PLA general, one of the ten senior generals (大将) named in 1955; the name is usually written 陈赓. A Whampoa cadet, he saved Chiang Kai-shek in battle in 1925, and he founded the military engineering academy in Harbin.
Chen Geng (陈庚) is sometimes a misspelling of General Chen Geng (陈赓).
Tips
mistakes
Same sound, different character: the general's 赓 means 'to continue' and is rare, while 庚 is the seventh Heavenly Stem and far more familiar, which is why 陈庚 so often turns up as a slip for 陈赓.
history
In 1955 he asked 钱学森, just back from the US, whether China could build missiles. When Qian said that whatever foreigners could do, Chinese could do too, Chen said that was exactly what he wanted to hear. China's missile programme started a year later.
