'%3e%3cclipPath%20id='prefix__a'%3e%3cpath%20d='M0%200h1080v1080H0z'/%3e%3c/clipPath%3e%3cg%20clip-path='url(%23prefix__a)'%3e%3cpath%20d='M1033.05%20324.45c-.19-137.9-107.59-250.92-233.6-291.7-156.48-50.64-362.86-43.3-512.28%2027.2-181.1%2085.46-237.99%20272.66-240.11%20459.36-1.74%20153.5%2013.58%20557.79%20241.62%20560.67%20169.44%202.15%20194.67-216.18%20273.07-321.33%2055.78-74.81%20127.6-95.94%20216.01-117.82%20151.95-37.61%20255.51-157.53%20255.29-316.38z'%20fill-rule='nonzero'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Biodata
| Feature | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Great Qian (大干) |
| Type | Imperial dynasty and court |
| Ruling House | Wei clan 347 |
| Capital | Haojing City 361 |
| Territory | Eastern Hanging Divine Continent 1 |
| Status | Supplanted by the Great Xia Dynasty after Kaiyuan Emperor transferred the throne to Zhang Jian 359 |
| First Appearance | Chapter 1 |
Background / History
Founding and national foundations
Great Qian was founded by Wei Yuanyang, who rose from humble beginnings and established a dynasty that endured for more than four centuries. By its final years, twenty-four Great Qian emperors had been buried in the Eastern Mausoleum, where they helped suppress the dynasty's geomantic foundations. 308 351
Its national fortune was bound to a dragon vein and dragon soul. After the fall of the preceding Shu Kingdom, Great Qian's founding ancestor used a grand feng shui formation to trap Shu's former dragon vein and nourish Great Qian's national fortune with it; the Three-Eyed Baleful-Suppressing Well served as a crucial formation eye. 181
Rule under the Jingwu Emperor
Under the Jingwu Emperor, Great Qian sought to strengthen imperial administration, recruit talent beyond aristocratic backgrounds, and curb entrenched local interests. The court viewed powerful local clans as necessary partners in governance but also as threats to imperial authority. 114 156
The court sponsored the Complete History of Great Qian, a work of nearly thirty thousand volumes and over a billion characters. Its stated purpose extended beyond preservation: it was intended to break great clans' monopoly over knowledge and unify intellectual life under the dynasty. 235 236
The dynasty was nevertheless strained by droughts, ice disasters, rebellions, sectarian unrest, and worsening conflict between wealthy landholders and commoners. In many commanderies, aristocratic clans and wealthy households controlled more than ninety-five percent of the land. 138 157
Collapse of the dragon vein
Great Qian's reliance on the former Shu dragon vein eventually became a fatal weakness. The two dragon veins were too deeply entangled, and resentment, baleful qi, and karmic contamination spread through Great Qian's own national foundations. Zhang Jian's purification methods could temporarily contain the backlash but could not repair the underlying damage. 220 291
When the earth veins' tribute was cut off and Central Brocade Prefecture's earth qi struck the weakened dragon vein, its core collapsed. The Great Qian Dragon Vein shattered, inflicting severe backlash upon cultivators whose fate was tied to the dynasty. 306 308
The death of the Jingwu Emperor and collapse of the dragon soul further damaged Great Qian's legitimacy and weakened the cultivators and institutions dependent on its national fortune. 326
Transition to Great Xia
During Kaiyuan Emperor's reign, Chancellor Zhang Jian gradually took control of Great Qian's civil administration, military forces, and political transition. His forces controlled the Imperial Guards, the Divine Strategy Army, and several major military estates around Haojing. 347
With Great Qian's dragon qi gone and the court unable to restore order independently, Kaiyuan Emperor accepted that the dynasty could no longer be saved. On the third day of the throne-transfer process, he conferred the imperial title upon Zhang Jian, who founded the Great Xia Dynasty. 357 359
Government and Institutions
| Institution | Function |
|---|---|
| Emperor and imperial court | Directed national administration, examinations, military policy, official appointments, and the dynasty's relationship with cultivation lineages. 155 314 |
| Commandery Governor | Held extensive authority within a commandery, including the power to appoint and dismiss most local officials. 46 |
| Commandery Commandant | Controlled the commandery garrison and public security. 46 |
| Censorate | Dispatched imperial envoys and inspectors to investigate officials, local clans, and suspected disloyalty. 114 |
| Heavenly Observatory | Provided court-trained cultivators and specialists in arts such as aura-scrying. 114 |
| Grotto God Abbey | Served as Great Qian's state religion and maintained deep institutional ties to the court and local administration. 108 166 |
| Black-Clad Guard | Monitored civil and military officials and investigated the movements of imperial princes. 274 |
National Foundations
- Dragon vein and dragon soul — The central source of Great Qian's national fortune and a major restraint on hostile cultivation arts. Its destruction caused widespread backlash among court-aligned cultivators. 181 306 317
- Eastern Mausoleum — Burial place of Great Qian's emperors and a key site in maintaining the dynasty's geomantic foundations. 308
- Three-Eyed Baleful-Suppressing Well — A formation site connected to the former Shu dragon vein and the containment of an imperial corpse; disruption of its restrictions endangered Haojing and Great Qian's national fortune. 181
- Great Qian Dragon Banner — A court treasure connected to the dragon soul and used by Heavenly Dipper True Person Yuan Geng amid the dragon vein's collapse. 308
- Prince Jun Golden Men — Major dynastic treasures associated with Great Qian's attempt to pursue the Sage King path. 317 371
Society and Economy
- Great Qian's commanderies were marked by severe land concentration, leaving most commoners dependent on aristocratic clans and wealthy households for survival. 138
- Natural disasters frequently exposed these inequalities, driving displacement and allowing heretical cults to spread anti-court sentiment. 138 157
- The Great Agriculture Office maintained crop stores and promoted agricultural production, but Zhang Jian found its warehouses stocked largely with low-yield varieties and damaged seed reserves. 241
- During the Jingwu era, improved crops—including tomatoes, cabbage, and chives—were promoted among the population and increased popular recognition of the imperial house. 277 293
Legacy
- Great Qian's administrative practices, commandery institutions, temples, and abbeys remained influential after its fall. Zhang Jian planned to retain and adapt Grotto God Abbey's local systems rather than discard them outright. 347
- The dynasty's final collapse demonstrated the danger of tying a state's survival too closely to damaged dragon veins, inherited geomantic formations, and court-aligned cultivators. 291 306 326
- Great Xia inherited Haojing as its capital and absorbed parts of Great Qian's remaining institutional and territorial foundations. 361