Empress Chen Jinfeng

Empress Chen Jinfeng (陳金鳳) (893 – November 17, 935) was the third known wife of Wang Yanjun (Emperor Huizong, also known as Wang Lin), a ruler of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Min. Wang Yanjun, while not the first ruler of Min, was the first to claim imperial title, and Empress Chen was the first Empress of Min. She was said to be licentious and immoral, but she garnered Wang Yanjun's favor in that manner. When Wang Yanjun was assassinated in 935, she was also killed.

According to her biography in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms (十國春秋), Chen Jinfeng was born in 893. Her father, legally, was Chen Yan, the governor of Fujian Circuit (福建, headquartered in modern Fuzhou, Fujian) — yet the biography indicated that Chen Yan was not her biological father. Rather, Chen Yan had a homosexual affair with a young handsome man, Hou Lun (侯倫), who thereafter also had an affair with his concubine Lady Lu, leading to Lady Lu's pregnancy. After Chen Yan's death in or shortly after 891, Lady Lu was initially taken into the household of his brother-in-law Fan Hui (范暉), who initially claimed the title of acting governor. While at Fan's household, Lady Lu gave birth to Chen Jinfeng (meaning, "golden phoenix") — as one night before Chen Jinfeng's birth, she dreamed of a fenghuang flying into her bosom.

In 893, Wang Shenzhi, then a general under his brother Wang Chao the prefect of Quan Prefecture (泉州, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian), captured Fujian's capital Fu Prefecture (福州), and Fan was killed in flight, allowing Wang Chao to take over control of the circuit. After Fan's defeat, Chen Jinfeng, then a child, was apparently lost among the common people, but was eventually taken in by her clansman Chen Kuangsheng (陳匡勝) and raised in his household.

In 909, by which time Wang Shenzhi was the ruler of the circuit, now known as Weiwu Circuit (威武), he was also carrying the title of Prince of Min as a vassal of Later Liang. That year, he was selecting women from well-reputed households to be his concubines. At that time, Chen Jinfeng was 16, and, according to the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, was said to be beautiful and capable of dancing. Wang Shenzhi took her as a concubine, giving her the title of Cairen (才人). (However, the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms also acknowledged that according to the more formal Zizhi Tongjian, she was said to be ugly and licentious, and also indicated that she was just a servant girl in Wang Shenzhi's palace, not a concubine.) According to the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, she was favored as much as Lady Huang, and he built her a palace near a lake so that she could often see the lake.

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