kingdom · China, Tibet and Mongolia

State of Dai (Di)

600 BCE – 457 BCE (approx.) · capital Dai

A small Di kingdom in the uplands of northern Hebei, destroyed in 457 BCE when Zhao Xiangzi murdered its king at a banquet.

Origins

Dai was a state of the Di peoples in the upland basins of northern Shanxi and Hebei, around modern Yuxian, on the frontier between the Chinese states and the steppe. Its date of origin is unknown; it appears in Chinese sources in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.

Rule and society

Dai was known for its horses and for trade between farmers and herders. Its king married the sister of Zhao Xiangzi, leader of the Zhao lineage of the State of Jin, but little else is recorded of its government.

Decline and legacy

In 457 BCE Zhao Xiangzi invited the king of Dai to a feast and had him killed with a bronze ladle, then annexed Dai; his sister, the queen, is said to have killed herself with a hairpin. Dai became a base of the Zhao family, the future State of Zhao.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). State of Dai (Di). In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-dai-di
MLA
“State of Dai (Di).” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-dai-di. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “State of Dai (Di).” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-dai-di.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘State of Dai (Di)’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-dai-di (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