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'Qian Xuantong' (, 1887—January 17 1939) was a Chinese phonetician who promoted vernacular Chinese. Born as 'Qian Xia' (钱夏), his courtesy name was 'Deqian' (德潜).
Qian was born in Huzhou湖州, Zhejiang. He held the position as a professor in numerous universities. He proposed the eradication of Chinese characters. He was a strong supporter of Esperanto; at times he even proposed the substitution of Chinese by it, the concept of simplified Chinese and standardization of Chinese pronunciation.
His son Qian Sanqiang was a nuclear physicist who contributed to development of nuclear weapons in China. His grandson is a professor teaching at Peking University.