China: Northern Qi Dynasty Tomb Guardian, Tomb Of Lou Rui, Shanxi Provincial Museum, Taiyuan, 570 CE. The Northern Qi, also known as the Qi, Later Qi or Gao Qi, was an imperial Northern dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties era. Founded by Emperor Wenxuan (Gao Yang) in 550 CE, the Northern Qi was a successor state to the Eastern Wei dynasty. Of three main states in China at the time (the others being the Northern Zhou and Chen dynasties), the Northern Qi was intially the strongest, but it was plagued by violence, corruption and incompetent emperors, and soon was conquered by the Northern Zhou in 577 CE.