[2] Consort Chen was from the Liu Song capital Jiankang, and she was regarded as the mother of Emperor Ming's son Liu Zhun (later Emperor Shun), born in August 469, but whether she was his biological mother is a matter of historical dispute.
[2][3] Historical accounts, written during the succeeding Southern Qi Dynasty, indicate that Emperor Ming was impotent, and that although he had 12 sons, those were the results of his having seized his brothers' pregnant concubines and kept the children if they bore males, or his having had his concubines have sexual relations with others.
(However, the fact that his wife Empress Wang Zhenfeng had two daughters, although no sons, may argue against such allegations, because it appeared rather unlikely that Emperor Ming would do this over female children—indeed, the allegations stated that he would only do this if his brothers' concubines bore males—or that the morally upright Empress Wang would engage in sexual relations with others, thus suggesting that the allegations were made to delegitimize Emperor Ming's sons, Emperor Houfei and Emperor Shun, vis-à-vis Southern Qi.)
Consort Chen, as the emperor's mother, was honored as "Consort Dowager" (皇太妃) but not as empress dowager—that title belonged to Emperor Ming's wife Empress Wang.
Xiao forced Emperor Shun to yield the throne to him in 479, ending Liu Song and starting Southern Qi, and Emperor Shun was created the Prince of Ruyin.