State of Yan: Rulers: 865-222 BC
Each ruler is recorded under the following protocol: posthumous name (shì | 諡) || personal name (míng | 名), considered tabooed (huì | 諱) upon accession.
| Ruling House: Jī (姬) | |
| Hóu (侯) | |
| 865 - 827 BC | Huì hóu (惠侯) |
| 827 - 791 BC | Xī hóu (僖侯 or 釐侯) || Jī Zhuāng (姬莊) |
| 791 - 767 BC | Qǐng hóu (頃侯) |
| 767 - 765 BC | Āi hóu (哀侯) |
| 765 - 729 BC | Jī Zhèng (姬鄭) ? |
| 729 - 711 BC | Mù hóu (穆侯) |
| 711 - 698 BC | Xuān hóu (宣侯) |
| 698 - 691 BC | Huán hóu (桓侯) |
| Gōng (公), Hóu (侯) [1] | |
| 691 - 658 BC | Zhuāng gōng (莊公) |
| 658 - 618 BC | Xiāng gōng (襄公) |
| 618 - 602 BC | Huán gōng (桓公) (I) |
| 602 - 587 BC | Xuān gōng (宣公) |
| 587 - 574 BC | Zhāo gōng (昭公) |
| 574 - 555 BC | Wǔ gōng (武公) |
| 555 - 549 BC | Wén gōng (文公) (I) |
| 549 - 545 BC | Yì gōng (懿公) |
| 545 - 536 BC | Huì gōng (惠公) |
| 536 - 529 BC | Dào gōng (悼公) |
| 529 - 524 BC | Gòng gōng (共公) |
| 524 - 505 BC | Píng gōng (平公) |
| 505 - 493 BC | Jiǎn gōng (簡公) |
| 493 - 455 BC * | Xiào gōng (孝公) [2] |
| 455 - 439 BC * | Chéng gōng (成公) || Jī Zài (姬載) |
| 439 - 415 BC | Mǐn gōng (湣公 or 閔公) [3] |
| 415 - 370 BC | Xī gōng (僖公 or 釐公), Jiǎn gōng (簡公) [4] |
| 370 - 359 BC ** | Huán gōng (桓公) (II) |
| 359 - 330 BC ** | Wén gōng (文公) (II) |
| 330 - 318 BC ** | Yì gōng (易公) || Jī Fù (姬婦) |
| 318 - 315 BC ** | Jī Kuài (姬噲) [5] |
| 314 - 304? BC | Jī Zhí (姬職) [6] |
| Wáng (王) [7] | |
| 304? - 281 BC | Zhāo wáng (昭王) || Jī Zhí (姬職) |
| 281 - 271 BC | Huì wáng (惠王) || Jī Róngrén (姬戎人) [6] |
| 271 - 258/257 BC | Wǔchéng wáng (武成王) || Jī Huān (姬讙) [6] |
| 258/257 - 255 BC | Xiào wáng (孝王) |
| 255 - 222 BC | Jī Xǐ (姬喜) [8] |
- According to the Historical Records, ch. 34, all rulers of Yan after Huán hóu in the 690s BC and until the assumption of the title of wáng in 323 BC held the title of gōng. The chronicle does not provide any information as to the date or circumstances of the assumption of that title. The change might be connected to the temporary deposition of Huì wáng (惠王) of Zhou in the 670s BC, in which the ruler of Yan played an active role. Epigraphically, however, the use of hóu did actually continue, suggesting that gōng was merely a courtesy title that did not supersede that of hóu (Tang 2020a, Tang 2020b).
- The Historical Records, ch. 15 and 34, assigns the 28 years corresponding to 492-465 BC to the ruler named Xiàn gōng (獻公), but the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, pointing, i.a., to the Ancient Bamboo Annals, following the Sui-period historian Wáng Shào (王劭), states that there was no such Xiàn gōng, as Jiǎn gōng was directly followed by Xiào gōng.
