Qi, orCh'i^[1] inWade–Giles romanization, was aregional state of theZhou dynasty inancient China, whose rulers heldtitles ofHou (侯), thenGong（公）, before declaring themselves independent Kings （王）. Its capital wasLinzi, located in present-dayShandong. Qi was founded shortly after the Zhouconquest ofShang,c. 1046 BCE. Its first monarch wasJiang Ziya (Lord Tai;r. 1046–1015 BCE ),minister ofKing Wen and alegendary figure in Chinese culture. Hisfamily ruled Qi for several centuries before it wasreplaced by the Tian family in 386 BCE.^[2] Qi was the final surviving state to be annexed byQin during itsunification of China.

Qi 齊 *Dzəj
1046 BCE–221 BCE
Qi in 260 BCE
Status	Regional State (1046–323 BCE ) Kingdom (323–221 BCE )
Capital	Yingqiu (11 c.–866 BCE ) Bogu (866–859 BCE ) Linzi (859–221 BCE )
Religion	ancestor worship Chinese folk religion
Government	Monarchy
Lord of Qi
• 685–643 BCE	Duke Huan of Qi
• 547–490 BCE	Duke Jing of Qi
Chancellor
• 685–645 BCE	Guan Zhong
• 556–500 BCE	Yan Ying
History
• Enfeoffment ofDuke Tai	1046 BCE
• Conquered by Qin	221 BCE
Currency	Knife money
Preceded by Succeeded by Pugu Qin dynasty

Qi
"Qi" inseal script (top), Traditional (middle), and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	齊
Simplified Chinese	齐
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qí Gwoyeu Romatzyh Chyi Wade–Giles Ch'i2 IPA [tɕʰǐ] Wu Suzhounese Zí Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Chàih Jyutping Cai4 IPA [tsʰɐj˩] Southern Min HokkienPOJ Chê Tâi-lô Tsê Eastern Min FuzhouBUC Cà̤ Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *[dz]ˤəj

During theZhouconquest ofShang,Jiang Ziya, a native ofJu County served as thechief minister toKing Wu, the same position he had held in service to King Wu's father. Following the Zhou victory, the lands comprising much of the Shandong peninsula and some nearby surrounds were established as the state of Qi, with Jiangcharged with ruling and defending them. After King Wu's death, Ziya remained loyal to theDuke of Zhou's regency during theThree Guards'failed rebellion. The Shang princeWu Geng had joined the revolt along with theDongyi polities ofYan [zh],Xu, andPugu, located within the boundaries of Qi. These were suppressed by 1039 BCE, but theBamboo Annals suggest that the native people of Pugu continued to revolt for about another decade before being destroyed a second timec. 1026.

Transmitted documents from theWestern Zhou period are scant, but it is known thatKing Yi of Zhou (r. 865–858 BCE) attacked Qi andboiledDuke Ai to death. During the time ofKing Xuan of Zhou (r.  827–782), there was a local succession struggle. Throughout this period, many of the nativeDongyi peopleswere absorbed into the Zhou cultural sphere.

The succession crisis following the violent death ofKing You of Zhou led to a dramatic and unrecoverable loss of political and military authority in the Zhou royal court. Under this new geopolitical situation, Qi rose to prominence underDuke Huan of Qi (r.  685–643 BCE ). He and his ministerGuan Zhong strengthened the state by consolidating power in the hands of the central government at the expense of the landed aristocracy, establishing a system of counties (縣;xiàn) ruled directly by ministers of the state court.^[3] Qi annexed 35 neighboring polities – includingTan – and brought others into submission. Guan Zhong's administrative reforms also included state monopolies on salt and iron, and in general were characteristic of the later political philosophy ofLegalism.^[4]: 526

In 667 BCE, the lords of Qi,Lu,Song,Chen, andZheng assembled in one of the first great interstate conferences, and Duke Huan was elected as their leader. Subsequently,King Hui of Zhou pronounced himBà (霸; 'big brother^[5]'), the "hegemon-protector" sworn to protect the royal house of Zhou and uphold the authority of theSon of Heaven (the Zhou king). The first offive such hegemons,^[6] he earned a tribute from the other states, and had the honour of paying the royal court a larger tribute than anyone else. His calls to arms were as binding as the king's own. Using this authority, during the first eleven years of his hegemony, Duke Huan intervened in a power struggle in Lu; protectedYan from encroachingWestern Rong nomads; drove offNorthern Di nomads after their invasions ofWey andXing, providing the people with provisions and protective garrison units; and led an alliance of eight states to conquerCai and thereby block the northward expansion ofChu.^[7]

After Duke Huan's death, awar of succession between rival claimants greatly weakened Qi and ending its reign of hegemony. In 632 BCE, Qi helpedJin defeat Chu at theBattle of Chengpu, only to be defeated by Jin itself at theBattle of An in 589. In 579, the four great powers ofQin, Jin, Chu, and Qi met to declare a truce and limit their military strength.

