Duke Tai of Tian Qi (), personal name Tian He, was from 386 BC to 384 BC the

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. He was the first Qi ruler from the Tian clan, which replaced the Jiang clan that had ruled the state for over six centuries.

Reign

Since Tian He's great-grandfather Tian Heng killed Duke Jian of Qi in 481 BC, the leaders of the Tian clan had been the ''de facto'' rulers of Qi. In 404 BC Tian He succeeded his older brother Tian Daozi as head of the Tian clan. He nominally served under

Duke Kang of Qi Duke Kang of Qi (), personal name Lü Dai, was Gong (title), duke of the Qi (state), Qi state from 404 BC to 386 BC. He was the final Qi ruler from the Jiang clan. The throne of Qi was thereafter usurped by the Tian clan, thus ending the Jiang Qi ...

, the last ruler from the House of Jiang, but effectively ruled the state himself. Tian He asked Marquis Wu of Wei to lobby for him at the court of King An of Zhou, the nominal ruler of all China. In 386 BC, King An officially recognized Tian He as ruler of Qi, ending more than six centuries of rule by the House of Jiang. Tian He became the first ''de jure'' ruler of Qi from the House of Tian, and is posthumously known as Duke Tai of Qi. He subsequently exiled Duke Kang to a seaside city, where Duke Kang lived for seven more years and died in 379 BC. Duke Tai died in 384 BC, just two years after formally ascending the throne. He was succeeded by his son Tian Yan, who would later be killed by Duke Tai's younger son Tian Wu,

Duke Huan of Tian Qi Duke Huan of Tian Qi (), personal name Tian Wu, was a monarch of the Qi state, reigning from 374 BC to 357 BC. Reign Duke Huan was born in 400 BC, during the reign of Duke Kang, the last Qi ruler from the House of Jiang. In 386 BC Duke Kang w ...

Mausoleum

Duke Tai's mausoleum is located near the village of Chengjiagou (程家沟) in Putong Township (普通乡) of

Qingzhou Qingzhou () Wade–Giles: Tsing-chou, sometimes written as Ching-chow-fu, formerly Yidu County (Yitu) (), is a county-level city, which is located in the west of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, in the central part of Shandong Province, Chin ...

Shandong Province Shandong is a coastal 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 religious center ...

. The extant structure measures from east to west, from north to south, and high. The seven known mausoleums of Tian Qi rulers are now protected as a National Historical and Cultural Site. Since 2008 they have been included in the tentative list of UNESCO

World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

as part of the ancient Qi capital and mausoleum complex.

Family

Wives: * Lady (d. 364 BC), the mother of Prince Yan Concubines: * Consort Xiao (), the mother of Prince Wu Sons: * Prince Yan (; d. 375 BC), ruled as the Duke of Qi from 383–375 BC * Prince Wu (; 400–357 BC), ruled as

from 374–357 BC

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tai of Tian Qi, Duke Year of birth unknown Monarchs of Qi (state) from the House of Tian 4th-century BC Chinese monarchs 384 BC deaths Founding monarchs in Asia Usurpers