Emperor Wu of Chen
founding emperor of Chen dynasty from 557 to 559
Emperor Wu of Chen (Chinese: 陳武帝; 503– 9 August 559), personal name Chen Baxian (陳霸先), courtesy name Xingguo (興國), childhood name Fasheng (法生), was the founding emperor of the Chen dynasty of China. He first distinguished himself as a Liang dynasty general during the campaign against the rebel general Hou Jing, and he was progressively promoted. In 555, he seized power after a coup against his superior, the general Wang Sengbian, and in 557 he forced Emperor Jing of Liang to abdicate the throne to him, thereby establishing the Chen dynasty. He died in 559, and as his only surviving son Chen Chang was held by the Northern Zhou dynasty, he was succeeded by his nephew Chen Qian (Emperor Wen).
Background and early career
Chen Baxian was born to Chen Wenzan (陳文讚) and Lady Dong in 503, the second year of the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang (the founding emperor of Liang dynasty). He was from Wuxing Commandery (吳興, roughly modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). His family traced its ancestry to Chen Shi (陳寔), a county magistrate and Confucian scholar during the Han dynasty, and Chen Shi's great-great-grandson Chen Zhun (陈准; died c.late 300), who was Grand Commandant during the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin. During the lineage that was traced, Chen's ancestors generally served as officials, although several were important figures in imperial governments of the Jin dynasty and the subsequent Southern dynasties, including Chen Baxian's grandfather Chen Daoju (陳道巨).
When Chen Baxian was young, he was considered ambitious, not caring about managing properties. As he grew older, he studied military strategies and learned various fighting techniques.
The public source identifies “Emperor Wu of Chen” as founding emperor of Chen dynasty from 557 to 559. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Emperor, Chen and founding.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emperor Wu of Chen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.