Early in the period, Qi annexed a number of smaller states. Qi was one of the first states to patronize scholars. In 532 BCE, theTian clan destroyed several rival families and came to dominate the state. In 485, the Tian clan killed the heir to the house of Jiang and fought several rival clans. Four years later, the Tian chief killed a puppet ruler, most of his family, and a number of rival chiefs. He took control of most of the state and left the monarch with only the capital ofLinzi and the area aroundMount Tai. In 386, the house of Tian fully replaced the house of Jiang as rulers of Qi. TheWarring States period ended with theQin conquest of Qi, which was the last to fall, in 222. So ended Qi, and the era ofImperial China began.

Before Qin unified China, each state's customs, culture, dialects, and orthography had pronounced differences. According to theYu Gong orTribute of Yu, composed in the fourth or fifth century BCE and included in theClassic of Documents, there were nine distinct cultural regions of China, which are described in detail. The work focuses on the travels of the titular sage,Yu the Great, throughout each of the regions.

Other texts also discussed these cultural variations. One of these texts wasThe Book of Master Wu, written in response to a query by Marquis Wu ofWei 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 Qi's troops are numerous, their organization is unstable... The people of Qi are by nature unyielding and their country prosperous, but the ruler and officials are arrogant and care nothing for the people. The state's policies are not uniform and not strictly enforced. Salaries and wages are unfair and unevenly distributed, causing disharmony and disunity. Qi's army is arrayed with their heaviest hitters at the front while the rest follow behind, so that even when their forces appear mighty, they are in reality fragile. To defeat them, we should divide our army into three columns and have two attack the left and right flanks of Qi's army. Once their battle formations are thrown into disarray, the central column should be in position to attack and victory will follow.

— Wu Qi,Wuzi

While visiting Qi,Confucius was deeply impressed with perfection of performance ofShao music (韶) therein.^[8]

During the Warring States period, Qi was famous for Linzi'sJixia Academy, where renowned scholars of the era from all over China would visit. Modern scholarship understands the Jixia Academy not to be a physical institution, but an informal collaboration of sponsored scholars engaged in intellectual work. One impressive surviving achievement of the Jixia school of thought is theYanzi Chunqiu.^[9]

The state of Qi was known for having well organized cities that were nearly rectangular in shape, with roads that were neatly knit into a grid-like pattern. The palace was strategically positioned facing the south. To the left (eastwardly direction) of the palace resided theancestral temple, to its right (westward) the temple of the gods, both one hundred paces away. This ensured that balance was achieved. In front of the palace was the court also one hundred paces away and to the back of the palace was the city. This type of layout influenced greatly the way cities were designed in subsequent generations.

Smaller estates known aschengyi (城邑) were abundant throughout Qi. They typically stretched 450 meters from south to north and 395 meters from east to west. The perimeter was usually surrounded by a wall with the living headquarters situated within and a nearly perfect square-shaped courtyard occupying the center.^{[citation needed]}

TheGreat Wall of Qi (齊長城) is the oldest existingGreat Wall inChina.^[10] Construction of the wall started in 441 BCE to defend against attacks from the states ofJin andYue.^[11] Construction ended during theWarring States period, with the wall enhancing Qi's defense against enemies states likeJu,Lu, andChu.^[12] The wall stretches from Guangli village of today's Changqing District,Jinan, running across the mountain ridges of central Shandong Province to the Yellow Sea in the present-day city ofQingdao.^[12] Its total length has been estimated at 600 km (370 miles).^[13] Most of the wall is still visible.

Qi is represented by the starChi Capricorni in the "Twelve States" asterism in the "Girl"lunar mansion in the "Black Turtle"symbol. Qi is also represented by the star112 Herculis in the "Left Wall" asterism in the"Heavenly Market" enclosure.^[14]

All dates are BCE

• Guan Zhong (720–645), prime minister toDuke Huan of Qi and known for making the state of Qi one of the most power Hegemons at the time.
• Yan Ying (578–500),prime minister toDuke Jing, known fromYanzi Chunqiu, to which he is sometimes attributed authorship.
• Sun Tzu (544–496) Chinese strategist and writer, famously attributed authorship ofThe Art of War. May not have existed.^[15]
• Sun Bin (?–316), military strategist known forSun Bin's Art of War.
• Chunyu Kun (386–310), official and master scholar at theJixia Academy.
• Mencius (372–289), official and one of the most renownedConfucian philosophers.
• Xun Kuang (313–238), philosopher who joined the Jixia Academy when he was 50 years old, known for theXunzi.

• Michael Loewe;Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds. (2006) [1999].The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University 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.
• Unraveling Early Daoist Oral Traditions in Guan Zi's "Purifying the Heart-Mind (Bai Xin)," "Art of the Heart-Mind (Xin Shu)," and "Internal Cultivation (Nei Ye)", Dan G. Reid

36°51′54″N118°20′24″E / 36.865°N 118.340°E /36.865; 118.340