Chen Youliang - WikiHQ

Chen Youliang (; 1320 – 3 October 1363) was the founder and first emperor of the dynastic state of Chen Han in Chinese history. He was one of the military leaders and heroes of the peasant rebellions at the end of the Yuan dynasty.

Biography

Chen was born to a fishing family in the village of Huangpengshan (黄蓬山), present-day Honghu, in Yusha County (玉沙縣), part of Mianyang Prefecture (). During the Song Dynasty, Yusha was renowned as the "land of fish and rice", and was visited by poets Lu You and Fan Chengda, who both praised its bounty of fish and its cattle. Some say he was born with the surname Chen (), while others say he was born with surname Xie ().

In his childhood he grew up poor in his family of relatively unsuccessful fishermen. Chen once served as a district official before becoming a general under Ni Wenjun during the Red Turban Rebellion. Ni Wenjun planned to assassinate Xu Shouhui, the Red Turban rebels' leader, but Chen Youliang killed Ni Wenjun before Ni could kill Xu.

After discord was sowed between Chen and his general Zhao Pusheng (趙普勝) by a former retainer of Zhao, bribed and sent to Chen by Zhu Yuanzhang, and with rumors that Zhao wanted to deflect to Wu circulating, Chen decided to do away with his general. By the end of the same year proclaimed himself "King of Han". His era name, as well as his empire's name, was Da Han (literally "Great Han"). Chen Youliang appointed Zou Pusheng (邹普胜) as Grand Preceptor and Zhang Bixian () as prime minister (丞相).

From 1359 to 1363 Chen's fleet was the strongest on the upper Yangtze River. His power was at least as great as that of another rebel state, Wu, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming dynasty.

thumb|left|350px|Rebels and warlords at the end of Yuan dynasty, including the territory controlled by Chen Youliang in early 1363

Since 1360 the Han were involved in a long war against Wu, which would be renamed "Ming" in 1368. The war culminated in the decisive Battle of Lake Poyang where the Wu fleet narrowly defeated the larger fleet of Han after three days of fighting.

The Wu fleet then settled into a blockade. A month later, Chen attempted to break out of the blockade. During the resulting ship battle Chen was killed by an arrow that struck his head.

As his crown prince Chen Shan () had been captured, Chen Youliang was succeeded by his second son, Chen Li, who had managed to escape to Wuchang with Zhang Dingbian (张定边). His son resisted a siege of Wuchang for two months in late 1363. He surrendered when Wu's army once again approached Wuchang in March 1364. Many prefectural commanders surrendered to Wu without a fight, but in Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi fighting continued until April 1365. Chinese history annals did not record any such relationship, including the Veritable Records of Emperor Taizu, revised for the first time in 1399 by Dong Lun (董倫) and published under the supervision of Yao Guangxiao, both contemporaries of Chen. The Taizu Shilu also specifies that his family had been fishermen for generations, and even reports an exchange between Chen and his father, in which the latter reminds his son that he is "just a fisherman" and advises him to "go back to his former occupation". Chen's fellow Mianyang native, scholar Tong Chengxu (童承敍), adds in his Ping Han Lu (平漢錄) that Chen Youliang's ancestors originally had the family name as "Xiè", with his grandfather, Qianyi, later marrying into a certain Chen family and adopting their family name. This passage was also repeated by Qian Qianyi in his Guochu Qunxiong Shilue (國初群雄事略). The reason why Chen Youliang pretended to be a Vietnamese royal family was probably to earn support from Đại Việt.

The Trần dynasty, however, did not to respond to Chen's request. Trần Ích Tắc was considered a traitor and was legally removed from the Trần royal family. It would in fact have been difficult for Đại Việt to ally with a traitor's descendant. Đại Việt also had no reason to intervene into the affairs of her northern neighbor.

Yang Jing: "In the past Chen and Zhang occupied the Wu and Chu regions, built boats to plug rivers, accumulated grain to cross mountains, built their armies and called themselves invincible. However, after the battle in Poyang, Youliang was killed, and Chen turned his army toward the east, while Zhang surrendered. This is not man's choice; it is in fact destiny."
Historian Wu Han: "Although Chen Youliang failed, he was, after all, a hero who opposed the rule of the Mongolian and Han landlord classes in the Yuan dynasty. He played a role in history. At that time, people sympathized with him and missed him. His grave is still preserved under the newly built Yangzi River Bridge for visitors to mourn."

Tomb Memorial

thumb|right|350px|Tomb of Chen Youliang in [[Wuchang District|Wuchang, Wuhan]]

After Chen's death at the Battle of Poyang Lake, he was buried in the southern slope of Sheshan, near the Wuchang Bridge Head () of Yangtze River Bridge in present-day Wuhan City, Hubei Province (next to the Yellow Crane Tower, a famous scenic spot in Wuhan, Hubei Province). Zhu Yuanzhang is said to have visited the tomb the following year to pay his respects, and inscribed the words "Human Retribution, Heaven's Will" on a stone tablet erected near the tomb. In Miancheng there is a building which is said to have been Chen's temporary palace. He is also said to have established a temporary palace in his native Huangpengshan, This palace was called Yamen (衙门) by locals. Today only its ruins remain. today known as the "Ming and Qing Dynasty Bluestone Ancient Street" (明清青石板古街).

Cultural portrayals

Film and TV

1978 Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre by
1984 Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre by Lü Yao-hua ()
1986 New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre by
1987 ' by Sean Lau
1993 Zhu Yuanzhang () by Lü Qi ()
1994 Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre by
1998 乞丐皇帝傳奇 by
2000 The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber by
2001 The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber by Chen Rongjun ()
2003 The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber by Sun Bin ()
2004 Wudang () by Liu Xu ()
2006 Chuanqi Huangdi Zhu Yuanzhang by
2006 Zhu Yuanzhang () by
2009 The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber by Zhou Xiaobin ()
2016 Zhenmian Tianzi (真命天子) by Ji Xiaobing
2015 The Legend of Beggar King and Big Foot Queen by Ji Chen ()
2019 Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre by Hou Ruixiang ()

Novels

Chen Youliang features as a character in the wuxia novel The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber by Louis Cha.

Notes

References

Sources

Dreyer, Edward. (1982). Early Ming China: A Political History. Stanford: Stanford University Press. .
The Cambridge History of China Volume 7, pp. 65–89 (this section was written by Dreyer)