Yan (state)
Yān ( Chinese 燕 ) was a Chinese state during the Zhou Dynasty , the Spring and Autumn Annals, and the Warring States Period . Its capital was Ji ( Chinese 薊 / 蓟 , Pinyin Jì ; today Beijing , also known as Yanjing , Chinese 燕京 , Pinyin Yānjīng - "Capital of Yan").
The state lay in what is now northern Hebei and Beijing.
Because it was the northernmost Chinese state, it suffered numerous invasions from the north. The states of Qin and Zhao were his main opponents, especially Zhao tried several times to invade his area. Even so, he retained his independence for most of the Warring States period .
In 227 BC BC Prince Dan of Yan sent an assassin named Jing Ke (荊軻) to kill King Shi Huangdi of Qin , but to no avail. This incident, well known in traditional Chinese historiography, is the subject of the film The Emperor and the Assassin (荊軻刺秦王), which was shot in China by Chen Kaige in 1999 and inspired the film Hero (in which the assassin is a fictional person).
222 BC Yan was annexed by Qin .