Chen () was a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

founded by Duke Hu of Chen during the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

of ancient China. It existed from c. 1045 BC–479 BC. Its capital was Wanqiu, in present-day Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

province. Chen, the 4th most popular Chinese surname in the world, and members of the Hu clan, the 13th most popular Chinese surname in the world, would claim descent from the Duke Hu of Chen who was in turn descended from the legendary

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun ( zh, c=帝舜, p=Dì Shùn) 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 229 ...

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

and

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

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 ( zh, c=伏羲) is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie syste ...

'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, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

Capital

Its capital was Wanqiu, in present-day Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern

province.

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...

explains that Wanqiu means " hillwith a crater on top surrounded by high walls on all four sides".

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 that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

in 1046/45 BC,

King Wu of Zhou King Wu of Zhou (; died ), personal name Ji Fa, was the founding king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BCE and ended with his death three years later. Ki ...

enfeoffed his son-in-law Gui Man, a descendant of Shun, at Chen, and Man became known as Duke Hu of Chen ( Chen Hugong). Duke Shēn of Chen, 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. 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 many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

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

Achievements and descendants

* The founding duke, formally known as Duke Hu of Chen, is credited with being the originator of the

Hu (surname) Hu (Wikt:胡, 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 dropped to 15th most common surname in mainl ...

and 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 ...

. * The Chen clan would later found the

Chen dynasty The Chen dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Chen (南陳 / 南朝陳) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and the fourth and last of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasties, ...

of China and then the

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: triều Trần, chữ Hán: ikt:朝ikt:陳, 朝wikt:陳, 陳), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a List ...

, a golden age of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

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

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, 1336 – 1407?) 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 ...

overthrew the

and established the

Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡; Vietnamese: ''triều'' ''Hồ'', chữ Hán: wikt:朝, 朝wikt:胡, 胡), officially Đại Ngu (; chữ Hán: 大虞), was a short-lived List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty cons ...

(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), was a Vietnamese monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi. Its early name, Đại Cồ Việt,(ch ...

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 ancient Chinese state, regional state of the Zhou dynasty in History of China#Ancient China, ancient China, whose rulers held Zhou dynasty nobility, titles of ''Hou'' (), then ''Gong (title), Go ...

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 * Tian surname 田姓 * Yu surname 虞姓 * Yao surname 姚姓 * Yuan surname 袁姓

Culture

The Shijing 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 state of Chen 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 Hu of Chen # Duke Shēn of Chen # Duke Xiang of Chen # Duke Xiao of Chen # Duke Shèn of Chen # Duke You of Chen # Duke Xi of Chen # Duke Wu of Chen #

Duke Yi of Chen Duke Yi of Chen (; reigned 780 BC – died 778 BC), personal name Gui Yue, was a duke of the Chen (state), Chen state. Duke Yi succeeded his father Duke Wu of Chen, who died in 781 BC. Duke Yi's reign coincided with that of King You of Zhou, the l ...

# Duke Ping of Chen # Duke Wen of Chen # Duke Huan of Chen # Chen Tuo # Duke Li of Chen # Duke Zhuang of Chen # Duke Xuan of Chen # Duke Mu of Chen # Duke Gong of Chen # Duke Ling of Chen # Xia Zhengshu # Duke Cheng of Chen # 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 , Chen Hugong , 胡公, , 滿 , , 1045—986 , , Ruled for 60 years , , The founder of Chen , - , 2 , Duke Shēn of Chen , 申公, , 犀侯 , , 985—961 , , Ruled for 25 years , , The son of Hugong, - , - , 3 , Duke Xiang of Chen , 相公, , 皋羊 , , 960—939 , , Ruled for 22 years , , The younger brother of Duke Shēn , - , 4 , Duke Xiao of Chen , 孝公, , 突 , , 938—905 , , Ruled for 34 years , , The son of Duke Shēn , - , 5 , Duke Shèn of Chen , 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 , Duke Wu of Chen , 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 , Duke Ping of Chen , 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 , Chen Tuo , - , , 佗, , 707─706 , , Ruled for 8 months , , The younger brother of Duke Huan , - , 14 , Duke Li of Chen , 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 , Duke Xuan of Chen , 宣公, , 杵臼 , , 692—648 , , Ruled for 45 years , , The younger brother of Duke Zhuang , - , 17 , Duke Mu of Chen , 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 Note: the reign lengths of the dukes before Duke You of Chen are derived from conjecture, and are only for reference.

Family tree

See :zh:陈国君主世系图

References

Bibliography

* * *

Reading

* 《史記》卷36：陳杞世家 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 States of the Spring and Autumn period Zhou dynasty 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