Chen () was a state founded by the

Duke Hu of Chen Duke Hu of Chen (; fl. 11th century BC) was the founding monarch of the ancient Chinese state of Chen (陳國), established in modern eastern Henan Province soon after his father-in-law, King Wu of Zhou, founded the Zhou dynasty in 1046/45 BC. ...

during the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

of ancient China. It existed from c. 1045 BC–479 BC. Its capital was

Wanqiu Huaiyang District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Zhoukou in the east of Henan province, People's Republic of China. During the Spring and Autumn period the capital of the state of Chen was located there. The Chinese Ma clique ...

, in present-day

Huaiyang County Huaiyang District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Zhoukou in the east of Henan province, People's Republic of China. During the Spring and Autumn period the capital of the state of Chen was located there. The Chinese Ma cliq ...

in the plains of eastern

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

province. Chen, the 4th most popular surname in the world, and members of the Hu clan would claim descent from the Duke Hu of Chen who was in turn descended from the legendary

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

. At its peak, Chen encompassed fourteen cities in modern-day

and

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

Name

It is written 陳 the same as the Chen surname. In ancient texts, it is sometimes misspelled as 敶, also pronounced Chen.

Territory

Chen was originally from Taihao (太昊、太皞), the capital of

Fuxi Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well ...

's clan.《左傳·昭公十七年》：陈，大皞之虚也 It was south of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

Capital

Its capital was

, in present-day

in the plains of eastern

province.

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...

explains that Wanqiu means " hillwith a crater on top surrounded by high walls on all four sides". Wanqiu features prominently in an eponymous aria in ''

Shijing The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

'' (《

詩經 The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

· 國風》《陳風·宛丘》) :

History

According to tradition, the royal family of Chen were descendants of the legendary sage king

. After the conquest of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

in 1046/45 BC,

King Wu of Zhou King Wu of Zhou () was the first king of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BC and ended three years later in 1043 BC. King Wu's ancestral name was ...

enfeoffed his son-in-law

Gui Man Duke Hu of Chen (; fl. 11th century BC) was the founding monarch of the ancient Chinese state of Chen (陳國), established in modern eastern Henan Province soon after his father-in-law, King Wu of Zhou, founded the Zhou dynasty in 1046/45 BC. ...

, a descendant of Shun, at Chen, and Man became known as

(

Chen Hugong Duke Hu of Chen (; fl. 11th century BC) was the founding monarch of the ancient Chinese state of Chen (陳國), established in modern eastern Henan Province soon after his father-in-law, King Wu of Zhou, founded the Zhou dynasty in 1046/45 BC. ...

Duke Shēn of Chen Duke Shēn of Chen (; reigned 10th century BC) was the second ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Western Zhou dynasty. His given name was Xihou (犀侯), and Shēn was his posthumous name. He succeeded his father Duke Hu of C ...

, son of Hugong then became second duke of Chen. Chen later became an ally state of Chu, fighting as an ally of Chu at the

Battle of Chengpu The Battle of Chengpu took place in 632 BC between the State of Jin and the State of Chu and its allies during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. It was the first great battle in the protracted conflict between the states of th ...

. It was finally unified with the Chu in 479 BC. Many people of Chen then took the name of their former country as their

family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

, and account for the many of Chinese people with the family name Chen today. After the destruction of the old Chu capital at

Ying Ying may refer to: People * Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos * Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...

, Chen became the Chu capital. Kyo

Achievements and descendants

* The founding duke,

, is credited with being the originator of the

Chen (surname) Chen () () is a common Chinese-language surname and one of the most common surnames in Asia. It is the most common surname in Taiwan (2010) and Singapore (2000). Chen is also the most common family name in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Macau, and ...

, now the fourth most popular surname in the world * The Chen clan would later found the Chen Dynasty of China and then the

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty, (Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳）also known as the House of Trần, was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Đại Việt from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded when emperor Trần Thái T ...

, a golden age of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

(陳朝 Tran is the Vietnamese pronunciation of Chen). * In 1400 AD,

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a milit ...

overthrew the

and established the

Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty consisting of the reigns of two monarchs, Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛) in 1400–01 and his second so ...

