Qi is one of the largest and most powerful state of which early China was divided into (around 771 BC-221 BC).

            During the Eastern Zhou dynasty, Qi was the first state which fully created a uniform tax system, a central army, and a centralized bureaucracy based on the talent rather than hereditary rank.  It formed a league of states in 651 BC to stave off invasions from the north and south.  But Qi's hegemony was short-lived.  In 221 BC it was absorbed into the Qin Dynasty!