Chouchi

History

At the beginning of the 3rd century CE Yang Teng (楊騰), chieftain of the White Neck Di (白項氐), had occupied the southeast area of modern Gansu province, at the upper course of the Han River. His followers Yang Ju (楊駒) and Yang Qianwan (楊千萬) paid tribute to the emperors of the Cao-Wei Dynasty and were rewarded with the title of Prince (wáng 王). Yang Feilong (楊飛龍) shifted the center of the Chouchi realm back to Lüeyang, where his successor Yang Maosou (楊茂捜) reigned as 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 on the other side the troops of Eastern Jin and Former Zhao deprived the Chouchi empire of her inhabitants. In 322 Yang Nandi (楊難敵) suffered a defeat against Former Zhao and was degraded to Prince of Wudu (武都王) and Duke of Chouchi (仇池公). The next years are characterized by numerous internal struggles among the Yang clan and several throne usurpations. The rulers were not seen as mere regional inspectors (cishi 刺史) or governors (taishou 太守) of their region under the government of Jin.

In 371 Fu Jiàn, ruler of Former Qin attacked Chouchi, captured the ruler Yang Cuan (楊篡) and ended the period of Former Chouchi.

Yang Ding (楊定), a great-grandson of Yang Maosou and grandson of Fu Jiàn, resurrected the Chouchi kingdom in 385 with the capital at Licheng (歷城). His younger brother Yang Sheng (楊盛) was able to conquer the region Liangzhou (梁州) at the upper course of the Han River, and declared himself governor for the Jin Dynasty. Efforts to occupy the territory of modern Sichuan failed, but Chouchi controlled a great part of the modern provinces Gansu (east) and Shaanxi (south).

After 443 the lords of Chouchi were only puppet rulers controlled by the Northern Wei. Historians talk of the five realms of Chouchi (Chouchi wuguo 仇池五國): Former and Later Chouchi (Qianchouchi 前仇池, Houchouchi 後仇池), Yinping 陰平, Wudu 武都, and Wuxing 武興.