Chen Clan of Yimen (義門陳氏)

A branch of the Chen (陳) surname is the descendent of Emperor Shun (舜). According to (通志.氏族略), after Wuwang (武王) of Zhou (周) defeated the Shang (商) dynasty and established the Zhou (周) dynasty, he granted a descendent of Shun named Gui Man (媯滿) a fiefdom in today’s Huaiyang county (淮陽) in Henan (河南) and established the Chen (陳) kingdom. Some of the descendents of Gui Man then took the name of the kingdom as their surname. Another branch of the Chen surname is the descendents of a prince of Qi (齊) kingdom, Tian Zhen (田珍). The Tian clan of Qi originally had Chen surname. After Qin (秦) defeated Qi, Tian Zhen ran away to Chu (楚) and changed his surname back to Chen. Another branch of the Chen surname is the decedents of the nobilities of Chen kingdom. When there was internal strife in Chen, many nobles ran away to other places, and took on the surname of their home kingdom. In fact all these three branches are the descendents of Chen kingdom established by Gui Man.

In Northern Wei (北魏), during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen (孝文帝) many Xianbi (鮮卑) tribe members took on the surname Chen. In Jin (金) dynasty, some members the Wanyan (完顏) tribe took on the surname Wang (王), and some took on Chen surname. After the downfall of the Yuan (元) dynasty, the first emperor of Ming (明), Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) bestowed many Mongol nobilities the surname Chen. There are also many people with Chen surname among the minority races.

In Huaiyang (淮陽) county of Zhoukou (周口) city, Henan, there are still some people who refer to themselves as ‘old Chen households’, meaning they are very old Chen people. During the early and middle periods of Tang dynasty, there were two southern movements of Chen people to the south from the central plain. They all moved to Fujian (福建).

In 669, the Tang (唐) court appointed a native of Hedong (河東) (in today Shanxi (山西)) Chen Zheng (陳政) as the commander of a southern expedition force to suppress a rebellion in Southern Fujian. When Chen Zhen died in 677, his son Chen Yuanguang (陳元光) continued with the campaign. When Chen Yuanguang successfully suppressed the rebellion in 686, the court approved his suggestion to establish the Zhangzhou (漳州) prefecture (today Zhangzhou in Fujian). Chen Yuanguang therefore has the title of “sage king opening Zhang” (開漳聖王). His decedents are known as “Chen clan opening Zhang sage king branch”.

In Southern Song (南宋), Chen surname began to enter Guangdong (廣東) when Jin (金) army invaded northern China, many clans in the central plain migrated southward in large number, including the Chen clans. In late Ming, many people with Chen surname followed Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功) to Taiwan. One of Zheng’s general is Chen Yonghua (陳永華) of Tongan (同安) county in Fujian. When Zheng Jing (鄭經) succeeded his father, Chen Yonghua took up the responsibility of governing Taiwan. He was involved in the establishing of political, economic and cultural institutions, helping in the progress of Taiwanese society. The Tran dynasty which existed in Vietnam for 175 years was established by a man with Chen surname in 1228. Now the surname Tran (Chen) is one of the ten big surnames in Vietnam. The migration of Chen clans to Japan began in early Ming dynasty. They were mostly decedents of sailors sent by the first Ming Emperor. In Guangdong, Zhejiiang (浙江), Taiwan, Chen is a big surname.

During the middle period of the Tang dynasty, there was a person by the name of Chen Boxuan (陳伯宣) who was travelling to Lu Shan (廬山) with some friends. He was so impressed by the beautiful sceneries of the area that he moved his whole family to De An (德安) in Jiangzhou (江州). His clan was then known as ‘Chen clan of Jiangmen’ (江州陳氏) or “Chen clan of Yimen” (義門陳氏). Jiangzhou is today’s Jiujiang (九江) and De An is at the southern part of Jiangzhou. This Chen clan is very remarkable; “the most unique in Yimen, a hundred dogs in the same kennel.” According to records, at the beginning, the “Chen clan of Yimen” originally had only several family members, but by the beginning of the Song dynasty, it had over 740 members. During the reign of Renzong of Song (宋仁宗), its number had reached over 3700. They had never broken up the clan. Several thousand people with Chen surname shared the same kitchen. There were people specially looked after food preparations. When they ate, there would be over 300 tables eating together. This may be the largest canteen in Chinese history. Moreover, they had a rule: according to seniority, only when everyone was present and sat down would they start eating. In the “Chen clan of Yimen”, there was no talk of yours or mine, or your family’s or my family’s. When working in the fields, all able bodies worked together. When their cloths became dirty, they were washed by all the women in the clan. It was said that “one hundred dogs used the same trough, and were kept in the same cage”. The “Chen clan of Yimen” continued for nineteen generations.

By 1062, the number of people in the “Chen clan of Yimen” increased dramatically. This exerted a great pressure on the local population. Therefore, the ‘Chen clan of Yemen” was forced to be divided up. This is the most remarkable clan division in history. Who presided over their division? It was the Emperor himself. Who then carried out the whole process of division? It was none other than Judge Bao, Bao Chen (包拯), commonly known as Bao Gong (包公, "Lord Bao"). Judge Bao and another civil minister Wen Yanbo (文彦博) worked out a clan division plan and reported to the Emperor for approval. Renzong Emperor then bestowed numbers and divided the clan properties into 291 portions. Although Judge Bao wanted to divide the properties evenly, there were still differences. So the Chen people began to politely giving more for others. In this way the process took even longer. In this “Yimen Chen clan” division, its members went to places such as Jiangxi, Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, Shanghai and Tianjin. When members of this clan reached their new places, the first thing they would do was to hang a lantern with the characters “Yimen” in front of their houses. In some places, this practice continued even until the 1950’s.

In modern Chinese history, there are many well known people with Chen surname. Among them, Chen Yi (陳毅), Chen Geng (陳賡), Chen Yun (陳雲), Chen Lifu (陳立夫), Chen Guofu (陳果夫), Chen Cheng (陳誠) and others are all descendents of the “Yimen Chen” clan.

Today, the surname Chen ranks fifth in the surnames of the whole country. There are 58 millions of them and they make up 4.7% of the population.