十六国
李期
Li Qi (314–338), courtesy name Shiyun, was a native of Chengdu County, Shu Commandery (present-day Chengdu, Sichuan Province), of Di ethnicity. He was the fourth son of Li Xiong, the Wudi Emperor of Cheng Han, and the third emperor of Cheng Han (reigned 334–338). Intelligent and studious in his youth, Li Qi was generous and attracted talent. In 334, after Li Xiong's death, Li Ban succeeded to the throne. Li Qi and his elder…
Li Qi (314–338), courtesy name Shiyun, was a native of Chengdu County, Shu Commandery (present-day Chengdu, Sichuan Province), of Di ethnicity. He was the fourth son of Li Xiong, the Wudi Emperor of Cheng Han, and the third emperor of Cheng Han (reigned 334–338). Intelligent and studious in his youth, Li Qi was generous and attracted talent. In 334, after Li Xiong's death, Li Ban succeeded to the throne. Li Qi and his elder brother Li Yue assassinated Li Ban and seized the throne, changing the era name to Yuheng. During his reign, Li Qi favored Jing Qian, Tian Bao, and the eunuch Xu Pei, concentrating rewards and punishments in the hands of a few, causing the legal system to fall into disarray. In 338, Li Shou marched on Chengdu under the pretext of "purging evil ministers from the sovereign's side" and deposed Li Qi, demoting him to Duke of Qiongdu. Li Qi subsequently hanged himself while under house arrest, at the age of twenty-five (by traditional Chinese counting). His posthumous name was You Gong (Duke You).
314 CE（2nd year of the Jianxing era, Western Jin; 4th year of the Yuheng era, Cheng Han） ｜ Birth year ｜ Born in Chengdu County, Shu Commandery; the surviving sources give no exact month or day
338 CE（4th year of the Xiankang era, Eastern Jin; 4th year of the Yuheng era, Cheng Han） ｜ Twenty-five sui ｜ Li Shou led troops into Chengdu and Li Qi was deposed as Duke of Qiongdou County and put under house arrest
338 CE（4th year of the Xiankang era, Eastern Jin; 4th year of the Yuheng era, Cheng Han） ｜ Twenty-five sui ｜ He hanged himself in confinement; the Book of Jin gives his age as twenty-five
Li Qi was intelligent and studious, able to compose essays by age twenty. He valued wealth lightly and was fond of charity, humbly recruiting talent. He initially served as General Who Establishes Might. His father Li Xiong encouraged his sons and clan members to each gather followers through virtue and trust; most gathered no more than several hundred, but Li Qi alone attracted over a thousand. Most of those he recommended were employed by Li Xiong, so many secretaries and officials came from his circle.
Later, Li Xiong named his nephew and Li Qi's cousin Li Ban as crown prince. In the sixth month of 334, Li Xiong died and Li Ban succeeded. In the ninth month of the same year, Li Qi and his elder brother Li Yue assassinated Li Ban. They initially intended to elevate Li Yue, but Li Yue yielded to Li Qi because Li Qi was raised by Li Xiong's official wife Lady Ren and was talented. Li Qi thus became emperor, declared a general amnesty, and changed the era name to Yuheng. He killed Li Du, brother of the murdered Li Ban. He appointed Li Shou as Prince of Han, Governor of Liangzhou, Colonist Commandant of the Eastern Qiang, Central Army Protector, and Director of the Department of State Affairs; and Li Yue as Prince of Jianning, Chancellor, Grand General, and Director of the Department of State Affairs. He installed Lady Yan as Empress.
Li Qi, believing his seizure of power was secure, disregarded the old ministers. Externally he trusted Imperial Servant Jing Qian, Yao Hua, and Tian Bao; internally he relied on the eunuch Xu Pei. Criminal matters and state affairs rarely went through proper ministerial channels, and rewards and punishments were decided by this small group, causing the legal system to collapse. He falsely accused Li Zai, Imperial Vice Director and Duke of Wuling, of treason, leading to Li Zai's death in prison. Earlier, Sima Xun, General Who Establishes Might of Eastern Jin, had stationed troops at Hanzhong; Li Qi sent Li Shou to capture Hanzhong, establishing garrisons at Nanzheng.
