Chen''
讖
is the Chinese term for '

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...

'. It is also written ''chan'' or, in the

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles () is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade, during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert A. Giles's '' Chinese–English Dictionary'' of ...

transliteration as "''ch'an''": "The ''Ch'an'', couched in enigmatic language, predicted luck and disaster, and constituted

oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

books." These prophecies could derive from a dream, be brought from overseas, be discovered in excavated inscriptions, or be revealed in "an ecstatic trance". These prophetic texts were much used by the emperors.

Chen and the emperors

At the partition of the empire at the end of the Later Han Dynasty, "

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the H ...

... (161–223) in Shu and

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime es ...

... (182–252) in Wu proclaimed their own mandates and, of course, used favorable ''chen'' prophecies ... to serve their own purposes." In the

Liang Dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the South ...

, " Emperor Wu himself quoted prophetic-apocryphal texts". In the

Sui Dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

, ''chen'' texts were promoted by Wang Shao (''fl''. 543–608) : as "imperial historian, Wang repeatedly presented favorable prophetic-apocryphal texts and contemporary ''chen'' prophecies to Emperor Wen ... . The emperor was greatly pleased. Encouraged, Wang collected ... ''chen'' prophecies ... and ''wei'' apocryphal texts, and compiled a ... collection ... . Emperor Wen then had this collection distributed nationwide. As founder of the Sui Dynasty, "When

Yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration pr ...

first enthroned himself, ... he declared that there had been a large number of ... ''chen'' prophecies in his favor.".

Chen as description

These prophetic texts were also officially accepted as descriptions of particular emperors. An official description of Emperor Gao of the Southern Qi Dynasty stated that "His Majesty's name, physical characteristics, as well as the tide, destiny, and the order of succession all correspond with dozens to nearly one hundred ''chen'' prophecies."

Other prophetic texts

Other instances of such prophecy are the ''Wan Nian Ke'' ("10,000 Years' Poem") by

Jiang Ziya Jiang Ziya ( century BC – century BC), also known by several other names, was a Chinese noble who helped kings Wen and Wu of Zhou overthrow the Shang in ancient China. Following their victory at Muye, he continued to serve ...

, composed early in the

Western Zhou dynasty The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong nomad ...

; and the ''Cang Tou'' ("Secret Record")Pure Insight: The Great Chinese Prophecies (20)
/ref> by

Li Chunfeng Li Chunfeng (; 602–670) was a Chinese mathematician, astronomer, historian, and politician who was born in today's Baoji, Shaanxi, during the Sui and Tang dynasties. He was first appointed to the Imperial Astronomy Bureau to help institute a ca ...

, composed during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. In Vietnam, the 15th century scholar

Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm ( Hán tự: 阮秉謙; 1491–1585) was a Vietnamese administrator, confucianist, poet, prophet and later a saint of the Cao Dai religion and of the new religious movement known as School of Teaching Goodness. Bio ...

is famous for writing ''Sấm Trạng Trình'' (讖狀程, The Prophecies of Trạng nguyên Trình), a collection of chens, or ''sấm'' in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

Notes

Work cited

*Zongli Lü, ''Power of The Words : Chen Prophecy in Chinese Politics, AD 265–618'', Peter Lang (2003)

External links

Page from Ch'en Prophecy in Chinese Politics AD 265–618
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen Prophecy Religion in China