kingdom · China, Tibet and Mongolia

State of Qi (Kai)

1046 BCE – 445 BCE (approx.) · capital Yongqiu

The small Zhou state where the descendants of the Xia kings kept up their ancestral sacrifices, remembered in the idiom about the man of Qi who feared the sky would fall.

Origins

After the conquest of the Shang, King Wu of Zhou sought out descendants of the Xia royal house and enfeoffed Donglou, of the Si clan, at Yongqiu (modern Qi County, Henan), so that sacrifices to Yu the Great would continue. The name is often written Kai in English to distinguish it from the great State of Qi.

Rule and society

Qi was weak and repeatedly moved, eventually relocating east into Shandong under pressure from stronger neighbours. Its rulers held the rank of duke or earl but depended on alliances. Confucius complained that Qi preserved too few records to confirm the rites of the Xia, and the Liezi made a man of Qi the proverbial worrier who feared that heaven would collapse.

Decline and legacy

The State of Chu annexed Qi in 445 BCE as it expanded into the lands between the Huai and the Yellow River. Its main legacy is symbolic: it embodied the Zhou practice of preserving defeated royal lines, and its name survives in the Chinese idiom for needless anxiety.

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

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