Chen Lin (陳琳 ; pronunciationⓘ; died 217), courtesy name Kongzhang (孔璋), was an official, scholar and poet who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.
In 189, He Jin wanted to summon military forces from outside the imperial capital Luoyang to pressure Empress Dowager He into agreeing to exterminate the eunuch faction.
Chen Lin strongly objected to this idea and argued that "to act in this manner is no difference from lighting a furnace to burn a strand of hair".
He Jin did not listen to him and ended up being assassinated by the eunuch faction, while the warlord Dong Zhuo took advantage of the power vacuum to enter Luoyang and seize control of the central government.
[c] The other six members of the "Seven Scholars of Jian'an" were Wang Can, Ruan Yu (阮瑀), Liu Zhen (劉楨), Xu Gan, Ying Yang [zh; fr] (應瑒) and Kong Rong.