Chen Youliang


Chen Youliang was the founder and first emperor of the Chen Han or Da Han, a state in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming dynasty of Chinese history.

Biography

Chen was born to a fishing family in Mianyang in present-day Hubei. Some say he was born with surname Chen, others say he was born with surname Xie.
Vietnamese records say that Chen Youliang was the son of Chen Yiji, a Tran Dynasty leader who settled in the Yuan dynasty.
Chen once served as a district official before becoming a general under Ni Wenjun during the Red Turban Rebellion. Chen later killed Ni Wenjun on the excuse that Ni planned to assassinate Xu Shouhui, the Red Turban rebels' leader. Chen later turned on Xu Shouhui and killed him.
In 1357, Chen proclaimed himself "King of Han" in Jiangzhou, and emperor the next year after Xu Shouhui died. His era name, as well as his empire's name, was "Dahan". For 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.
In 1360 the Dahan fleet and army began a long war against Wu forces - based at that time in Jiqing and was later renamed "Ming" in 1368. An attack on the Wu capital was defeated thanks to excellent Wu intelligence. The war continued till the climactic Battle of Lake Poyang where the Wu fleet narrowly defeated the larger fleet of Dahan after three days of fighting.
A month after the battle at Lake Poyang, the Dahan fleet tried to break out from Lake Poyang, during the resulting ship battles Chen was killed. He was 43 years old at the time of his death in October 3, 1363.
As his crown prince Chen Shan had been captured, Chen Youliang was succeeded by his second son, Chen Li, who was soon attacked by the fleet and army of Wu. The conquest of Dahan took an additional two years but by April 1365 the Dahan empire was gone and all its lands were now part of the Wu power base.

Era names

Through his established empire Chen Han, Chen Youliang is remembered as a revolutionary, even hero, who helped resist Yuan rule and pave the way for the new Ming dynasty.
Also see Tomb of Chen Youliang, a cenotaph.

Tomb

On October 3, 1363, after Chen Youliang died in the Battle of Poyang Lake, his real remains disappeared. His clothes were taken back by his subordinates in a boat and sent to the south slope of Sheshan, approaching the Wuchang Bridge Head of Yangtze River Bridge in Wuhan City, Hubei Province for burial.
It faces south, has a rectangle with rounded corners and a height of 2.2 meters. The tomb base is 12 meters long. The tomb is built on the mountain. Here is There is a hexagonal unknown pavilion nearby, and the pillars of the pavilion are engraved with handwriting.
In the Qing Dynasty, this place became a part of the garden "Naiyuan" of Hubei Provincial Bureau of Supervision, and few people visited it. In 1908, Wan Yaohuang and Geng Zhongzhao discovered this tomb in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty.
In 1912, Hubei Provincial Department of Internal Affairs requested renovation, and built a 16-step tomb road and a tall archway in front of the tomb. On the forehead of the memorial archway, "Jiang Han Xian Ying", and on the back, "Three Chu Xiongfeng", a monument was erected in front of the tomb, "Da Han Chen Youliang Tomb", and Rao Hanxiang of Guangji made an inscription. There is also a tablet pavilion on each side of the tomb. In 1913, the cemetery was renovated and surrounded by pines and cypresses.
In 1923, the Republic of China rebuilt it.
In 1949, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was slightly repaired.
In 1956, the tomb was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province.
It was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, the local government of the Communist Party of China allocated funds to restore it. In June, 1998, it was completely renovated, with brick cement tomb walls and the monument of "Rebuilding Dahan Chen Youliang Tomb".

Memorial Palace

At 9:00 on December 18, 2013, the local government opened the "Chen Youliang Memorial Hall" at 90 Pier, Mian Street, Xiantao City, Hubei Province. This memorial hall has three floors of antique buildings, covering an area of 3,891 square meters, with a total construction area of 1,615 square meters. The first two floors have an exhibition hall of 920 square meters, and the last floor is an office rest area.

Legends

Yuan Mei's "Zi Bu Yu", Volume 10, contains an article "Destroying Chen Youliang Temple", which tells the story of the ruined Jingzhou Chen Youliang Temple when Zhao Xili was appointed as a county magistrate. Zhao only knew that it was an unknown Wangye Temple, and thought it was an obscene temple and destroyed the temple, but he didn't know that the temple was dedicated to Chen Youliang, and he didn't know it until he asked Zhang Tianshi.

Cultural portrayals

Film and TV

Chen Youliang is featured as a character in Louis Cha's wuxia novel The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber as a minor antagonist.