kingdom · China, Tibet and Mongolia

State of Xi

1046 BCE – 680 BCE (approx.) · capital Xi

A small Ji-clan state on the Huai whose fall around 680 BCE is tied to the story of Lady Xi, the silent queen taken by King Wen of Chu.

Origins

Xi was a minor Zhou state ruled by the Ji clan, located near modern Xixian in southern Henan, on the northern edge of the Huai River plain. It lay close to the State of Cai and within reach of the expanding State of Chu.

Rule and society

Little is recorded about its government. Xi appears in the Zuo zhuan chiefly in a story of feuding: the Marquis of Xi, angered that the Marquis of Cai had insulted his wife, Xi Gui, invited Chu to attack Cai, setting off a chain of events that drew Chu into the region.

Decline and legacy

King Wen of Chu destroyed Xi around 680 BCE and took Xi Gui as his wife; she bore the future King Cheng but, by tradition, refused to speak to her new husband. Xi became a Chu county, an early example of Chu's administrative districts.

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 Xi. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-xi
MLA
“State of Xi.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-xi. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “State of Xi.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-xi.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘State of Xi’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/state-of-xi (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