Empress Liu (531 – 20 March 615), personal name Liu Jingyan (), was an empress of the Chinese Chen dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Xuan (Chen Xu). She briefly governed as regent during the illness of her son Chen Shubao in 582. Background Liu Jingyan was born in 531 when her father Liu Yan (柳偃) was a Liang Dynasty official. His wife was Princess Changcheng, a daughter of Emperor Wu of Liang. (The traditional histories imply that she was the princess' daughter, but do not clearly state so.) Liu Yan came from a lineage of officials, as his grandfather Liu Shilong (柳世隆) was a key general under Emperor Gao of Southern Qi and Emperor Wu of Southern Qi, and his father Liu Yun (柳惲) was a Liang official. When Liu Yan died while being governor of Poyang Commandery (鄱陽, roughly modern Shangrao, Jiangxi), Liu Jingyan, having no older brothers (she had one younger brother, Liu Pan (柳盼)), managed the affairs of the household. After the rebel general Hou Jing attacked the capital Jiankang in 548 and captured it in 549, Liu Jingyan and Liu Pan went to Jiangling to rely on Princess Changcheng's brother Xiao Yi the Prince of Xiangdong. On account of the princess, Xiao Yi treated them with kindness. Marriage to Chen Xu In 552, after Xiao Yi's general Wang Sengbian defeated Hou, Xiao Yi declared himself emperor (as Emperor Yuan). He rewarded Wang and his lieutenant Chen Baxian, while requesting Chen Baxian to send his son Chen Chang and nephew Chen Xu to Jiangling, his new capital, to serve in his administration—but also to serve as hostages. While Chen Xu was at Jiangling, Emperor Yuan married Liu Jingyan to him as his wife, notwithstanding that he had already married a Lady Qian while he was a commoner at his home commandery of Yixing (義興, roughly modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). In 553, she bore Chen Xu a son, Chen Shubao. In 554, Western Wei forces attacked and captured Jiangling, and around the new year 555, they put Emperor Yuan to death. Chen Xu and Chen Chang were taken to the Western Wei capital Chang'an as honored captives, while Lady Liu and Chen Shubao were left at Rangcheng (穰城, in modern Nanyang, Henan). In 557, Chen Baxian seized the throne and established the Chen Dynasty as its Emperor Wu. While Chen Xu was then still detained at Chang'an, he remotely