Qi (state)

Qi
齊 *Dzəj
Kingdom
← 1046 BC–221 BC →
Qi in 260 BC
Capital		Linzi
Religion		Chinese folk religion ancestor worship
Government		Monarchy
Chancellor
•	685–645 BC	Guan Zhong
History
•	Enfeoffment of Duke Tai	1046 BC
•	Conquered by Qin	221 BC
Currency		Knife money

Qi
The Great Wall of Qi on Dafeng Mountain
Traditional Chinese	齊
Simplified Chinese	齐
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qí Wade–Giles Ch‘i2 IPA [tɕʰǐ] Gwoyeu Romatzyh Chyi Wu Romanization Zi Zhi Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Cai4 Yale Romanization Chàih Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chê Tâi-lô Tsê Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Cà̤ Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *[dz]ˤəj
State of Qi
Traditional Chinese	齊國
Simplified Chinese	齐国
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qíguó Wade–Giles Ch‘i-kuo Wu Romanization Zi-koh Zhi-kueh Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chê-kok Chôe-kok Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Cà̤-guók

Qi (Chinese: 齊; Old Chinese: *[dz]ˤəj) was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. Its capital was Linzi (present-day Zibo in Shandong).

Qi was founded around in 1046 BC as one of the many vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty. The first ruler of Qi was Jiang Ziya, the most powerful official during that time. The Jiang family ruled Qi for several centuries before it was replaced by the Tian family in 386 BC. In 221 BC, Qi was the last major state of pre-Imperial China to be conquered by the State of Qin, which became the Qin Dynasty, the first centralized empire of China.

History

Bronze knife-shaped coins of State of Qi, collected in Shandong Museum

Foundation

With the founding of the Zhou dynasty in 1046 BC,^[1] King Wu of Zhou assigned the conquered lands as hereditary fiefs to his relatives and ministers. Territory in the area of modern-day Shandong was given to Jiang Ziya, his most important general from which the state of Qi arose.^[2] Little information survives from this period. King Yi of Zhou (r. 865–858) attacked Qi and boiled Duke Ai of Qi to death. At the time of King Xuan of Zhou (r. 827–782) there was a succession struggle. During this time many of the native Dongyi peoples were absorbed into the Qi state.

Spring and Autumn period

In 706 BC, Qi was attacked by the Shan Rong. Qi rose to prominence under Duke Huan of Qi (685–643). He and his minister Guan Zhong strengthened the state by centralizing it. He annexed 35 neighboring states including Tan and brought others into submission. In 667 Duke Huan met with the rulers of Lu, Song, Chen and Zheng and was elected leader. Subsequently King Hui of Zhou made him the first Hegemon. He attacked Wei for supporting a rival of the Zhou king and intervened in the affairs of Lu. In 664 he protected Yan from the Rong. In 659 he protected Xing and in 660, Wei, from the Red Di. In 656 he blocked the northward expansion of Chu. After his death, his sons quarrelled and the hegemony passed to Jin.

In 632 Qi helped Jin defeat Chu at the Battle of Chengpu. In 589 Qi was defeated by Jin. In 579 the four great powers of Qin (west), Jin (center), Chu (south) and Qi (east) met to declare a truce and limit their military strength. In 546 a similar four-power conference recognized several smaller states as satellites of Qi, Jin and Qin.

Sacrificial horses discovered in the tomb of Duke Jing of Qi

Warring States period

Early in the period, Qi annexed a number of smaller states. Qi was one of the first states to patronize scholars. In 532, the Tian clan destroyed several rival families and came to dominate the state. In 485, the Tian killed the ducal heir and fought several rival clans. In 481, the Tian chief killed a puppet duke, most of the ruler's family and a number of rival chiefs. He took control of most of the state and left the Duke with only the capital of Linzi and the area around Mount Tai. In 386, the House of Tian replaced the House of Jiang as rulers of Qi. In 221, Qi was the last of the warring states to be conquered by Qin, thereby putting an end to the wars and uniting China under the Qin Dynasty.

Culture of Qi

Before Qin unified China, each state had its own customs and culture. According to the Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu, composed in the 4th or 5th century BC and included in the Book of Documents, there were nine distinct cultural regions of China, which are described in detail in this book. The work focuses on the travels of the titular sage, Yu the Great, throughout each of the regions. Other texts, predominantly military, also discussed these cultural variations.

One of these texts was The Book of Master Wu, written in response to a query by Marquis Wu of Wei on how to cope with the other states. Wu Qi, the author of the work, declared that the government and nature of the people were reflective of the terrain of the environment in which they inhabited. Of Qi, he said:

Although the Qi people are strong and the country is prosperous, the ruler and officials are arrogant and do not care about the people. The state's policies are not uniform and not strictly enforced. Salaries and wages are not fair. This causes disharmony and disunity. Although they are numerous, they are not strong. To defeat them, we should divide our army into three groups and have our left and right groups attack on the left and right wings of Qi's army. Once their battle formations are thrown into disarray, our central group will be in position to attack and victory will follow.

— Wuzi, Master Wu Chen Song translation

While visiting Qi, Confucius was deeply impressed with perfection of performance of Shao music 韶 therein.^[3]

During the Warring States period, Qi was famous for its capital's academy Jixia.

Rulers

House of Jiang

House of Tian

Subject to the House of Jiang

As rulers of Qi

Qi in astronomy

Qi is represented by the star Chi Capricorni in the "Twelve States" asterism in the "Girl" lunar mansion in the "Black Turtle" symbol. Qi is also represented by the star 112 Herculis in the "Left Wall" asterism in the "Heavenly Market" enclosure.

See also

• Guan Zhong
• Sun Bin

References

Further reading

• Michael Loewe, ed. (2006). The Cambridge history of ancient China: from the origins of civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8. 
• Glessner Creel, Herrlee (1979). The birth of China: a study of the formative period of Chinese civilization. New York: Ungar Publ. ISBN 0-8044-6093-0. 

Coordinates: 36°49′00″N 118°18′00″E / 36.8167°N 118.3000°E / 36.8167; 118.3000