The State of Qi (1044 BC – 221 BC) was a vassal state in ancient history from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and was made a marquis by Zhou Tianzi, divided into two eras: Jiang Qi and Tian Qi. The territory of the State of Qi was located in most of present-day Shandong Province. Shi Fengjun was the Zhou Wu Kingdom Division, the military master Taigong Wang (Jiang Ziya). It was jointly evaluated by Zuo Qiuming's "Twenty-Seven Years of Zuo Chuan Xianggong", "Chinese Zheng Yu" and Sima Qian's "Chronology of the Twelve Princes of History" as one of the four great powers of the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Duke of Qi Huan became the head of the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons through the "Zun Wang Zhiyi".
In 386 BC, Tian He was listed as a prince by King An of Zhou, and Jiang Qi was replaced by Tian Qi, who was officially called Hou, still using the name of the State of Qi, known as "Tian Qi", and became one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. In 334 BC, Qihou Tianyinqi was proclaimed king, which was the king of Qiwei. In the middle of the Warring States period, the State of Qi expanded abroad, swallowing the Song State in the south and strengthening the Qin In the west, and as a result, it was cut down by the Five Kingdoms and greatly reduced its national strength. In 221 BC, Wang Jian of Qi surrendered to The Prince of Qin, the State of Qi collapsed, and Qin Shi Huang established the first great unified dynasty in ancient history, the Qin Dynasty. It is worth noting that just as the state names of the princely states such as the State of Qin, the State of Zhao, and the State of Wei continued to be adopted by later states, after the fall of the State of Qi, there were still 6 countries in ancient history with the name of "Qi", do you know?
I. The State of Qi (Separatist Forces during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period)
Duan Gong (?) ~357), the xianbei chief of Duanbu during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and the son of the former chief Duan Lan. After Duan Lan's death, Duan Gong took over his ministry. In the sixth year of Yonghe (350), Duan Gong took advantage of the chaos to occupy Guanggu (廣固, in modern Qingzhou, Shandong) and proclaimed himself the King of Qi. For Duan Gong, because the place where he was divided was exactly within the scope of the pre-Qin qi state, he called himself the King of Qi, which was undoubtedly a more suitable choice.
In the seventh year of Yonghe (351), Duan Gong was attached to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, appointed as the general of Zhenbei, and was given the title of Duke of Qi, but still a prince of the party, and his power was quite strong in the Shandong Peninsula. In other words, Duan Gong was only nominally subordinate to the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the eleventh year of Yonghe (355), Duan Gongyin wrote a letter condemning the former Yan emperor Murong Jun's act of becoming emperor. Murong Jun was furious and sent Murong Ke, the king of Taiyuan, to attack Duan Gong.
In the twelfth year of Yonghe (356), Duan Gong's army was defeated and surrendered to Former Yan, and Murong Jun appointed him as the general of Fushun. In the first year of Shengping (357), Duan Gong was killed by Murong Jun for no reason, which meant the complete demise of the State of Qi.
2. Southern Qi
Southern Qi (479–502) was the second dynasty of the Southern Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. For Southern Qi, the founding emperor Xiao Daocheng served as a general of the Right Army during the reign of Emperor Ming of Song. After the death of Emperor Ming of Song, Xiao Daocheng took power. In 474, Xiao Daocheng put an end to the rebellion of Liu Xiufan, the prince of Guiyang in Jiangzhou, and was made a duke and a leading general in Qianzhong. In 477, Xiao Daocheng deposed Emperor Liu Yu after killing him and installed his younger brother Liu Zhun to succeed him. Xiao Daocheng was crowned King of Qi. At this time, Xiao Daocheng was only one step away from usurping the throne and standing on his own.
In 479, Xiao Daocheng forced the Song Shun Emperor Liu Zhunchan to take the throne, establish himself as emperor, and establish Southern Qi, with the capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). In 502, Emperor Qi was forced to take the throne of Xiao Yan, a general who had taken the throne. Southern Qi collapsed, and Southern Qi was the shortest-lived of the four dynasties of the Southern Dynasty, with only twenty-three years.
3. Northern Qi
Northern Qi (550–577) was one of the Northern Dynasties during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, founded by Gao Yang, the second son of Gao Huan, a chancellor of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. After six emperors, he enjoyed twenty-eight years of the country. In this regard, in the author's opinion, like the Southern Qi, the Northern Qi was not only in the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, but also had a relatively short period of existence.
