Duke Wen of Qin (, died 716 BC) was the seventh ruler of the

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

state of Qin that eventually united China to become the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

. His ancestral name was Ying (), and Duke Wen was his

posthumous title A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishments o ...

Reign

Duke Wen succeeded his father Duke Xiang of Qin, who died in 766 BC while campaigning against 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 me ...

in Qishan. He moved the Qin capital back to 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 200 ...

) from Qian (汧, in present-day

Long County, Shaanxi Long County or Longxian () is a county of Baoji, in the west of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Gansu province to the north and west. History Longxian was formerly known as Longzhou (陇州), and named for being east of Longshan, which is th ...

), but in 762 BC moved the capital again to the confluence of the Qian and Wei rivers. In 753 BC Duke Wen established the office of historiographer to record the official history of Qin. In 750 BC he defeated the Rong tribes that were occupying the former Zhou land. He returned the territory east of Qishan to Zhou, and kept the rest for Qin as

King Ping of Zhou King Ping of Zhou (; died 720 BC), personal name Ji Yijiu, was the thirteenth king of the Zhou dynasty and the first of the Eastern Zhou dynasty.Sima Qian. ''Records of the Grand Historian'', "Zhou Dynasty Annals". History He was the son of Kin ...

had promised Duke Wen's father Duke Xiang that Qin could keep the land west of Qishan if they could expel the Rong people. The Qin territory was greatly expanded.

Succession

Duke Wen reigned for 50 years from 765 until 716 BC. His son, the crown prince, died before him in 718 BC and was given the posthumous title Duke Jing (秦竫公). Duke Wen died in 716 BC and was succeeded by his grandson Duke Xian of Qin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wen of Qin, Duke Rulers of Qin 8th-century BC Chinese monarchs 716 BC deaths