Tsuen-hsuin Tsien
| Tsien Tsuen-hsuin | |||||||||||||||||
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| Native name | 錢存訓 | ||||||||||||||||
| Born |
11 January 1910 Taizhou, Jiangsu, Qing Empire |
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| Died | 9 April 2015 (aged 105) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
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| Alma mater |
University of Nanking (B.A.) University of Chicago (M.A., Ph.D.) |
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| Spouse(s) | Hsu Wen-ching (m. 1936; d. 2008) | ||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Scientific career | |||||||||||||||||
| Fields | Chinese bibliography, Library science, history | ||||||||||||||||
| Institutions | University of Chicago (1947–78) | ||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 錢存訓 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 钱存训 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Qián Cúnxùn | ||||||||||||||||
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Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (Chinese: 錢存訓; pinyin: Qián Cúnxùn; 11 January 1910 – 9 April 2015), also known as T.H. Tsien, was a Chinese sinologist and librarian who served as a professor of Chinese literature and library science at the University of Chicago, and was also curator of its East Asian Library from 1949 to 1978. He is known for studies of the history of the Chinese book, Chinese bibliography, paleography, and science and technology, especially the history of paper and printing in China, notably Paper and Printing, Volume 5 Pt 1 of Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China. He is also known for risking his life to smuggle tens of thousands of rare books outside of Japanese-occupied China during World War II.
Tsien was born on January 11, 1910 in Taixian (modern Taizhou), Jiangsu Province, to a prominent family that descended from King Qian Liu, founder of the Wuyue kingdom. He began the memoir of his life by saying "I was born during the reign of the last Emperor of the Imperial Dynasty." His father Qian Weizhen (Chinese: 钱慰贞) was a prominent scholar of Buddhism, and his great grandfather Qian Guisen (Chinese: 钱桂森) was a member of the Hanlin Academy.
Tsien began his education with a private tutor in 1916, and then entered Taixian No. 2 Senior Elementary School. He became active in political agitation when he was a student at Huaidong High School (now Taizhou High School). After graduating in 1925, he joined the "Youth Society" in Taizhou and edited its journal. Due to their political activities, Tsien and his colleagues were arrested by the Jiangsu warlord Sun Chuanfang. His family managed to secure his release, but the principal of Huaidong High School was executed. Unable to remain in Taizhou, he left for Nanking (Nanjing) and never returned to his hometown again. In 1927, he enlisted in the army to take part in the Northern Expedition's military campaign to unite China under the Nationalist government.
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