| NAME | |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 陈氏, 陳氏, Chén Shì |
| Nickname | Liu Biao's first wife; mother of Liu Qi (novel) |
| Other name | Trần Thị |
| INFORMATION | |
| Birth Place | Unknown |
| Death Reason | Died as first wife while Liu Biao governed Jing — novel and later tables; official history does not name or date her death |
| FAMILY | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Relatives | |
| CAREER | |
| Allegiance | Liu Biao's Jingzhou household |
| Battles | Not a combatant. Her death (novel) is what lets Lady Cai take the inner court and steer the succession toward Liu Cong — the road to Chapter 40. |
Biography & Historical Record
Lady Chen (陈氏, Trần Thị) on this page is Liu Biao’s first wife — the woman the novel names as mother of Liu Qi, and the woman official history refuses to name at all. She is not Chen Gong’s relative, not a later Wei or Jin Lady Chen, and not Lady Cai under a wrong graph. The allegiance line “Liu Biao” in the old catalog is the right household.
Liu Biao, courtesy Jingsheng, took Jingzhou in the 190s with Kuai Yue and Cai Mao’s help. His first consort — history’s unnamed 元配, the novel’s Chen — bore at least the elder son Qi. Contemporary notes say Qi looked like his father, and Liu Biao loved him for it. Then the first wife died. The concubine Cai, sister of Cai Mao, became successor wife. Liu Cong married a niece of that Cai household. Cai’s affection, and Cai Mao’s and Zhang Yun’s, moved to Cong. Qi, slandered in his father’s ear, took Zhuge Liang’s hint and asked for Jiangxia after Huang Zu’s death — a son leaving a house his mother no longer held.
Pei Songzhi, reading the Heroes’ Records story that a dying Liu Biao offered Jingzhou to Liu Bei, says it is unbelievable: the couple had already chosen Cong. “The couple” in that sentence is Liu Biao and Lady Cai, not Chen. By 208 Chen is a grave. The mourning-hall coup of Chapter 40 — forged will, Li Gui killed, Cong installed, Jingzhou offered to Cao Cao — is what a first wife’s absence made possible. History and novel agree on the structure (elder son pushed out, Cai clan in) and disagree on her name and on whether Cong was her child. This article keeps both: novel Chen as mother of Qi (and often of Cong); history as an unnamed first wife who died, after which Cai, who was not Cong’s mother, ran the inner court.
Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Chapters 34–39 (Liu Bei at Jing, the lü-ma, Qi’s fear): Lady Cai and Cai Mao dominate Xiangyang. Liu Qi cannot see his sick father without being turned away. Chen is the missing mother in those scenes — the reason Qi has no inner-court advocate.
Chapter 40 (Lady Cai Discusses Ceding Jingzhou): Chen is dead. Cai, Cai Mao, and Zhang Yun write Cong onto a false will. Li Gui dies defending Qi and Liu Bei. The chapter is Cai’s, not Chen’s; Chen is the prior fact that makes Cai’s paper possible.
Lady Chen (陈氏) — Historical & Literary Timeline
First wife in Jing
Novel: Chen, mother of Liu Qi. History: unnamed yuanpei; Qi the beloved elder son.
Death of the first wife
Later tables; not a dated chronicle line. Cai becomes successor wife.
Qi driven toward Jiangxia
Cai slanders the elder son. Zhuge Liang advises the Jiangxia posting. Chen cannot help.
Cai clique takes Jingzhou
Forged will, Li Gui killed, Cong surrenders to Cao Cao. Chen is already absent.
History: Hou Hanshu 74B and Sanguozhi on Liu Biao. The 陈氏 name is novel convention.
Key Relationships
Family
- Liu Biao (刘表, Lưu Biểu): Husband. After her death he raises Cai and believes Cai’s slander of Qi.
- Liu Qi (刘琦, Lưu Kỳ): Novel: her son. History: elder son of the unnamed first wife. Dies 209 as the Liu-Bei-backed inspector.
- Liu Cong (刘琮, Lưu Tông): Novel often makes him Chen’s second son. History: Cong’s birth mother is not Cai and is not named — so not automatically Chen either. Keep the disagreement in one bullet.
- Lady Cai (蔡夫人, Thái Phu Nhân): Successor wife. Do not use /lady-cai/ (Huang Chengyan’s wife).
Friends
- No sworn friend recorded. Her political “friend” after death is the legal claim of the elder son — the claim Li Gui dies for.
Enemies
- Cai Mao (蔡瑁, Thái Mạo) and Zhang Yun (张允, Trương Doãn): The men who finish, after she is gone, the displacement of her son’s inheritance.
- Lady Cai: household rival in the novel’s inner court; historically the successor wife who slandered Qi.
Other
- Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) and Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng): The guests who try to save Qi’s position and then flee Jingzhou once Cong surrenders.
- Li Gui (李珪, Lý Quý): Novel officer who dies in Chapter 40 defending the succession Chen can no longer defend. See /li-gui/.
- Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): The beneficiary of the Cai coup.
In Novel
Chapter 34–35
- Lady Chen (陈氏, Trần Thị): While Liu Biao (刘表, Lưu Biểu) still lives, the inner court is already Lady Cai (蔡夫人, Thái Phu Nhân)'s. The novel treats Chen as the dead or displaced first wife whose son Liu Qi (刘琦, Lưu Kỳ) looks like his father and once held the affection Cai now spends on Liu Cong (刘琮, Lưu Tông). Zhuge Liang's later advice that Qi take Jiangxia is the son's escape from a house Chen no longer protects.
Chapter 40
- Lady Chen (陈氏, Trần Thị): She does not stand in the mourning hall. The forged will, Li Gui's beheading, and the surrender are Cai Mao's and Lady Cai's work. Chen's role is absence: if the first wife still sat as consort, the Cai clique would not have written Cong onto a blank testament so easily. Same-chapter figures — Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, Liu Cong, Li Gui, Fu Xun, Wang Can — act in the space her death left.
In History
Summary
- Official history does not name Liu Biao's first wife Chen. Sanguozhi and Hou Hanshu 74B say Liu Biao first loved the elder son Liu Qi because the boy resembled him; after the first wife died he raised the concubine Cai to successor wife; Liu Cong married Cai's niece, so Cai loved Cong and slandered Qi. Pei is explicit that Cai was not Cong's birth mother. The personal name 陈氏 is a novel / later-table convenience. Death is usually placed around Jian'an 8 (203), after Liu Biao was already in Jing, but that year is reconstruction, not a chronicle line.
Year: 190s–c. 203 AD
- First wife of the Jingzhou shepherd; mother of Liu Qi in the novel. History: mother of Qi unnamed; Cong's mother also unnamed (not Lady Cai).
Year: 208 AD
- Liu Biao dies; Cai clique installs Cong. Chen has been dead for years. No separate Hou Hanshu liezhuan.
Historical Record
- Sanguozhi Liu Biao notice; Hou Hanshu 74B; Pei on the Cai–Qi slander. Novel names 陈氏. This slug is that first wife — not Chen Gong's kin, not an unrelated 陈氏 of another court.
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