Chen Han (; 1360–1364), officially the Great Han (), was a short-lived Chinese dynasty in the middle

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flow ...

region during the chaotic late

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongols, Mongol-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Division of the M ...

. It was founded by the Red Turban rebel general Chen Youliang.

History

Chen Youliang first dominated, and later assassinated the Red Turban leader Xu Shouhui and usurped his regional regime. At its height, Chen Han territory encompassed the modern provinces of

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into h ...

, and

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

, but Jiangxi mostly fell to another warlord Zhu Yuanzhang in 1361. In 1363, Chen and Zhu fought in the decisive Battle of Lake Poyang, where Chen was killed. His teenaged son Chen Li succeeded him, but no longer had the resources to resist the powerful Zhu, who conquered Han the next year. Chen Li surrendered to Zhu and the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. Chen then moved to

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unifica ...

(Korea), where he had children and became the progenitor of the Korean Yangsan Jin clan.

Genealogy

* Some Chinese and Vietnamese records indicate that Chen Youliang was the son of Chen Yiji (陳益稷 or Trần Ích Tắc), a

noble who was originally a leader of the Tran Dynasty.《大越史記全書》本紀卷之七：“甲午（紹豐）十四年元至正十四年春二月，北邊帥臣驛奏，元陳友諒起兵，遣使來乞和親友諒，陳益稷子。”、“辛丑（大治）四年元至正二十一年二月，明太祖攻江州。陳友諒退居武昌，使人來乞師，不許。” * It is currently unclear what the relation between Chen Pucai and Chen Yiji is, or whether they are in fact the same person.

References

Former countries in Chinese history Transition from Yuan to Ming {{China-hist-stub