynasty, grandson of Cui Renshi
- Cui Cha, a chancellor of the Tang dynasty
- Cui Hao (poet), a poet
- Cui Yuan (705–768), an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang dynasty
- Cui Riyong, an official of the Tang dynasty
- Cui Shenji, a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
- Cui Xuanwei, a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
- Cui Bai, a Song dynasty painter
- Cui Zizhong, a painter during the Ming dynasty
- Cui Yuanzong, chancellor during the Tang dynasty
Contemporary
- Daniel Tsui, Nobel Prize winner in Physics
- Cui Chenxi, Chinese skateboarder
- Cui Daoyi, Chinese literary editor, writer and literary critic
- Cui Daozhi, Chinese forensic scientist
- Cui Guanghao, Chinese football player
- Cui Jian, rock musician known for the hit single "Nothing to My Name"
- Cui Jinming, Chinese basketball player
- Cui Peng, Chinese football player
- Elizabeth Cui, diver from New Zealand
- Victor Cui, ONE Fighting Championship CEO
- Shuguang Cui, American engineer
- Cui Xiaodi, Chinese ski mountaineer
- Cui Xingwu, officer in the army in the Second Sino-Japanese War
- Cui Yajie, Chinese engineer murdered in Singapore
- Cui Yingjie, migrant worker and convicted murderer
- Cui Yongyuan, talk show host
- Cui Yuying, high-ranking propaganda official of Tibetan descent
- Cui Zhide, Chinese race walker
- Cui Zhiyuan, professor at Tsinghua University
- Cui Zi'en, film director and writer
- Jorge Maria Cui, Filipino Secretary General of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines 1975–1980
- Tsui Teh-li, member of the executive board of the Boy Scouts of China, 1980s