A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Ch'ên Hao (宸濠)

1758892A Chinese Biographical Dictionary — Ch'ên Hao (宸濠)Herbert A. Giles

219 Ch'ên Hao 宸濠. A.D. 1478-1519. A grandson of Prince 寧靖 Ning-ching, a scion of the Imperial family of the Mings. In 1507 he was restored to the title and dignity of which his grandfather had been deprived for misconduct, and was recognised as Prince Ning. After having enjoyed for years the favour of the debauched and extravagant monarch, Wu Tsung, to whom he owed his elevation, he took advantage of the confusion into which public affairs were thrown in 1519 by the Emperor's whim of undertaking a progress through the southern provinces, to head a revolt. With a large body of adherents, he made himself master of a portion of the province of Kiangsi, and proceeded to lay siege to An-ch'ing. The Imperial commander, Wang Shou-jen, who had subdued an insurrection in Kiangsi in the previous year, at once devised measures for drawing away the insurgent army from the Yang-tsze, lest an attempt should be made upon Nanking. He marched upon Nan-ch'ang Fu, the capital of Kiangsi, then in the power of the rebels, and took it by storm; upon which Ch'ên Hao abandoned his design upon An-ch'ing and returned to meet the foe in his rear. His fleet, while ascending the river Kan, encountered that of Wang Shou-jen; and after an obstinate engagement, Ch'ên Hao was defeated and taken prisoner. He was shortly afterwards executed at T'ung-chou, on the Emperor's return from his ill-fated journey to the south.