Former Qin

Qin, known as the Former Qin and Fu Qin (苻秦) in historiography, 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 AD, it completed the unification of northern China in 376 AD during the reign of Fu Jiān (Emperor Xuanzhao), being the only state out of the Sixteen Kingdoms to achieve this. Its capital was Chang'an up to Fu Jiān's death in 385 AD. The prefix "Former" is used to distinguish it from the Later Qin and Western Qin dynasties that were founded later. In 383 AD, the decisive 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 AD 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 AD 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.