An Ruzi (), also called Yan Ruzi (), personal name Lü Tu, was for 10 months in 489 BC the ruler of the Qi state. He was subsequently killed by Viscount Xi of Tian (田僖子), who then installed An Ruzi's older brother, Duke Dao, to the Qi throne.

Designation as Crown Prince

Prince Tu was the youngest son of

Duke Jing of Qi Duke Jing of Qi (), personal name Lü Chujiu, was ruler of the Qi state from 547 BC to 490 BC. After years of unrest as two powerful ministers, Cui Zhu (崔杼) and Qing Feng (慶封), sought to control the Qi state, Duke Jing appointed Yan Yin ...

, and his mother was Duke Jing's favourite concubine Yu Si,The ''

Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...

'' incorrectly gives her name as Rui Ji and Rui Zi. who was from the minor state of Chunyu. In the summer of 490 BC, the 58th year of Duke Jing's reign, the crown prince of Qi died. Although Duke Jing had at least five other grown sons, he decided to make Prince Tu the new crown prince. Because Prince Tu was a young boy and his mother was of a lowly status, Duke Jing ordered the ministers Guo Xia of the Guo clan and Gao Zhang of the Gao clan to support Prince Tu and exile the other princes to the remote city of Lai.

Reign

Duke Jing died soon afterward in the autumn of 490 BC. Guo and Gao installed Prince Tu on the throne, and the other princes escaped to the nearby states of

Wey Wey or WEY may refer to: Places *Wey (state) (衞), or Wei, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou Dynasty *River Wey, river in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex, England *River Wey (Dorset), river of Dorset, south west England *Wey and Arun Canal, ...

and Lu. However, the next year the Tian and Bao clans, led by Tian Qi and Bao Mu, staged a coup d'etat and defeated the Gao and Guo clans. Tian Qi brought back Prince Yangsheng, an older half-brother of Prince Tu, from Lu and installed him on the throne, to be known as

Duke Dao of Qi Duke Dao of Qi (), personal name Lü Yangsheng, was from 488 BC to 485 BC the monarch of the Qi state. Accession to the throne Prince Yangsheng was a middle son of Duke Jing of Qi. In the summer of 490 BC, the 58th year of Duke Jing's reign, t ...

. Bao Mu was reluctant to depose Prince Tu but dared not oppose Tian. Duke Dao soon killed Prince Tu, who is posthumously known as An Ruzi. The Tian clan would from then on increasingly dominate the power of Qi, eventually replacing the House of Jiang as rulers of Qi in 386 BC.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:An Ruzi Monarchs of Qi (state) from the House of Jiang 5th-century BC Chinese monarchs 489 BC deaths Child monarchs from Asia 5th-century BC murdered monarchs Year of birth unknown Assassinated Chinese heads of state