Chouchi ( zh, c=仇池, p=Chóuchí), or Qiuchi ( zh, p=Qiúchí), was a

polity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people org ...

in China ruled by the Yang clan of Di ethnicity in modern-day

Gansu 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 ...

Province. Its existence spanned both the

Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded b ...

and

Northern and Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered a ...

periods, but it is not listed among one of these regimes in historiography.

History

At the beginning of the 3rd century CE, Yang Teng (), chieftain of the White Neck Di (), had occupied the southeast area of modern

province, at the upper course of the Han River. His followers Yang Ju () and Yang Qianwan () paid tribute to the emperors of the Cao-Wei Dynasty and were rewarded with the title of prince ( ).''抱朴子, part 內篇, section 仙藥'' Yang Feilong () shifted the center of the Chouchi realm back to Lüeyang, where his successor Yang Maosou reigned as an independent king at the beginning of the 4th century. The Chouchi troops often plundered territories in the Central Plains to the east and abducted people there, but the troops of Eastern Jin and

Han-Zhao The Han-Zhao ( zh, s=汉赵, t=漢趙, p=Hàn Zhào; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao ( zh, s=前赵, t=前趙, p=Qián Zhào), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Liu ( Luandi) clan of Chuge-Xiongnu ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms per ...

deprived the Chouchi empire of some of its people. In 322, Yang Nandi suffered a defeat at the hands of

and was degraded to prince of

Wudu ''Wuduʾ'' ( ) is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. The steps of wudu are washing the hands, rinsing the mouth and nose, washing the face, then the forearms, then wiping the head, ...

() and duke of Chouchi (). The following years were characterized by numerous internal struggles among the Yang clan and several usurpations of the throne. The rulers were not seen as mere regional inspectors ( ) or governors ( ) of their region under the government of Jin. In 371 Fu Jian, ruler of

Former Qin Qin, known as the Former Qin and Fu Qin (苻秦) in historiography, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China ruled by the Fu (Pu) clan of the Di (Five Barbarians), Di peoples during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Founded in the wake of ...

, attacked Chouchi, captured the ruler Yang Cuan () and ended the period of Former Chouchi. Yang Ding, a great-great-grandson of Yang Maosou, and a son-in-law of Fu Jian, resurrected the Chouchi kingdom in 385, with the capital at Licheng (). His younger brother Yang Sheng () was able to conquer the region of Liangzhou () at the upper course of the Han River, and declared himself governor for the Jin Dynasty. Efforts to occupy the territory of modern

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

failed, but Chouchi controlled a large part of the modern provinces of Gansu (east) and

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

(south). After 443, the lords of Chouchi were only puppet rulers controlled by the

. Historians talk of the five realms of Chouchi ( ): Former and Later Chouchi ( , ), (), (), and ().''Era of 魏晉南北朝, Title 三國志, Part 吳書十, section 董襲傳'' Former Chouchi lasted between 296 and 371 while Later Chouchi lasted between 385 and 443. In 443, the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

conquered Chouchi, but was restored by Yang Wende that same year, beginning the Wudu period, although it could also be seen as a continuation of Later Chouchi. After the death of Yang Wendu in 477, the realm split into Yinping and Wuxing, the former lasting until around the mid-6th century and the latter lasting until 553.

History

Rulers

References

See also