page_title: Jicheng (Beijing)
section_title: Wei, Jin and Northern dynasties
hierarchical_section_title: Jicheng (Beijing) / Early Imperial Era / Wei, Jin and Northern dynasties
caption_attribution_description: Artist Unknown Description 浮雕朱雀，魏晋 Current locationBeijing Rock Carving Art Museum, China Source/Photographerself photo 浮雕朱雀，魏晋
context_page_description: Ji or Jicheng was an ancient city in northern China, which has become the longest continuously inhabited section of modern Beijing. Historical mention of Ji dates to the founding of the Zhou dynasty in about 1045 BC. Archaeological finds in southwestern Beijing where Ji was believed to be located date to the Spring and Autumn period. The city of Ji served as the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan until the unification of China by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Thereafter, the city was a prefectural capital for Youzhou through the Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Western Jin dynasty, Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties, and Sui dynasty. With the creation of a Jizhou during the Tang dynasty in what is now Tianjin Municipality, the city of Ji took on the name Youzhou. Youzhou was one of the Sixteen Prefectures ceded to the Khitans during the Five Dynasties. The city then became the southern capital of the Liao dynasty and then main capital of the Jin dynasty. In the 13th century, Kublai Khan built a new capital city for the Yuan dynasty adjacent to Ji to the north. The old city of Ji became a suburb to Dadu.
context_section_description: During the Three Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Wei controlled ten of the Han Dynasty's prefectures including Youzhou and its capital Ji. The Wei Kingdom reorganized and decentralized the governance of commanderies under Youzhou.  Guangyang Commandery became the State of Yan (燕国), which had four counties: Ji County, Changping, Jundu and Guangyang County, and was governed from the city of Ji. Fanyang Commandery was governed from Zhuo County.  Yuyang Commandery was governed from Yuyuang (in modern-day Huairou District of Beijing), Shanggu Commandery was governed from Juyong (in modern-day Yanqing County of Beijing).
  The Wei court instituted offices in Youzhou to manage relations with the Wuhuan and Xianbei.  To help sustain the troops garrisoned in Youzhou, the governor in AD 250 built the Lilingyan, an irrigation system that greatly improved agricultural output in the plains around Ji.
  Ji was demoted to a county seat in the Western Jin dynasty (晋), which made neighboring Zhuo County, in present-day Hebei Province, the prefectural capital of Youzhou. In the early 4th century, the Western Jin dynasty was overthrown by steppe peoples who had settled in northern China and established in a series of mostly short-lived kingdoms.  During the so-called Sixteen Kingdoms period, the city of Ji was successively controlled by the Di-led Former Qin, the Jie-led Later Zhao, the Xianbei-led Former Yan and Later Yan.
  In 319 AD, Shi Le, the founder of the Later Zhao Kingdom, captured Ji from Duan Pidi, a Xianbei chieftain nominally loyal to the Jin Dynasty. In 349, Ran Min, an ethnic Han general seized control of this kingdom, which he renamed Ran Wei in 350. But before he could capture Ji, the city was taken by the Murong Xianbei, led by Prince Murong Jun who swept down from Manchuria.  Murong Jun then defeated Ran Min and extinguished the Ran Wei. In 352, he declared himself emperor and made the city, the capital of the Former Yan Kingdom.  Five years later, the Former Yan's capital was moved further south to Ye in southern Hebei.
  In 369-70, the Former Qin, led by Fu Jian, a Di, defeated the Former Yan and briefly unified northern China. But after losing the Battle of Feishui in 383, the Former Qin's control crumbled as the Later Yan, Northern Wei and other kingdoms broke away. In 385, the Northern Yan, under Murong Chui and seized Ji from the Former Qin. At around 398, the Former Yan governor of Ji, Gao Hu, surrendered to the Northern Wei, led by the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei, who established the first of the Northern dynasties. Ji became the prefecture capital of Youzhou. This designation continued through the remainder of the Northern dynasties, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou.
caption: Vermillion bird relief sculpture from the early Six Dynasties period (Wei Kingdom or Jin Dynasty)
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