Chen Wu (Han dynasty)
General serving warlord Sun Quan (died 215)
Chen Wu (c.177 - 215), courtesy name Zilie, was a military general serving under the warlord Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He previously served under Sun Ce, Sun Quan's elder brother and predecessor.
Life
Chen Wu was from Songzi County (松滋縣), Lujiang Commandery (廬江郡), which is in present-day Susong County, Anhui. He was seven chi and seven cun tall (approximately 181–186 cm). When he was about 17 years old, he travelled to Shouchun (壽春; present-day Shou County, Anhui) to meet Sun Ce, who was then a subordinate of the warlord Yuan Shu. Chen Wu later accompanied Sun Ce on his conquests in the Jiangdong region in the 190s, and was appointed as a Major of Separate Command (別部司馬) for his contributions in battle. He also followed Sun Ce to attack a minor warlord Liu Xun and helped to recruit many capable men from Lujiang to join Sun Ce's army, with him as their commander.
After Sun Ce's death in the year 200, Chen Wu continued serving under Sun Quan, Sun Ce's younger brother and successor. He was put in command of five regiments. Chen Wu was known to a kind and generous person, and he won the hearts of many people from his hometown and other places.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Chen Wu (Han dynasty)” is general serving warlord Sun Quan (died 215). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Chen, dynasty and General, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “general serving warlord Sun Quan (died 215)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q701493. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Chen Wu (Han dynasty)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Chen Wu (Han dynasty) primary sources, Chen Wu (Han dynasty) archive and Chen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chen Wu (Han dynasty)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Chen Wu (Han dynasty)” 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.