15 Facts About Chen Qun

Chen Qun, courtesy name Changwen, was a Chinese politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Chen Qun initiated the Nine-rank system for civil service nomination in Wei.

Chen Qun was born in the illustrious Chen family of Yingchuan Commandery, which is around present-day Xuchang, Henan.

Chen Qun tried to dissuade Liu Bei from succeeding Tao Qian as the Governor of Xu Province after Tao died in 194 because he believed that whoever controlled Xu Province would be under threat from rival warlords: Yuan Shu to the south and Lu Bu to the west.

Chen Qun made accusations against Guo Jia, one of Cao Cao's trusted advisers, on a number of occasions because he was unhappy with Guo Jia's unbridled ways.

Chen Qun favoured bodily mutilation because he thought that it provided more flexibility in the administration of justice, being more lenient than the death penalty yet less lenient than corporal punishment.

Sometime between 216 and 220, Chen Qun urged Cao Cao to usurp the throne from Emperor Xian and become emperor himself, since Cao Cao was already the de facto ruler of the Han Empire at the time, but Cao Cao refused and remained as a nominal subject of Emperor Xian until his death.

Chen Qun enfeoffed Chen Qun as the Marquis of Changwu Village and appointed him as a Master of Writing in the government.

At some point during Cao Pi's reign, Chen Qun submitted to him a proposal to create the nine-rank system of civil service, where posts in all Cao Wei-occupied cities and commanderies would be filled by people of high potential.

Chen Qun unsuccessfully pleaded with Cao Pi to pardon Bao Xun, who deliberately hid a report by Liu Yao that implicated Sun Yong in a potentially dangerous breach of protocol when the latter visited Cao Pi.

In 226, Chen Qun stopped Cao Rui from attending his father's funeral on the grounds of protecting Cao Rui from contracting an unknown disease in the hot summer.

When one of Cao Rui's daughters died prematurely before she even reached one year old, Chen Qun did not want the emperor to attend the funeral because the emperor's presence at funerals was only necessary if the deceased was at least eight years of age.

Many of Cao Rui's subjects, including Chen Qun, were concerned about the excessive costs of the construction of the emperor's lavish palaces and ancestral temples.

Chen Qun wrote several memorials to the emperor, seeking a reduction in the scale of these projects and eventually managed to convince him to do so.

One of his sons, Chen Qun Tai, inherited his marquis title and marquisate and became a prominent military general in the Cao Wei state later.