Former Qin

Qin 秦
351–394
Former Qin 369 CE
Former Qin 376 CE
Capital	Chang'an (351–385) Jinyang (385–386) Nan'an (386–394) Huangzhong (394)
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 351–355	Fu Jiàn
• 355–357	Fu Sheng
• 357–385	Fu Jiān
• 385–386	Fu Pi
• 386–394	Fu Deng
• 394	Fu Chong
History
• Fu Jiàn's entry into Chang'an	350
• Established	4 March[1][2] 351
• Fu Jiàn's claim of imperial title	352
• Fu Jiān's destruction of Former Yan	370
• Battle of Fei River	383
• Fu Jiān's death	16 October 385[1][3]
• Disestablished	394
• Fu Hong's death	405
Preceded by Succeeded by Later Zhao Former Yan Former Liang Dai (Sixteen Kingdoms) Chouchi Later Yan Later Qin Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) Jin dynasty (266–420) Northern Wei Western Qin Western Yan Chouchi
Today part of	China

Qin, known as the Former Qin and Fu Qin (苻秦) in historiography,^[4] was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Fu (Pu) clan of the Di peoples during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Founded in the wake of the Later Zhao dynasty's collapse in 351, it completed the unification of northern China in 376 during the reign of Fu Jiān (Emperor Xuanzhao), being the only state of the Sixteen Kingdoms to achieve so.^[5] Its capital was Chang'an up to Fu Jiān's death in 385. The adjectival prefix "former" is used to distinguish it from the "Later Qin dynasty" (384–417).

In 383, the severe defeat of the Former Qin by the Jin dynasty at the Battle of Fei River encouraged uprisings, splitting Former Qin territory into two noncontiguous pieces after the death of Fu Jiān. One remnant, at present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi was soon overwhelmed in 386 by the Xianbei under the Later Yan, Western Yan and the Dingling. The other struggled in greatly reduced territories around the border of present-day Shaanxi and Gansu until its final disintegration in 394 following years of invasions by Western Qin and Later Qin.

All rulers of Former Qin proclaimed themselves "Emperor", except for Fu Jiān who only claimed the title "Heavenly King" (Tian Wang). He was nonetheless posthumously considered an emperor by the Former Qin imperial court.