Chen Wanyan

Chen Wanyan was born in Yuancheng County, Daming Prefecture, Beizhili, Ming Dynasty (present-day Daming County, Hebei Province) and died in 1535. His father was Empress Xiao Jie Su Chen Shi, wife of Ming Emperor Shizong, of a scholarly family and had been a xiucai (licentiate). Chen Wanyan rose to the position of Director of the Honglu Temple and was later promoted to the duty of Commander and Assistant. In the first year of Jiajing (1522), after his appointment, he acquired a residence in Huanghua Fang. In the second year of Jiajing (1523), he built a residence outside Xi'an Gate, spending several hundred thousand taels of silver. Minister of Works Zhao Huang proposed that because Xi'an Gate was close to the inner palace, the height of his residence should be restricted; this angered Emperor Shizong of Ming, who had the logistics officer Zhai Lin imprisoned. Official Yu Zan strongly advised against this measure, but the emperor did not heed the advice. Chen Wanyan was ennobled as the Lord of Taihe.

In the third year of Jiajing (1524), Chen Wanyan requested a grant of a thousand qing (a measure of land) from Wuqing and Dong'an districts to establish farms, and the emperor ordered the Ministry of Revenue to investigate the vacant land for allocation. The censor Zhang Hanching suggested limiting his land holdings, but ultimately Emperor Shizong granted him eight hundred qing. In the seventh year of Jiajing (1528), after Empress Chen passed away, Chen Wanyan fell out of favor and was dismissed from office. He died in the fourteenth year of Jiajing (1535), without heirs to succeed him.