(Hồ is the Vietnamese pronunciation for "Hu"). He claimed to be a descendant of Chen Hugong and Emperor Shun, and changed the name of Vietnam from

Đại Việt Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), often known as Annam ( vi, An Nam, Chữ Hán: 安南), was a monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day ...

to Đại Ngu (大虞), or Great Ngu (Ngu is the Vietnamese pronunciation for Yu 虞 the legendary state of Emperor Shun). * In ancient times 陳 sounded similar to 東 dong, meaning 'East'. It also sounded similar to 田 tian. After the warring states period, some members of the Chen clan in

Qi (state) Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a state of the Zhou dynasty-era in ancient China, variously reckoned as a march, duchy, and independent kingdom. Its capital was Linzi, located in present-day Shandong. Qi was founded shortly af ...

adopted the surname 田 Tian, which later became popular in Chinese and Japanese surnames. In summary, surnames with descent from Chen include: * Chen surname 陳姓 * Gui surname 妫姓 * Hu surname

胡姓 Hu ( 胡) is a Chinese surname. In 2006, it was the 15th most common surname in China. In 2013, it was the 13th most common in China, with 13.7 million Chinese sharing this surname. In 2019, Hu was the fifteenth most common surname in Mainland Chin ...

* Tian surname 田姓 * Yu surname 虞姓 * Yao surname

姚姓 Yao (), also romanized as Yiu in Cantonese, is one of the most ancient Chinese surnames, the " Eight Great Xings of High Antiquity". It is also unique that, along with Jiang 姜 it is still in common use in the modern day. It is listed 101st in t ...

* Yuan surname

袁姓 Yuan ( 袁, ) is a Chinese surname ranked 37th in China by population in 2019. In Standard Chinese, the surname is transliterated Yuán (hanyu pinyin) or Yüen2" ( Wade-Giles). Other romanizations include Yeu (Shanghainese), Ion ( Chang-Du Gan), ...

Culture

The

has at least 10 songs dedicated to Chen:《宛丘》、《東門之枌》、《衛門》、《東門之池》、《東門之楊》、《墓門》、《防有鵲巢》、《月出》、《株林》、《澤陂》。《詩經·國風》

Rulers

The Chen state lasted nearly 600 years and produced over 25 rulers. In chronological order from first to last (note Hu Gong means Duke of Hu and vice versa): #

Duke Xiang of Chen Duke Xiang of Chen (; reigned 10th century BC), given name Gaoyang (皋羊), was the third ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Western Zhou dynasty. Xiang was his posthumous name. His father Duke Hu of Chen, who married the elde ...

Duke Xiao of Chen Duke Xiao of Chen (; reigned 10th century BC), given name Tu (突), was the fourth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Western Zhou dynasty. Xiao was his posthumous name. He was the grandson of the state's founder Duke Hu of Chen ...

Duke Shèn of Chen Duke Shen of Chen (; died 855 BC), personal name Gui Yurong, was a duke of the Chen state. Duke Shèn succeeded his father Duke Xiao. He died in 855 BC and was succeeded by his son, Ning Ning may refer to: Places * Ning County, county in Gans ...

# Duke You of Chen # Duke Xi of Chen #

Duke Wu of Chen Duke Wu of Chen (; reigned 795 BC – died 781 BC), given name Ling (靈), was the eighth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Western Zhou dynasty. Wu was his posthumous name. Duke Wu succeeded his father Duke Xi of Chen, who d ...

Duke Yi of Chen Duke Yi of Chen (; reigned 780 BC – died 778 BC), given name Yue (說), was the ninth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Western Zhou dynasty. Yi was his posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly ...

Duke Ping of Chen Duke Ping of Chen (; reigned 777 BC – died 755 BC), given name Xie (燮), was the tenth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the transition period from the Western Zhou dynasty to the Spring and Autumn period. Ping was his posthumo ...

# Duke Wen of Chen # Duke Huan of Chen #

Chen Tuo Chen Tuo (; reigned 707 BC – died 706 BC), also known as Chen Ta (陳他) and Wufu (五父), was the thirteenth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen (state), Chen during the early Spring and Autumn period. His given name was Tuo (佗) or ...

Duke Li of Chen Duke Li of Chen (; reigned 706 BC – died 700 BC) was the fourteenth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the early Spring and Autumn period. His ancestral surname was Gui, given name Yue (躍), and Li (厲) was his posthumous name. ...

# Duke Zhuang of Chen #

Duke Xuan of Chen Duke Xuan of Chen (; reigned 692 BC – died 648 BC) was the sixteenth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Spring and Autumn period. His ancestral surname was Gui, given name Chujiu (杵臼), and Xuan (宣) was his posthumous na ...

Duke Mu of Chen Duke Mu of Chen (; born 672 BC, reigned 647 BC – died 632 BC) was the seventeenth ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Chen during the Spring and Autumn period. His ancestral surname was Gui, given name Kuan (款), and Mu (穆) was his posthumo ...

# Duke Gong of Chen # Duke Ling of Chen # Xia Zhengshu #

Duke Cheng of Chen Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...

