Tian Qi (田齊) was a state in China during the Warring States period. In 386 BCE, the ruler of the state of Qi, which had belonged to the Jiang (姜) surname of the Lü (呂) clan, was usurped by the Tian (田) clan of the Gui (嬀) surname, who had been ministers. The state name remained Qi (齊), but it is called Tian Qi to distinguish it from the Lü Qi of the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods. Its capital remained Linzi (臨淄), as it had been during the Jiang Qi.
History
Usurpation of the throne of Qi by the Tian clan of ministers
In 672 BCE, Prince Chen Wan (田完), of the state of Chen (陳), led refugees from Chen into Qi, where he became a powerful grand officer family, and his descendants flourished as the Tian, Sun, Wen, Xie, and Wang clans. The Qi chancellor Yan Ying, while conversing with Yang Shexie (羊舌肸) of Jin, predicted that a dynasty of the Gui-surnamed Tian clan would be established in Qi.
In 386 BCE, Tian He (田和), a minister of the Qi clan, drove out Duke Kang (康公) and became the marquis of Qi. King Wei (威王) carried out administrative reforms to increase national strength, and in the 4th century BCE, Qi formed a power that divided China with Qin.
The ancestor of the Tian clan was Prince Wan (完), son of Duke Li (厲公), the 14th ruler of Chen, who fled from Chen to Qi in 672 BCE. During the 14th year of Duke Huan of Qi (齊桓公), the duke highly valued his character and wished to make him a minister (卿), but he firmly declined and became the Gongzheng (工正), the head who governed the artisans. After Wan settled in Qi, he used both the Chen (陳) and Tian (田) surnames interchangeably. When Wan died, he was given the posthumous name Jingzhong (敬仲).1 His descendants later destroyed the Jiang-surnamed state of Qi and usurped it as the Tian Qi.
During the reign of Duke Jing (景公), the 26th ruler, Tian Xizi (田釐子) Qi (乞) won the people's favor by using small measures when collecting taxes and large measures when distributing grain to the people.
After Duke Jing died, his young son Tu (荼) ascended the throne. Tian Qi (田乞) and Bao Mu (鮑牧) gathered supporters, attacked and eliminated the forces that defended the young ruler, and summoned Prince Yang Sheng (陽生), who was in exile in the state of Lu, to install him as ruler. This ruler became the 27th ruler, Duke Dao (悼公).
After Tian Qi (田乞) died, his son, the treacherous Tian Chengzi (田成子) Heng (恒),2 succeeded him. Bao Mu assassinated Duke Dao and set up Duke Jian (簡公) on the throne. Tian Chang (田常) and Jianzhi (監止) became the left and right chancellors, but the two became opposed and competed for power. When Tian Chang learned of Jianzhi's plot, he struck first, killing Jianzhi and then Duke Jian, and set up Duke Ping (平公). At this time, Tian Chang took control of the government of Qi and turned the entire eastern part of Qi's An'ping (安平) into Tian clan fiefs. In the 19th year of Duke Kang (強公), the 32nd and last ruler of Qi (386 BCE), Tian He (田和), the great-grandson of Tian Chang, drove Duke Kang to the seaside and became ruler of Qi, after which Qi was governed by the Tian clan.
In 386 BCE, he was enfeoffed as a marquis by King An of Zhou (安王). This marked the establishment of Tian Qi.
Heyday
The period of the reigns of King Wei, King Xuan (宣王), and King Xiang (襄王) (mid-4th century BCE to mid-3rd century BCE) was Qi's heyday.
King Wei, famous for the anecdote of "not flying, not singing" (不飛不鳴), raised the state's power through original policies. In military affairs, he employed Sun Bin (孫臏) and defeated Wei at the Battle of Maling (馬陵) in 341 BCE.
In learning, too, Linzi, the capital, was an active center, where scholars gathered at the Jixia (稷下) Gate were called "scholars of Jixia" (稷下之學士), and the "Jixia school" (稷下之學) arose and formed the center of learning of this period. Representative figures included Chunyu Kun (淳于髡) and Xunzi (荀子). In 334 BCE, King Wei, together with King Hui (惠王) of Wei, adopted royal titles. Afterward, national power continued to strengthen, creating a two-great-power era with Qi in the east and Qin in the west.
During the reign of King Min (湣王), he destroyed Song, and together with King Zhao (昭襄王) of Qin, he claimed the title Di (帝), higher than king, and was called the Eastern Emperor (東帝). However, fearing the resentment of the surrounding feudal lords, he restored the title to king.
During this period, the "Four Gentlemen" Lord Mengchang [[孟嘗君, Tian Wen (田文)]] served as chancellor and managed the government. He raised Qi to a strong state together with Chu and Qin, and he is evaluated as the foremost of the Four Gentlemen.
