Empress Chen of Wu (孝武陳皇后), was empress of the Han dynasty and the first wife of Emperor Wu of Han (Liu Che). She was also known as Chen Jiao () or as her milk name Chen A'Jiao (陈阿娇). She was born to Chen Wu (father) and Liu Piao (mother), also making her Liu Che's older cousin. Her given name Jiao (嬌 / 娇) means talented and beautiful and features in various Chinese poems and idioms. Princess Guantao Liu Piao once held a young Liu Che in her arms and asked him whether he wanted to marry her daughter Chen Jiao. The young prince boasted that he would "build a golden house for her" if they were married. Thus, there was an arranged marriage between Liu Che and Chen Jiao, and Chen Jiao became the first empress of China during Liu Che's reign. Empress Chen's story inspired the Chinese idiom "Putting Jiao in a golden house" (), recorded in Ban Gu's Hanwu Stories (汉武故事). The poet Sima Xiangru wrote a song The Ode of Long Gate (長門賦 Changmenfu) describing the love between Empress Chen Jiao and Emperor Liu Che. Life Early life and marriage Empress Chen was the daughter of Chen Wu (陳午), the Marquess of Tangyi (堂邑侯), and Liu Piao (劉嫖), the Grand Princess Guantao (館陶長公主, the older sister of Emperor Jing of Han). Empress Chen also had two brothers, Chen Xu (陳須) and Chen Jiao (陳蟜 different hanzi). There were no authentic historical records of her real name, and the well-known name "A'Jiao" came from Ban Gu's Hanwu Stories (漢武故事 / 汉武故事 also called Stories of Han Wudi), thought to be written during the Wei-Jin period. Princess Guantao initially proposed to marry her teenage daughter to Liu Rong (劉榮), Emperor Jing's eldest son and crown prince at the time, as well as son of his favourite concubine, Lady Li (栗姬). However, Lady Li rudely rejected the proposal as she was upset that Princess Guantao often procured new concubines for Emperor Jing (therefore gaining his favour at the expense of Lady Li). A greatly humiliated and frustrated Princess Guantao then approached Consort Wang Zhi, another concubine favoured by Emperor Jing, and offered to marry her daughter to Consort Wang's 5-year-old son Liu Che, Emperor Jing's tenth (and arguably favourite) son and then the Prince of Jiaodong (膠東王). Consort Wang, who had been watching quietly from the sidelines, saw her opportunity