Duke Xiang of Qin ( zh, c=秦襄公, p=Qín Xiāng Gōng; died 766 BC), personal name possibly ''Ying Kai(嬴開)'', was a duke of the state of Qin, ruling from 777 BC to 766 BC. He was the first Qin ruler to be granted a noble rank by the king of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

; under his reign, Qin was formally recognized as a major

vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...

of the Zhou dynasty.

Accession to the throne

Duke Xiang was not the eldest son of his father, Duke Zhuang of Qin. Duke Zhuang had three sons, and Shifu (世父) was the eldest and therefore the legal heir. However, Shifu refused the throne, and preferred to devote his life to campaigning against the Rong tribes in order to avenge the death of his grandfather Qin Zhong, who was killed in battle against the Rong in 822 BC. Duke Xiang was then made the Crown Prince, and succeeded his father when Duke Zhuang died in 778 BC.

War with the Rong tribes

Duke Xiang ruled during a time of turmoil. The

had been at war with the western Rong tribes since the time of Duke Xiang's grandfather Qin Zhong. Qin, being the westernmost of the Zhou states, bore the brunt of the fighting against the Rong. Soon after Duke Xiang ascended the throne, in 777 BC he married his younger sister Mu Ying to a Rong leader called King Feng (豐王) in an apparent attempt to make peace. The following year he moved the Qin capital eastward from Quanqiu (犬丘, also called Xichui, in present-day

Li County, Gansu Li County or Lixian is an administrative division of the prefecture-level city of Longnan in southeastern Gansu, a northwestern province of China. The 2010 Chinese census found a population of 458,237, a decline of around 25,000 from the year 2 ...

) to Qian (汧, in present-day Long County, Shaanxi). Soon afterwards, Quanqiu fell to the Rong. Shifu, Duke Xiang's older brother who led the defence of Quanqiu, was captured by the Rong, but was released a year later.

Enfeoffment

In 771 BC King You of Zhou deposed Crown Prince Yijiu and made Bofu, the son of his favorite concubine Bao Si, the new crown prince. Yijiu was the son of Queen Shen who was the daughter of the Marquis of Shen. The Marquis of Shen rebelled at the news and formed an alliance with the

Quanrong The Quanrong () or Dog Rong were an ethnic group, classified by the ancient Chinese as " Qiang", active in the northwestern part of China during and after the Zhou dynasty (1046–221 BCE). Their language or languages are considered to have been ...

tribes to attack the Zhou capital Haojing, killing King You at Mount Li. The Marquis of Shen and other feudal rulers then installed Prince Yijiu on the Zhou throne as King Ping of Zhou. As Haojing was now ruined and still under the threat of the Quanrong, it was decided that the Zhou capital would be moved east to

Luoyi Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengz ...

, and Duke Xiang sent the Qin army to escort King Ping to Luoyi and established him at the new capital. This event marked the start of the

Eastern Zhou The Eastern Zhou (256 BCE) is a period in Chinese history comprising the latter two-thirds of the Zhou dynasty. The period follows the Western Zhou era and is named due to the Zhou royal court relocating the capital eastward from Fenghao ...

dynasty. To reward Duke Xiang's contribution, King Ping formally granted him a noble rank and enfeoffed him as a feudal lord. Qin was now elevated from a minor "attached state" (附庸, ''fuyong'') to a major

. King Ping further promised to give Qin the land west of Qishan, the former heartland of Zhou, if Qin could expel the Rong tribes that were occupying the land.

Death and succession

In 766 BC, the 12th year of his reign, Duke Xiang died while campaigning against the

in Qishan. He was succeeded by his son, Duke Wen of Qin. He was buried in Quanqiu and his tomb has been discovered in Li County,

Gansu Province Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xiang of Qin, Duke Year of birth unknown Monarchs of Qin 8th-century BC Chinese monarchs 760s BC deaths