History of Chen (1)
Around 1046 BC, a chieftain of the Zhou Clan (周) by the name of Ji Fa (姬發) won a decisive battle against the armies of the last Yin/Shang Dynasty (殷/商朝) (the latter part of Shang was renamed Yin) under emperor Zhou Wang (紂王) at a place called Muye (牧野) (Shepherd's Wild) in northern Henan Province (河南省) just south of the Yin (殷) capital of Anyang (安陽).
That was the beginning of one of the most illustrious dynasties of China, the Zhou Dynasty (周朝) and with its conquest came a vast empire which became quite a challenge to administer. Ji Fa assumed the dynastic title Wu Wang (武王) or Martial Emperor.
In order to administer the empire he had to rely on people he could trust and this immediately began with his children, relatives, comrades-at-arms, trusted associates, officials and so on, who would then be entrusted with the government at various levels and locations. They would periodically report back to him on the status of the empire.
During the search for relatives they found a descendant of Shundi (舜帝), one of the Five Sage emperors. Shundi was the 9th generation descendant of Huangdi which was also the lineage of Wu Wang. Shundi’s 34th generation descendant was a potter (like his father) by the name of Gui Man (媯滿) who was also an official with the title of marquis or Hou (侯) in the previous Shang court.
Wu Wang summoned Gui Man to the Zhou court to perform two edicts; he was conferred the inheritable title of marquis of Zhou and was enfeoffed to a feoff called Chen. In addition, Wu Wang also approved the marriage of his daughter, Tai Ji (太姬) to Gui Man, thus making him a son-in-law.
This was the beginning of a noble called Gui Man who with his wife came to reside at a place called Chen in Henan Province. In time the feoff of Chen was upgraded to a minor state, Chen Guo (陳國) which is today located in Huaiyang, Henan Province (河南省淮陽).
According to Chinese history, Chen Guo survived for 20 generations during which time there were 24 marquises and lasted for 588 years. It was destroyed and annexed by the State of Chu (楚國) in 479BC. Thereafter, the Gui (媯) royal family adopted Chen (陳) as their surname in remembrance of the loss of their Chen State (陳國). Thus, surname Chen only has a history of about 2500 years.
Thereafter, Gui Man was also posthumously named Chen Hugong (陳胡公) in remembrance of Chen Guo the place he ruled. Notice it contains the character Gong (公) which normally means “duke” but this title was only conferred upon direct relatives of the royal family and not distant relatives as was the case with Gui Man who was only a marquis of Zhou. In this case the Gong was not a title at all but just an equivalent to the term for “ancestor”. This term is often seen on tombstones.
This then was the beginning of the current Chen surname which was derived from the name of a place which in turn was named after Chen Feng who resided in this place originally called Wanqiu. Chen Hugong was therefore considered the first Chen clan ancestor or progenitor and the blood line came from surname Gui (媯).
Following the demise of Chen Guo (陳國), the remnants of the nobles and their families fled and scattered.