Chen Fan

Also known as Zi Zhongju

Chen Fan, courtesy name Zhongju, came from Pingyu in Runan; as a boy he let his courtyard run wild, saying that a man's task was to sweep clean the whole realm. He governed Le'an and Yuzhang and became grand commandant in 165, repeatedly attacking the eunuchs in memorials. When the first Proscription of the partisans began in 166 he pleaded for Li Ying and the others arrested and was dismissed for it. Under Emperor Ling he became grand tutor in charge of the Secretariat and plotted with the general-in-chief Dou Wu to destroy the eunuchs Cao Jie and Wang Fu. The plan leaked in the ninth month of 168; Chen, then past seventy, led some eighty officials and students through the Chengming Gate and was seized and killed the same day. Students ranked him with Dou Wu and Liu Shu as the Three Lords, and the first entry of A New Account of Tales of the World (Shishuo xinyu) praises his words and conduct as a model for scholars.