Chen (state)

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State of Chen 陳國
c. 1045 BC–479 BC
Capital	Wanqiu (宛丘)
Government	Monarchy
History
• Established	c. 1045 BC
• Became capital of Chu	479 BC
Succeeded by Chu (state)

Chen
"Chen" in seal script (top), Traditional (middle), and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	陳
Simplified Chinese	陈
showTranscriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chén Gwoyeu Romatzyh Chern Wade–Giles Ch'en2 IPA [ʈʂʰə̌n] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Chàhn Jyutping Can4 Southern Min Tâi-lô Tân Middle Chinese Middle Chinese ɖin Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *lri[n]

Chen (Chinese: 陈国; Chinese: 陳國; pinyin: Chen Guo) was a state founded by the Duke Hu of Chen during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. It flourished 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 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. At its peak, Chen encompassed fourteen cities in modern-day Henan and Anhui.

Name[]

It is written 陈 the same as the Chen surname. In ancient texts, it is sometimes misspelled as 敶, also pronounced Chen.^[1]

Territory[]

Chen was originally from Taihao (太昊、太皞), the capital of Fuxi's clan.^[2] It was south of the Yellow River.^[2][3]

Capital[]

Chen territory (east China)

Its capital was Wanqiu, in present-day Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province.^[4][5][6]

The Shijing (《詩經·》《陳風·宛丘》) recorded the following about the Chen capital [to be translated]:^[7][8]

子之湯兮，宛丘之上兮。洵有情兮，而無望兮。
坎其擊鼓，宛丘之下。無冬無夏，值其鷺羽。
坎其擊缶，宛丘之道。無冬無夏，值其鷺翿。
《詩經·國風·陳風·宛丘》

History[]

This section needs expansion with: See Chinese article. You can help by . (July 2020)

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).^[9][10]

Duke Shēn of Chen, son of Hugong then became second emperor of Chen.^[11]

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.

Location of Chen state

Achievements and descendants[]

• The founding emperor Chen Hugong is credited with being the originator of the Chen (surname), now the fourth most popular surname in the world^[12]
• The Chen clan would later found the Chen Dynasty of China and then the Trần dynasty, a golden age of Vietnam (陈朝 Tran is the Vietnamese pronunciation of Chen).
• In 1400 AD, Hồ Quý Ly overthrew the Trần dynasty and established the Hồ dynasty (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 to Đại Ngu (大虞), or Great Ngu (Ngu is the Vietnamese pronunciation for Yu 虞 the legendary state of Emperor Shun).^[13]
• In ancient times 陈 sounded similar to 东 dong, meaning 'East'. It also sounded similar to 田 tian. After the warring states period, some members of the Chen clan in Qi (state) adopted the surname 田 Tian, which later became popular in Chinese and Japanese surnames.

In summary, surnames with descent from Chen include:

• Chen surname 陈姓
• Gui surname
• Hu surname 胡姓
• Tian surname 田姓
• Yu surname
• 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》。^[14]

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):

1. Duke Hu of Chen
2. Duke Shēn of Chen ^[11]
3. Duke Xiang of Chen
4. Duke Xiao of Chen
5. Duke Shèn of Chen
6. Duke You of Chen
7. Duke Xi of Chen
8. Duke Wu of Chen
9. Duke Yi of Chen
10. Duke Ping of Chen
11. Duke Wen of Chen
12. Duke Huan of Chen
13. Chen Tuo
14. Duke Li of Chen
15. Duke Zhuang of Chen
16. Duke Xuan of Chen
17. Duke Mu of Chen
18. Duke Gong of Chen

Table[]

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

See also[]

• Chen (surname), 陈姓 adopted by people of Chen state
• Chen Hugong, founding emperor

• Emperor Shun (), forefather of Chen
• Tian Qi
• Gui surname
• Hu surname 胡姓
• Tian surname 田姓
• Yu surname
• Yao surname 姚姓
• Yuan surname 袁姓

• Yuan Taotu, relative of Chen family

References[]

Reading[]

• 《史記》卷36：陳杞世家 [Shiji]
• 《春秋左氏傳》(始見於隱公三年) [Spring and Autumn period]