Qian Shizhen

Qian Shizhen (Chinese: 錢世楨; 1561–1642) was a Ming dynasty general who participated in the Imjin war. His chosen name is Zhisun, and his nickname was Sanqi. He was the author of "The records of the Eastern Expedition (征東實紀)" and "Comments on archery" (射評).

Qian was born in what is today Shanghai city, the son of a scholar. His father was able to pass several levels in the Ming dynasty Imperial exam, but only served briefly as an administrator before continuing life as a free scholar back home.

Qian was said to have been a brilliant child, with a strong grasp of literature at an early age, yet he also showed strong interest and an uncanny ability for martial skills.

Qian officially decided to pursue the path of a military career instead of an academic one at age 21, (a rather uncommon choice by the standards of the day) and succeeded in passing the military version of the imperial exam in 1589.

By 1592, just prior to the Imjin war, he was a minor officer in charge of 500 men as part of the logistical corp along the Grand Canal.

Qian was promoted to a low ranking general as a result of the Imjin War, and after he arrived at Beijing on his latest logistical run along the Grand Canal he quickly took 1,000 men to Liaodong. Upon arriving at Liaodong, he learned of his mother's death back home, but choose to hide the information from others so he could continue to participate in the war.

Qian along with Wu Weizhong was part of the vanguard of the major Ming expedition in 1593 directed by Song Yingchang and led by Li Rusong.

According to Qian's records, on 1/1 1593 he encountered a small scouting party of Japanese and killed its leader in the ensuing skirmish. In the following days, he was part of the forces that retook PyongYang from the Japanese forces under Konishi Yukinaga. Qian's records complained that although Li Rusong commanded the Ming army to not take any heads during the battle, he realized after the battle that Li's own men and the Northern troops closer to him had basically ignored the order.

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