- 400
- 500
- 600
- 700
- 800
- 900
- Rouran 400–554
- First Göktürk 552–630
- Tang rule 630–682
- Second Göktürk 682–744
- Uyghur 744–840
- Kirghiz 840–924
- Huns 370–469
- Western Göktürk 552–659
- Türgesh 699–766
- Karluk 766–800
- Khazar 650–969
The Qifu were a Xianbei house of the upper Yellow River, in what is now Gansu. The Former Qin broke apart in 385. In that year the Qifu founded the state that the Chinese records call the Western Qin. They held it until 431, with one interruption.
The Qifu belong to the frame of Göktürk history rather than to its subject. The corridor they held is the road between China and the Tarim. Whoever held it stood between the steppe and the oases. After the Qifu, the Tuyuhun took the same country, and they were still there when the Göktürks arrived.
The Jin Shu records the titles of the first Qifu rulers. In 385 Qifu Guoren declared himself Great Governor-General, Great General and Great Chanyu.[1][2] His son Qifu Qiangui received the titles Great General, Great Chanyu and King of Jincheng in 389.[1][2] In neither life does the text call the ruler khan.[1][2] The records do not call the last two rulers of the Western Qin, Qifu Chipan and Qifu Mumo, khan either.[2]
References
Literature
- Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
- Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 et al., 晉書 Jìnshū (648)
- Shiratori Kurakichi (übers. İbrahim Gökbakar), Kaghan Unvanının Menşei (1945)
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Qifu.” Turkic Atlas, revised 20 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/lineages/qifu/
Last revised: 20 October 2026