# Duke Ai of Chen # Prince Liu # Chuan Fengxu # Duke Hui of Chen # Duke Huai of Chen # Duke Min of Chen

Table

{, class="wikitable" style="align: left; margin: 0px" , , - , , Ruler , Title (Chinese) , , Other Name (Chinese) , , Reign (BC) , , Number of years ruling , , Identity , - , 1 ,

, 胡公, , 滿 , , 1045—986 , , Ruled for 60 years , , The founder of Chen , - , 2 ,

, 申公, , 犀侯 , , 985—961 , , Ruled for 25 years , , The son of Hugong, - , - , 3 ,

, 相公, , 皋羊 , , 960—939 , , Ruled for 22 years , , The younger brother of Duke Shēn , - , 4 ,

, 孝公, , 突 , , 938—905 , , Ruled for 34 years , , The son of Duke Shēn , - , 5 ,

, 慎公, , 圉戎 , , 904—855 , , Ruled for 50 years , , The son of Duke Xiao , - , 6 , Duke You of Chen , 幽公, , 寧 , , 854—832 , , Ruled for 23 years , , The son of Duke Shen , - , 7 , Duke Xi of Chen , 僖公, , 孝 , , 831—796 , , Ruled for 36 years , , The son of Duke You , - , 8 ,

, 武公, , 靈 , , 795—781 , , Ruled for 15 years , , The son of Duke Xi , - , 9 ,

, 夷公, , 說 , , 780—778 , , Ruled for 3 years , , The son of Duke Wu , - , 10 ,

, 平公, , 燮 , , 777—755 , , Ruled for 23 years , , The younger brother of Duke Yi , - , 11 , Duke Wen of Chen , 文公, , 圉 , , 754—745 , , Ruled for 10 years , , The son of Duke Ping , - , 12 , Duke Huan of Chen , 桓公, , 鮑 , , 744—707 , , Ruled for 38 years , , The son of Duke Wen , - , 13 ,

, - , , 佗, , 707─706 , , Ruled for 8 months , , The younger brother of Duke Huan , - , 14 ,

, 厲公, , 躍 , , 706─700 , , Ruled for 7 years , , The son of Duke Huan , - , 15 , Duke Zhuang of Chen , 莊公, , 林 , , 699—693 , , Ruled for 7 years , , The son of Duke Li , - , 16 ,

, 宣公, , 杵臼 , , 692—648 , , Ruled for 45 years , , The younger brother of Duke Zhuang , - , 17 ,

, 穆公, , 款 , , 647—632 , , Ruled for 16 years , , The son of Duke Xuan , - , 18 , Duke Gong of Chen , 共公, , 朔 , , 631—614 , , Ruled for 18 years , , The son of Duke Mu , - , 19 , Duke Ling of Chen , 靈公, , 平國 , , 613—599 , , Ruled for 15 years , , The son of Duke Gong , - , 20 , Xia Zhengshu , - , , 徵舒, , 599 , , Ruled for multiple months , , The great-grandson of Duke Xuan , - , 21 , Duke Cheng of Chen , 成公, , 午 , , 598—569 , , Ruled for 30 years , , The son of Duke Ling , - , 22 , Duke Ai of Chen , 哀公, , 弱 , , 568—534 , , Ruled for 35 years , , The son of Duke Cheng , - , 23 , Gongzi Liu , - , , 留, , 534, from March to November , , Ruled for 9 months , , The son of Duke Ai , - , 24 , Chuan Fengxu , - , , 穿封戌, , 533—529 , , Ruled for 5 years , , Advisor of Chu , - , 25 , Duke Hui of Chen , 惠公, , 吳 , , 529—506 , , Ruled for 28 years , , Grandson of Duke Ai , - , 26 , Duke Huai of Chen , 懷公, , 柳 , , 505—502 , , Ruled for 4 years , , Son of Duke Hui , - , 27 , Duke Min of Chen , 湣公, , 越 , , 501—478 , , Ruled for 24 years , , Son of Duke Huai 註1：陳幽公以前的君主在位年，皆為推測所得，僅供參考。

Family tree

See :zh:陈国君主世系图

References

Bibliography

* * *

Reading

* 《史記》卷36：陳杞世家 nowiki/>Shiji.html" ;"title="Shiji.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Shiji">nowiki/>Shiji">Shiji.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Shiji">nowiki/>Shiji/small> * 《春秋左氏傳》(始見於隱公三年) [Spring and Autumn period] {{Zhou dynasty topics Chen (state), Ancient Chinese states Zhou dynasty 11th century BC 11th-century BC establishments in China States and territories established in the 11th century BC 5th-century BC disestablishments in China States and territories disestablished in the 5th century BC