- Furthermore, the elimination of the house of Zhì (知 or 智) in the State of Jin by the rival clans of Zhao, Han and Wei is dated to: a) fourth year of Āi gōng (哀公) of Jin (Historical Records, ch. 39), b) fourth year of Xiāng zi (襄子) of Zhao (Historical Records, ch. 43), and c) 22nd year of Chū gōng (出公) of Jin in the Ancient Bamboo Annals, as cited in Historical Records Commentary, ch. 12; all equated with 453 BC in the Historical Records, ch. 15. It is also reported under the 12th year of Xiào gōng of Yan in the Historical Records, ch. 34 (likewise equated with 453 BC as above), but according to the Ancient Bamboo Annals as cited in the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, it took place in the second year of Chéng gōng of Yan. This would indicate that the reign of Xiào gōng ended in 455 BC, not 450 BC, and that the following reigns need to be shifted accordingly (*). Taken together, this ruler would then have died not in his 28th (or 28+15th) year, but in his 38th, which could be explained as a simple oversight (28 = 廾八 for 38 = 卅八).
- The Historical Records, ch. 15 and 34, assigns this ruler 31 years, but the Ancient Bamboo Annals, as cited by the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, gives him only 24, indicating that he died in 415 BC and not in 403 BC. The Ancient Bamboo Annals also gives his epithet as Wén (文), which would make for three rulers so qualified (Wén gōng), not two as indicated elsewhere in the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, ("燕四十二代有[...]二文侯"), although indicating that there was some confusion in the available sources.
- The Historical Records, ch. 15 and 34, states that Xī (Jiǎn) gōng died in his 30th year (there equated with 373 BC). The Ancient Bamboo Annals, as cited in the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, however, puts his death in his 45th year, i.e. 370 BC. The dates for the subsequent reigns down to the 310s are shifted accordingly (**).
- As pointed out by the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, the available sources do not quite agree on the timing and sequence of events in Yan in the 310s BC, nor the identity of the rulers. A detailed analysis of the sources is given in the Notes.
- The Historical Records, ch. 34, does not cover the deaths of Zhāo wáng and Huì wáng, having a lacuna between the years equated with 284 and 265 BC. According to the Historical Records, ch. 15, Zhāo wáng died in his 33rd year (equated with 279 BC, adjusted to 281 BC), and Huì wáng died in his 7th year (equated with 272 BC). The Historical Records, ch. 43, however, as pointed out in the Historical Records Commentary, ch. 11, reports that an unnamed king of Yan was murdered in a coup in the 28th year of Huìwén wáng (惠文王) of Zhao, i.e. 271 BC. Even with the assumption that Zhao and Yan used different calendars and that the coup took place at the end of the calendar year as used in Yan, but also after the New Year in the calendar of Zhao, the combined reign lengths of 40 years would not cover the period 314 to 272/271, leaving a gap of two or three years. This could, again, be explained as a simple oversight (pre-classical 7=七 for 10=十).
- The Historical Records, ch. 15 and 34, reports the assumption of the title of wáng in the 10th year of Jī Fù (equated with 323 BC). The rulers of Yan and Han are said to have started to style themselves wáng in the 6th year of Huái wáng (懷王) of Chu (as above equated with 323 BC) (ch. 40). However the title change in Han is also recorded in ch. 5, in the year equated with 325 BC, shortly after that of Qin and following the earlier changes in Qi and Wei. The title change in Yan is there not mentioned though. As discussed above, the 10th year of the (future) Yì wáng of Yan would be 320, not 323 BC.
- The use of the title of wáng by the rulers of Yan in the 320s BC is not confirmed by inscriptions. Hóu was the style still used in the 310s by both Kuài (Zhang 2020, p. 2) and later by Zhí, suggesting that it was the latter who first adopted the title a few years into his reign, maybe in 304 BC, his 10th year, before then producing dozens more inscriptions as wáng (Wu 2006, p. 311).
- The armies of Qin invaded Yan and seized the capital in 226 BC, forcing king Xǐ to flee to the Liaodong Peninsula where he continued to rule until early 222 BC when he was captured.