Ziqi was one of the Wuman tribes of eastern Yunnan and became the strongest of the small Yi kingdoms between Dali and the Song.
English Wikipedia puts its capital at Jilu near Luxi; the Dali bu list names a Jilu bu at Luxi. It stands across the horse road from Dali to Hengshan, and Zhou Qufei's Lingwai daida (1178) says it beat Dali, Luodian and Annan in turn and fought Luodian over the passage of the horse trade. The reconstructed king list gives Axie 1176 to 1205 and Amo 1205 to 1240, low confidence.
The South China map writes the king and the Guizhou side (record King of Ziqi); this record writes the Yunnan seat and range.
Who he is
- Name
- Axie (Awei's line; the Wikipedia list), not pinned
- Title
- King of Ziqi
- Since
- 1176 on that list
- Born
- not known
- Family
- Awangren lineage of the Ziqi kings
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Ziqi) on a reconstructed list; the Lingwai daida.
Overlord
tributary of the Song in name; Dali's claim is by the bu list only
What it holds
- Jilu (Luxi) and the Luoping, Shizong and Fuyuan country
- The horse road to Hengshan
Allies and rivals
Rival of Dali and of Luodian; trading partner of the Song.
How things stand that morning
Probably the leading power of the plateau on the evidence of 1178; whether that held in 1200 is not known.
Wealth
Horses, tolls on the horse road.
Military
No figure; a Song briefing calls the Ziqi fierce.
Threats
- Luodian
- Dali
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1205Axie is succeeded by Amo on the reconstructed list.Depends on: The list being right. Stopped by: Any other reign lengths; low confidence.
- 1259The Mongols conquer Ziqi (English Wikipedia).Depends on: The fall of Dali (1253 to 1254). Stopped by: No conquest of Dali.
Places of note
- Luxi (Jilu): Jilu (Luxi), the Ziqi capital by Wikipedia.
Where the sources disagree
- Board 'ziqi' puts the kingdom at Xingyi (25.1 N 104.9 E, Guizhou). English Wikipedia puts the capital at Jilu near Luxi in Yunnan and the Dali list puts a Jilu bu at Luxi. The two records together cover both.
Evidence: A modern reconstructed list and a Song note of 1178.
On the map: Modern county units; the kingdom's range is not known.
Primary sources for Chiefs of the south-west
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
- Miscellaneous Notes on Court and Country since the Jianyan Era, Li Xinchuan (李心傳) (first series 1202, second series 1216). A contemporary handbook of the Southern Song state, written in Sichuan by the historian Li Xinchuan and finished in its first part in 1202, two years after the start of 1200. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Ziqi (kingdom) (read this session)
- South China map research records scs-l-ziqi, scs-l-maima-hengshan, scs-realm-chiefs (/home/claude/research/sch/scs.json)
- Zhou Qufei, Lingwai daida (1178), as described in Wikipedia, Lingwai Daida and Ziqi (kingdom)
- Chinese Wikipedia, 大理国 (read this session: the eight fu, four jun, four zhen and thirty-seven bu; it cites Yang Shen's Dian zai ji, Wang Song's Yunnan beizhengzhi, Ni Lu's Nanzhao yeshi, the Baigu tongji qianshu)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.