Chen Meng, courtesy name Wumeng and nickname Hetan, was born in Fushun County, Sichuan. In the 40th year of Wanli reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty (1612), he was elected to the Xin'an religion for the first time. In the second year of Tianqi (1622), he became a Jinshi and served successively as Secretary of Review and Imperial College. He was convicted of writing a question in the Nanjing Dictionary Examination. He was dismissed from office and lived in Nanjing.
Chen Meng was knowledgeable, good at history and calligraphy, and his reputation was more important than that of his time. Huang Daozhou said that his calligraphy skills surpassed Zhao Wenmin's. In the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644), King Fu established the country in Nanjing (the first year of Hongguang in the Southern Ming Dynasty). He was appointed as a lecturer, a minister in the Ministry of Personnel, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and a minister of the Ministry of Rites.
After the Qing army occupied Nanjing, he fled to Buddhism and became a monk, named Fazang and Xuegong. His works include "Chronicles of Three Dynasties", "Story of Chongzhi's Cabinet Ministers", "Xue Zhai Poetry Collection", etc.
Chen Meng's "Autoscript"
