hsien

American  

[shyuhn] / ʃyʌn /

Pinyin, xian

noun

plural

hsien

1. (in popular Chinese religion) one of a group of benevolent spirits promoting good in the world.

2. (in China) a county or district.

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Etymology

Origin of hsien

First recorded in 1965–70; from Chinese (Wade-Giles) hsien1, (Pinyin) xiān “hermit, wizard”

Example Sentences

Chen Li-fu traveled with speed and silence over south and central China, met with secret party leaders and hsien magistrates, testing the loyal, liquidating the disloyal.

From Time Magazine Archive

Military conquest was to yield swiftly to tutelage; tutelage was to lead, hsien by hsien, into democracy.

From The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I by Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony

Although the family, the hui and the hsien provided self-government, this self-government had to be associated with the scheme of nationalist and national self-government in order to guarantee the latter's effectiveness.

From The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I by Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony

Here we changed soldiers, for this was a hsien town, or district centre.

From A Wayfarer in China Impressions of a trip across West China and Mongolia by Kendall, Elizabeth Kimball

The hsien, or district, was one of the most important social institutions in old China.

From The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I by Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony