Pursuit of Jade Chinese Name & Character Names Explained: What 逐玉, 樊长玉 and 谢征 Really Mean

Quick answer: Pursuit of Jade's Chinese name is 逐玉 (Zhú Yù) — literally "chasing jade." The English title is a fair translation but loses the drama's central pun: the heroine is named 樊长玉 (Fán Chángyù), and the last character of her name is 玉, jade. The title isn't only about a precious stone or a moral ideal. It names her. Every faction in the drama is, in some sense, pursuing Fan Changyu — for her bloodline, her usefulness, or her hand — and the title says so in two characters.

Below: what each major character's name means, and why several of them are jokes at their owner's expense.

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逐玉 (Zhú Yù) — the title

逐 (zhú) is a hard verb. Not "seek" or "admire" — to chase, to pursue, to drive after. It's the 逐 of 追逐 (chasing) and 角逐 (contending for). There is effort and rivalry baked into it.

玉 (yù) is jade — which in Chinese carries a moral weight the English word simply doesn't have. Jade stands for integrity, incorruptibility, and the cultivated person. (We took that apart properly in Why Jade Symbolism Matters.)

So 逐玉 reads three ways at once, all of them intended:

1. Chasing the stone — the literal treasure-and-power plot
2. Chasing virtue — Xie Zheng pursuing a clean name for his family
3. Chasing Changyu — the woman whose name ends in 玉

English can carry the first two. It cannot carry the third, which is why the Chinese title is better.

樊长玉 (Fán Chángyù) — the butcher's daughter

• 樊 (Fán) — the surname. Note the character: 樊, not the more common 范. Worth knowing if you're searching Chinese sources.
• 长 (cháng) — long, lasting, enduring. Read as zhǎng it means "to grow."
• 玉 (yù) — jade.

"Enduring jade," or "jade that grows."

For a girl raised in hiding as a butcher's daughter, being named for the stone that signifies nobility of character is either a cruel joke or a promise, and the drama plays it as a promise. She is jade the whole time — the world just has her filed under meat.

The double reading of 长 is doing real work. Cháng (lasting) describes what she is; zhǎng (growing) describes what she does across forty episodes, ending as the Flower-Crowned General (簪花将军, zān huā jiāng jūn).

谢征 (Xiè Zhēng) — the marquis

• 谢 (Xiè) — the surname. As an ordinary word it means "to thank" and also "to wither" — a fallen noble house carrying a surname that can mean decline is not an accident.
• 征 (zhēng) — to campaign, to march on, to levy. A purely military character: 出征 (to set out on campaign), 远征 (expedition).

His name is essentially "the campaign." He is defined by the war he is waging, and he spends sixteen years as a refugee under the alias 颜征 (Yán Zhēng) — swapping only the surname, keeping 征. He'll give up his family name to survive. He will not give up the campaign.

樊大贵 (Fán Dàguì) — the father

大贵 means "great nobility" or "greatly honored." He is a pig butcher in a provincial town.

The joke lands only after the reveal: he is the son of General Wei Qilin, and he traded a genuinely noble lineage for an apron and a cleaver to keep his daughters alive. The name isn't ironic. It's accurate, and only the audience is in on it.

魏麒麟 (Wèi Qílín) — the executed general

The most loaded name in the drama.

麒麟 is the qilin — the benevolent composite beast of Chinese myth, often called the "Chinese unicorn." What matters is what the qilin signifies: it is an omen-beast whose appearance marks the birth or death of a sage. It is famously gentle — legend says it walks without crushing a blade of grass. And it punishes only the wicked. (Full entry on the qilin →)

Naming the framed, scapegoated, executed general Wei Qilin is the single sharpest piece of writing in the show. A creature that harms only the wicked, destroyed by the state as a traitor. The name is the verdict on the regime, embedded in a character who is dead before episode 1.

长信王 (Chángxìn Wáng) — Prince Changxin

长信 means "lasting trust" or "enduring faith." He is a rebel prince who raises an army against the throne and promises to share power with collaborators he has no intention of honoring.

Chinese period dramas do this constantly — princely titles are aspirational or propagandistic, not descriptive, exactly as real imperial regnal names were. Reading a prince's title as a claim rather than a fact is a useful habit. (Who is Prince Changxin? →)

The rest, quickly

Name	Characters	Meaning	Note
Wei Yan	魏严	严 = stern, severe, strict	The apparent architect; named for exactly the quality he weaponizes
Qi Yi	齐屹	屹 = towering, standing firm	The late Emperor and true first mover — immovable, and the source of everything
Jinzhou	锦州	锦 = brocade, fine silk	The massacre site, named for luxury fabric
Great Yin	大殷	The drama's fictional dynasty	See what period it's set in

Frequently asked

What is Pursuit of Jade's Chinese name? 逐玉 (Zhú Yù), literally "chasing jade."

Is it 逐玉 or 追玉? 逐玉. 追玉 circulates in some English listings but is not the drama's title.

What does Fan Changyu's name mean? 樊长玉 — "enduring jade" or "growing jade." The 玉 in her name is the jade of the title.

Is the drama's title about the heroine? Partly, yes — deliberately. It works simultaneously as the treasure plot, the moral ideal, and her name.

What does Xie Zheng's name mean? 谢征 — 征 means "to campaign/march." His refugee alias 颜征 changes the surname but keeps 征.

Why is Wei Qilin named after a mythical beast? 麒麟 (qilin) is an omen-beast that punishes only the wicked. Naming the wrongly executed general after it is the drama's judgment on the throne that killed him.

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More on Pursuit of Jade:

• Why Jade Symbolism Matters in Chinese Culture
• Family Tree & Character Relationships
• Who Is Prince Changxin? The Villain Layers Explained
• Ending Explained: Is It a Happy or Sad Ending?
• What Time Period Is It Set In?