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King Min of Qi

King Min of Qi
齊湣王
King of Qi
Reign 300–284 BC
Predecessor King Xuan of Qi
Successor King Xiang of Qi
Born c. 323 BC
Died 284 BC
Full name
Ancestral name: Gui (媯)
Clan name: Tian (田)
Given name: Di (地)
House House of Tian
Father King Xuan of Qi
Full name
Ancestral name: Gui (媯)
Clan name: Tian (田)
Given name: Di (地)

King Min of Qi (Chinese: 齊湣王; pinyin: Qí Mǐn Wáng; Wade–Giles: Ch'i Min Wang) (323–284 BC, ruled 300–284 BC) was a notoriously unsuccessful king of the northeastern Chinese state of Qi during the Warring States period. "Famous for his paranoia and megalomania, the king was the archetype of the unworthy and unaware ruler." A generation later, the philosopher Xunzi wrote of King Min: "The king of Qi perished and his state was destroyed, punished by all under Heaven. When later generations speak of bad men, they are sure to mention him."

Qi was one of the most powerful countries in China at his accession, if not the most powerful.

In 288 BC. King Min took the title of Di of the East (東帝), and his ally King Zhaoxiang of Qin called himself Di of the West (Di was originally the name of the high god of the Shang. It also (or later) had a weaker sense of sacred or divine; the same character was used to mean Emperor in later times.) But so many people objected that both kings were forced to return to the title of "king" (wáng 王) and there was no Di in China until Qin Shi Huang unified China in 221 BC and gave himself the title of Huang Di, which we translate as Emperor.

King Min, like his predecessors, supported scholars in the Jixia Academy and inviting prominent visitors to talk with him. Su Qin was one of his advisors; Lord Mengchang was for a while his chancellor. But "all of King Min's assessments were like this [i.e. foolish], which is why his state was destroyed and his person placed in harm's way." King Min had his critics executed, sometimes in cruel ways such as being boiled alive or cut in two at the waist; he gradually alienated the commoners, his own royal clan, and the great ministers. In one story, his physician Wen Zhi (文摯) from the state of Song deliberately made the king angry as the only way to treat his illness; the king boiled Wen Zhi alive.


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