After the death of Gao Huan, the chancellor of Eastern Wei, the eldest son Gao Cheng continued to hold power in Eastern Wei, and was assassinated when he was about to usurp the throne. After Gao Cheng's death, his brother Gao Yang took the throne and deposed the puppet emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei, and in 550 (Gengwu May 5), that is, the throne, the state name Qi, Jianyuan Tianbao, jiancheng (present-day southern Linzhang County, Hebei Province), known in history as Northern Qi. Because the royal family name is Gao, it is also called Gao Qi. Northern Qi inherited territory controlled by Eastern Wei and occupied a vast area of Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, as well as northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui. At the same time, the dynasties that coexisted with it were Western Wei, Northern Zhou (replacing Western Wei), Liang, and Chen (replacing Liang, but only occupying part of the former's territory). In this regard, in the author's opinion, the territory of Northern Qi is actually relatively close to the State of Qi in the pre-Qin period, which should be an important reason for its use of the name Qi.
Fourth, Daqi
Daqi (880–884) was a force created by a peasant uprising in the late Tang Dynasty. In this regard, in the author's opinion, this is more similar to the Dashun founded by Li Zicheng at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
In 875, Huang Chao, his brothers Huang Cun, Huang Yi, Huang Yi, and his nephew Lin Yan gathered thousands of people in response to Wang Xianzhi's rebellion. In 878, Huang Chao became king and changed his name to Yuan Wangba, and in December 880, he captured the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an, and Yu Hanyuandian was the emperor, with the name of Daqi and the change of Yuan Jintong.
However, for the Huangchao uprising, it did not last long. In April 883, Huang Chao led an army to evacuate Chang'an. In June 884, Huang Chao was killed by his nephew Lin Yan. In 901 AD, the last Qi army, Huang Hao, was defeated in Hunan. From this point of view, the Daqi established by Huang Chao, like the Dashun established by Li Zicheng, can only be said to be a flash in the pan.
V. The State of Qi (Predecessor of the Southern Tang Dynasty)
As we all know, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Southern Tang Dynasty was an important country. As far as the Southern Tang is concerned, in fact, the initial national name is Qi, not Tang. According to the "New Five Dynasties History" and other historical records, in 937 (the third year of Tianzuo), Xu Zhihuan established the State of Qi and appointed Song Qiqiu and Xu Jiu as the left and right ministers. In October of the same year, Xu Zhihuan was proclaimed emperor by Zen, the state name was Daqi, changed the yuan to Shengyuan, and honored Yang Pu as emperor of the noble Si Xuanhong Ancient Rang, and posthumously honored Xu Wen as the Zhongwu Emperor.
However, in 939 (the third year of Shengyuan), Xu Zhihuan restored the Surname of Li and changed his name to Li Fu, claiming to be the fourth grandson of Li Ke, the Son of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, and changing the name of the country to Tang, which was known as Southern Tang. Xu Qi was replaced by the Southern Tang. Therefore, for Xu Zhihuan, changing the name of the country to Tang should be hoping to get the support of the original Tang Dynasty forces, which is similar to the Later Tang after the fall of the Tang Dynasty.
Sixth, pseudo-Qi
Finally, pseudo-Qi (1130-1137) was a puppet force established by the Jin Dynasty after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty in the Northern Song Dynasty south of the Yellow River, also known as Liu Qi. In July of the eighth year of the Jin Dynasty (1130), Emperor Taizong of Jin made Liu Yu emperor of Daqi and established the capital Daming Prefecture (大名府, in modern Daming County, Hebei). For the Jin Dynasty, after entering the Central Plains, there has been no way to calm the rebel army everywhere. Therefore, The Golden State hopes to establish a pseudo-Qi to solve this problem. However, the pseudo-Qi did not achieve this goal, so in November of the fifteenth year of the Jin Tianhui (the eighth year of the pseudo-Qi Fuchang, 1137), Jin Xizong deposed Liu Yu as the king of Shu, which meant that the pseudo-Qi perished and only existed for about 8 years.
It is worth noting that the heyday of the pseudo-Qi forces was around the twelfth year of the Jin Tianhui (pseudo-Qi Fuchang five years, 1134). At this time, the pseudo-Qi controlled Shandong in the east, Longzhong in the west, the Old River in the north, and the Huaishui River in the south. However, after that, under the counterattack of the Southern Song Dynasty army, the scope of control was somewhat reduced. Therefore, the inability to resist the attack of the Southern Song Dynasty army is naturally one of the reasons why the pseudo-Qi has lost its existence value.