One tradition traces the surname to the Ji clan, whose descendants adopted the name of their ancestor Gongsun Qiao (Zichan) of the state of Zheng; another traces it to the descendants of the Spring and Autumn-period Qin official Gaichan.
The surname is included in Xu Tongzhi: Shizu Lue and is said to appear first in Xing Yuan. Xingshi Kaolue records both the Zheng statesman Zichan and the Qin official Gaichan as possible origins.
The ancestral commandery is Pengcheng and the hall name is Dongli Hall, commemorating Dongli, where Zichan lived. Its associated couplet is: “The enduring legacy of Pengcheng; the family renown of Dongli.”
The surname is found in Tianjun, Qinghai; Taiyuan and Yuncheng, Shanxi; Guichi, Anhui; and Lushui, Yunnan, as well as Xintai, Shandong; Huainan, Anhui; Taichung, Taiwan; Beijing; and Wuhan, Hubei.
Chan Defang, born near the end of the Southern Song, was the founding migrant ancestor of the Chan lineage in southwestern Anhui. In the Ming dynasty, Chan Lin served as a principal secretary in the Ministry of War and coauthored Zhengzi Tongzhu with his father, Chan Quan.
The recorded readings include chǎn, sà, and shàn, so a single definitive pronunciation cannot be established.
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