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Chen Dynasty

The chen dynasty (simplified Chinese: 陈朝; traditional Chinese: 陳朝; pinyin: Chén cháo) (557-589), also known as the Southern chen dynasty, was the fourth and last of the Southern dynasties in China, eventually destroyed by the sui dynasty.

When the dynasty was founded by Emperor Wu, it was exceedingly weak, possessing only a small portion of the territory once held by its predecessor liang dynasty -- and that portion was devastated by wars that had doomed Liang. However, Emperor Wu's successors Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan were capable rulers, and the state gradually solidified and strengthened, becoming roughly equal in power to rivals northern zhou dynasty and northern qi.

After northern zhou dynasty destroyed northern qi in 577, Chen was cornered. To make matters worse, its final emperor Chen Shubao was an incompetent and indulgent ruler, and Chen was eventually destroyed by northern zhou dynasty's successor state Sui.

Sovereigns of chen dynasty (557-589)

Posthumous name	Family nameand given names	Period of Reigns	Era namesand their according range of years
Convention: Chen + posthumous name
Emperor Wu of Chen - Wu Di (武帝 wǔ dì)	Chen Baxian (陳霸先 chén bà xiān)	557-559	Yongding (永定 yǒng dìng) 557-559
Emperor Wen of Chen - Wen Di (文帝 wén dì)	Chen Qian (陳蒨 chén qiàn)	559-566	Tianjia (天嘉 tiān jiā) 560-566 Tiankang (天康 tiān kāng) 566
Emperor Fei of Chen - Fei Di (廢帝 fèi dì)	Chen Bozong (陳伯宗 chén bó zōng)	566-568	Guangda (光大 guāng dà) 566-568
Emperor Xuan of Chen - Xuan Di (宣帝 xuān dì)	Chen Xu (陳頊 chén xū)	569-582	Taijian (太建 tài jiàn) 569-582
Houzhu (後主 hòu zhǔ)	Chen Shubao (陳叔寶 chén shú bǎo)	583-589	Zhide (至德 zhì dé) 583-586 Zhenming (禎明 zhēn míng) 587-589