Wen Qi Jiang Jin

Background

Wen Qi Jiang was a daughter of Duke Huan (Huan Gong), ruler of Qi (in present-day Shandong Province). There is no exact information about the date of her birth.

Career

Wen Qi Jiang was given in marriage to Chong Er, a prince of the state of Jin (in the north of the present-day provinces of Shanxi-Hebei), during his nineteen-year exile in Qi, where he had fled to escape assassination.

Chong Er was content to live out his life in peace and ease in Qi, but his wife discovered that his uncle and his followers were plotting to leave Qi and take him back to Jin. Wen Qi Jiang tried to persuade Chong Er to return to his homeland to restore order and regain his heritage. However, she was unable to move him with her words.

Wen Qi conspired with his uncle to get him drunk, planning to kidnap him. When he sobered up he agreed, albeit reluctantly, to return to Jin where, with the military assistance of Duke Mu (Mu Gong, r. 659-621) of Qin (present-day Gansu-Shaanxi provinces), he was installed as the ruler of Jin and assumed the title of Duke (Wen Gong, r. 636-627). The Wen Qi was welcomed to Jin as the wife of Duke Wen.

Achievements

• Wen Qi was known as one of the most outstanding characters of Chinese history, who helped her husband to reclaim his title and become the ruler of Jin.
  
  

Personality

Wen Qi Jiang was praised as being just and honest and as having urged her husband to action.

Connections

Wen Qi Jiang was the second wife of Duke Wen of Jin.

Father:

Huan

Duke Huan was the ruler of the State of Qi from 685 B.C. to 643 B.C.

husband:

Wen

Duke Wen was a scion of the royal house of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. He famously endured a long period of exile from his realm before finally being restored to power (r. 636–628 BC) and rapidly leading Jin to hegemony over the other Chinese states of his time.

References

• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998
• The Position of Woman in Early China According to the Lieh Nu Chuan, The Biographies of Chinese Women.
  1971