| Native Name: | Chinese: 陳國 |
| Conventional Long Name: | State of Chen |
| Common Name: | Chen |
| Government Type: | Monarchy |
| Year Start: | c. 1045 BC |
| Year End: | 479 BC |
| S1: | Chu (state) |
| Event End: | Became capital of Chu |
| Capital: | Wanqiu (宛丘) |
| Pic: | Chen (Chinese characters).svg |
| Piccap: | "Chen" in seal script (top), Traditional (middle), and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters |
| Picsize: | 55px |
| T: | 陳 |
| S: | 陈 |
| P: | Chén |
| W: | Ch'en2 |
| Gr: | Chern |
| J: | Can4 |
| Y: | Chàhn |
| Tl: | Tân |
| Mc: | ɖin |
| Oc-Bs: | *pronounced as /lri[n]/ |
Chen was a state founded by the Duke Hu of Chen during the Zhou dynasty 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 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. At its peak, Chen encompassed fourteen cities in modern-day Henan and Anhui.
It is written 陳 the same as the Chen surname. In ancient texts, it is sometimes misspelled as 敶, also pronounced Chen.[1]
Chen was originally from Taihao (太昊、太皞), the capital of Fuxi's clan.[2] It was south of the Yellow River.[3]
Its capital was Wanqiu, in present-day Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province.[4] [5] [6] Zhu Xi explains that Wanqiu means "[a hill] with a crater on top surrounded by high walls on all four sides".[7]
According to tradition, the royal family of Chen were descendants of the legendary sage king Emperor Shun. After the conquest of the Shang dynasty in 1046/45 BC, King Wu of Zhou 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, 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.
In summary, surnames with descent from Chen include:
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》。[9]
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):
|-||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|Duke Yi of Chen|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 treeSee See also
ReferencesBibliography
. Ngô Sĩ Liên . Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư . Complete Annals of Dai Viet . 1479 . Vietnamese.
. Xi Zhou Shi . zh:西周史 . History of the Western Zhou . Chinese . Yang Kuan . 2003 . Shanghai People's Publishing House . 978-7-208-04538-5. Reading
|