Decline
During the reign of King Min, he destroyed Song and reduced the ancestral temples and altars of Yan to ruins. Afterward, under the leadership of the Yan general Yue Yi (樂毅), a coalition of states plotted against Qi. In 284 BCE, Qi was crushed by a five-state coalition of Yan, Qin, Zhao, Wei, and Han led by Yue Yi. The capital Linzi fell to Yue Yi, and King Min was killed at his place of refuge. Qi came close to destruction under Yue Yi, but when King Xiang ascended the throne, the famous general and descendant of the ducal clan, Tian Dan (田單), achieved victories that recovered more than seventy lost cities.
However, Qi's national strength had already declined sharply, and it was unrealistic to contend for the world together with Qin as before. Afterward, Qi adopted a policy of standing aside as other states were destroyed by Qin. Certainly, this policy secured a temporary peace, but as a result, in the end Qi faced Qin with no allies at all.
In 221 BCE, General Wang Ben (王賁), dispatched by Qin Shi Huang, captured the last king, Jian (建), and Qi was destroyed. It was the last of the "Seven Warring States" other than Qin to fall.
Brief revival [Later Qi (後齊)]
In 209 BCE, at the end of the Qin dynasty, when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled and established Zhang Chu (張楚), the Tian clan members of the Qi royal lineage, Tian Dan (田儋), Tian Rong (田榮), and Tian Heng (田橫), three brothers, rose against Qin and restored Qi with Tian Dan as king. Tian Dan began to pacify the land of Qi, but while rescuing the state of Wei, which had been attacked by the Qin general Zhang Han, he was counterattacked and killed in battle. In the native land of Qi, Tian Jia (田假), younger brother of the Qi king Jian, was set up as the new king, but Tian Rong attacked Tian Jia, drove him out, and set up Tian Shi (田市), son of Tian Dan, as king. Meanwhile, Tian An (田安), grandson of the Qi king Jian, also built an independent power base in Jibei Commandery (齊北郡).
After destroying Qin and seizing hegemony, Xiang Yu divided Qi into three, appointing Tian Dao (田都) as king of Qi, Tian Shi as king of Jiaodong, and Tian An as king of Jibei. Dissatisfied with this, Tian Rong rebelled, became king, and annexed all of Qi's regions. Xiang Yu then marched into Qi to punish him. In this battle, Tian Rong was defeated and died while fleeing, and Tian Jia became the new king. Still not satisfied, Xiang Yu burned all of Qi's city walls and vented his anger by indiscriminately killing residents of the regions he passed through. In response, Tian Heng rose up, set up Tian Guang (田廣), son of Tian Rong, as king, drove out Tian Jia, and attacked Xiang Yu's army. Because Xiang Yu had buried many Qi prisoners alive, Qi resisted desperately and could not be easily conquered.
At that time, Liu Bang, King of Han, raised troops in his fief and seized Guanzhong and Pengcheng, the capital of Xiangchu. Because of this, Xiang Yu could not overthrow Qi and withdrew to fight the Han army. Tian Heng easily recovered the cities of Qi.
Tian Heng made Tian Guang, son of Tian Rong, king, while he himself became chancellor and led the government. Three years later, Han Xin, a subordinate of Liu Bang, began a campaign against Qi. However, Li Yiji (酈食其), a subordinate of Liu Bang, visited as an envoy to form an alliance with Qi, and Liu Bang and Qi formed an alliance. However, Han Xin ignored this and attacked Qi. In response, Tian Guang and Tian Heng became enraged, boiled Li Yiji alive in a cauldron, and fought Han Xin's army, but they were repeatedly defeated by it.
Xiang Yu sent Long Ju (龍且) as commander with an army of 200,000 as reinforcement, but through Han Xin's "stratagem of the floating sandbags" (囊沙之計), Long Ju was killed and the army of 200,000 was annihilated. Tian Guang was defeated, captured while fleeing, and executed by Han Xin.
Tian Heng then took the throne, but he was attacked by Guan Ying, a Han general, and surrendered to Peng Yue of Wei. Afterward, when Emperor Gaozu of Han unified the realm, Tian Heng had nowhere to go, and eventually, leading only some 500 of his followers, he hid on a remote island. Unable to resist the persuasion and coercion of Liu Bang, he finally committed suicide, and it is said that the 500 followers who had followed him also killed themselves. He is said to have hidden on Tianheng Island (田橫島) off Qingdao (青島) in present-day Shandong Province (山東省), China, and the graves of the "Five Hundred Gentlemen of Tian Heng" (田橫五百士) are located at the Tianheng Island Tourism and Leisure Resort (田橫島旅游度假區) in Qingdao.
Meanwhile, in the areas of Oyeon Island and Nokdo in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, and Eocheong Island in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, Korea, there is a custom of worshiping Tian Heng as a guardian deity (堂神), along with legends related to him. In this region, Tian Heng is worshiped as a guardian deity (堂神) who protects bountiful fishing and maritime safety, and a custom survives of holding a shrine ritual (堂祭) on the fourth lunar month and the winter solstice.
It is also told that when Tian Heng died, the guests who were carrying his body mourned him and composed the funeral songs "Haelo-ga" (薤露歌) and "Horigok" (蒿里曲), and that this became the origin of the funeral song mangga (輓歌), the origin of the sangyeot-sori (喪歌).
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