Consort Qi  Consort Qi (224 - 194 BC), also known as Lady Qi, was a consort of Emperor Gaozu, founder of the Han dynasty. Qi was born in Dingtao, Shandong. She bore Emperor Gaozu a son Liu Ruyi, who was later installed as Prince of Zhao. Gaozu felt that the crown prince Liu Ying (his second son) was an unsuitable heir to his throne. He tried several times, fruitlessly, to replace Liu Ying with Liu Ruyi, as his desire was objected to by Liu Ying's mother Empress Lü Zhi. Because of this, Lü Zhi hated Qi deeply. Nevertheless, Gaozu ordered Liu Ruyi to proceed to his principality of Zhao (capital in present-day Handan, Hebei) on his deathbed. Qi did not accompany Liu Ruyi. Lü Zhi, now declared the empress dowager when her son Liu Ying succeeded to the throne as Emperor Hui after Gaozu's death, commenced an inhumane plot against Qi and Liu Ruyi. She first had Qi arrested and treated her like a convict (dressed in prison garb, head shaved, and in stocks). She then summoned Liu Ruyi to the capital Chang'an in an attempt that was initially resisted by Liu Ruyi's chief of staff Zhou Chang (周昌), whom she respected because he was one of the officials who insisted on Liu Ying being the rightful heir. Instead of directly moving against Zhou Chang and Liu Ruyi, Lü Zhi circumvented Zhou by first summoning him to Chang'an, and then summoning Liu Ruyi. She then consummated her plot to put Qi and Liu Ruyi to death, which was documented in Volume 9 of the historical text "Records of the Grand Historian" as follows:  Both Qi and her son died in the first year of Emperor Hui's reign. According to "Xijing Zaji" (西京雜記) by Hong Ge, Qi had a maid named Jia Peilan (賈佩蘭) who escaped and later married to a commoner named Duan Ru (段儒) from Fufeng Prefecture (west of present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi). She described Qi as a very beautiful woman, a great songwriter and weiqi player.