It was recorded that Empress Liu was eight at then and acted as if she was an adult, but there are some major problems with the dating of this event as described in the Book of Chen, however. Empress Liu died in 615 and was said to be 82 at her death, making her birth year 533, making the year when she was eight, 542. However, Liu Yan was said to have died during the first year of Emperor Jianwen of Liang's Dabao (大寶) era (550-551), when she would have been 17. According to Liu Yan's biography in the Book of Liang, he died in 550. See Book of Liang, vol. 21. It is possible, but hardly shown by clear and convincing evidence, that the Book of Chen could have mistaken Emperor Wu's Datong (大同) era (535-546) for Dabao. It is also quite possible that the Book of Chen was erroneous about Liu Jingyan's age at the time of her father's death, or she would give birth to Chen Shubao as early as 11-year-old 3 years later. According to the Epitaph of Empress Liu, she was 84 when she died and thus born in 531, so she lost her father at the age of 19.
