Duke Jian of Qi (), personal name Lü Ren, was

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

of the Qi state from 484 BC to 481 BC.

Reign

Duke Jian succeeded his father,

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 ...

, who was killed in 485 BC after four years of reign. Duke Jian made his trusted official Kan Zhi (闞止), a native of the neighbouring

State of Lu Lu (; 249 BC) was a vassal state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China located around modern Shandong. Founded in the 11th century BC, its rulers were from a cadet branch of the House of Ji () that ruled the Zhou dynasty. The f ...

, his prime minister. In 481 BC Kan Zhi plotted to attack and expel the powerful Tian clan from Qi, but the Tians learned of his plan and staged a preemptive coup d'etat. Kan Zhi was killed first, and Duke Jian escaped the capital but was captured in Shuzhou (in present-day

Teng County Teng County or Tengxian (; ) is a county of eastern Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Wuzhou. , it had a population of 1,125,264 residing in an area of . The county is divided into a northern and sout ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

) and killed on the 24th day of the fifth month.

Tian Heng Tian () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their highest god as ''Shangdi'' or ''Di'' (, ' ...

, the leader of the Tian clan, subsequently installed Duke Jian's younger brother Ao on the throne, to be known as

Duke Ping of Qi Duke Ping of Qi (), personal name Lü Ao, was from 480 BC to 456 BC the duke of the Qi state. Reign Duke Ping was a younger son of Duke Dao of Qi, who was killed in 485 BC after four years of reign, probably by Tian Heng, leader of the powerfu ...

. From then on the dukes of Qi would be reduced to mere figureheads and the leaders of the Tian clan would be ''de facto'' rulers of Qi, and in 386 BC Tian He would formally become Duke of Qi, ending more than six centuries of rule by the House of Jiang.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jian of Qi, Duke Year of birth unknown Monarchs of Qi (state) from the House of Jiang 5th-century BC Chinese monarchs 481 BC deaths 5th-century BC murdered monarchs Assassinated Chinese politicians Assassinated Chinese heads of state Ancient assassinated Chinese people