Li Xiong's sons Li Ba and Li Bao died without illness, and it was widely said that Li Qi had poisoned them, causing ministers to live in fear. Li Qi also poisoned Li You, adopted brother of Li Shou, and conspired with Li Yue, Jing Qian, Tian Bao, and Yao Hua to attack Li Shou. In 338, Li Shou led ten thousand infantry and cavalry from Fucheng toward Chengdu, claiming that Jing Qian and Tian Bao were disrupting governance. Upon reaching Chengdu, Li Shou occupied the city and stationed troops before the palace gates. Li Qi sent palace attendants to placate Li Shou, but Li Shou submitted a memorial accusing Li Yue, Jing Qian, Tian Bao, Yao Hua, Xu Pei, and others of treachery, and they were executed. Li Shou then falsely invoked the name of Empress Dowager Ren to issue an edict deposing Li Qi to Duke of Qiongdu and confining him in a separate palace. Li Qi sighed that a ruler of all under heaven had become a mere county duke—a fate worse than death. That same year, Li Qi hanged himself at age twenty-five. His posthumous name was You Gong (Duke You).
Li Qi's assassination of Li Ban marked the first irregular succession in Cheng Han history, setting a precedent for internal violence that would plague the dynasty. This act of regicide undermined the legitimacy of subsequent rulers.
During his four-year reign, Li Qi's misgovernment—concentrating power among favorites, killing officials, and poisoning clan members—alienated the ruling elite and created the conditions for Li Shou's coup. His deposition by Li Shou represented the second violent change of power in Cheng Han within four years.
His reign centred on the taking of Hanzhong and the establishment of officials and garrisons there, while his deposition and suicide came from a contest over military power within the imperial clan.
The stages of his reign can be set out by year: on Li Xiong's death in 334 and the accession of the crown prince Li Ban, he and his elder brother Li Yue took part in killing Li Ban, after which he came to the throne and changed the era name to Yuheng; between 334 and 338 he sent Li Shou to take Hanzhong and establish officials and garrisons at Nanzheng, the Book of Jin giving no exact year for the action; in 338 Li Shou led troops into Chengdu and he was deposed as Duke of Qiongdou County and imprisoned, taking his own life in confinement the same year, the Book of Jin giving his age as twenty-five. His passage from clansman to ruler, and from suspicion of his clansmen to the military rising against him, shows that the contest over succession and military power within Li Te's line could no longer be reconciled in his reign; Li Shou's accession in his place also marks the passage of the Cheng-Han regime from Li Xiong's line to that of Li Shou.
As to the internal structure of Cheng-Han, the accession and deposition of Li Qi reflect two turns in the history of Li Te's line after the founding: one was Li Xiong's passing the throne to his nephew Li Ban, which caused discontent among the clansmen; the other was Li Qi's and Li Yue's killing of Li Ban and accession, followed by Li Shou's rising out of Li Qi's suspicion of his clansmen. From Li Xiong's founding to Li Shou's accession more than twenty years passed and the throne changed hands three times, the relation between military power and the imperial clan never becoming stable; although Li Qi's reign saw the taking of Hanzhong and the establishment of officials there, the record of his own government remains limited, so the entry keeps to dates and changes of status without supplying his character from later narratives.
His era name Yuheng was used for four years, its change and his deposition falling in the same years.
As to the earlier politics of Cheng-Han, the salient feature of the court was the close union of the imperial clan with military power: Li Xiong distributed garrisons among his clansmen, and the installation of Li Ban and the accession and deposition of Li Qi alike turned on support and opposition within the clan; Li Shou built up credit by taking Hanzhong and finally replaced Li Qi by marching into Chengdu, a pattern exactly like Li Qi's killing of Li Ban and seizure of the throne. Short as it was, Li Qi's reign displays the whole three-stage process of Cheng-Han: the founder's transmission of the throne, contention among the clansmen and replacement by a powerful minister; and the ages given in the Book of Jin for his reign, from twenty-one to twenty-five, show that these events came mostly in the youth of the clan members.
He reigned four years, and the Cheng-Han throne passed from Li Xiong's line into Li Shou's hands.
After his death the Cheng-Han title and ancestral temple continued through the reigns of Li Shou and Li Shi.
His taking of Hanzhong is one of the few records of Cheng-Han expansion northward.
After his deposition he was styled Duke of Qiongdou County and confined in Chengdu.
The era name Yuheng of his four-year reign was one of the longer used in Cheng-Han.
His titles and dates are clearly recorded in the records of the Book of Jin.
Li Qi seized the throne through assassination and ruled with cruelty and paranoia, killing ministers and poisoning members of the imperial clan. His tyrannical rule intensified the political crisis within Cheng Han and indirectly created the conditions for Li Shou's usurpation. Though brief, his reign marked a period of accelerating decline for the dynasty.
FIGURES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DYNASTY