Qi people

Qi People
齊人

File:Hanruqun.jpg A Qi Female wearing Traditional Xifu
Total population
153 million (2019)
Regions with significant populations
Huajiang	102,499,043
Template:Country data Guakok	50,450,269
Languages
Standard Huajiangite Guavai
Religion
Tangdi

The Qi people (Qi script: 齊人; Alphabetized Huajiangite: qírén; Latin Guavai: tshihdëng) is a Serican ethnic group originating from the south of present-day Huajiang. They are the majority group in a number of Serican countries, including Huajiang and Guakok. Within Huajiang, they constitute 82.7% of the population, while in Guakok, they constitute about 79.4% of the total population. The term Qi as well as the character (齊) are traced back to during the Qi Golden Era, as it is seen in the Yuwen (語文).

The Qi people originates as a term for those who share a common ancestry correlating to any of the several tribes that inhabited the Bei Peninsula of Serica that eventually became a part of the Qi Confederation. It is debated whether or not that this is applied to those who lived along the rivers that stemmed into the peninsula. The Qi people have been extant within both Huajiang and Guakok since prehistory. In the late first millennium BCE during the Qi Confederation's lifespan, a group of Qi people migrated to modern-day Guakok into areas where Dai language was spoken. After the migration, the Qi Confederation split between factions and dynasties, as the Western Migration began to split people up along cultural-linguistic lines.

The Qi script, used to write the various Qi languages as well some other languages of the region, originates with the ancient Qi and is one of the world's oldest writing systems. Qi Script is said to have originated from the Bei Peninsula Bone Script, the earliest confirmed evidence of Qi Script, used mainly in mystical writing on animal bones.

Qi people share a genetic background, as before modernization, most Qi did not leave the continent of Serica. The Qi have, over time, mixed with their neighbours, such as the Dai peoples. This is also intertwined with cultural traditions and customs that are still observed in Guakok and western Huajiang.

Qi people normally do not have a single national connection, and are seen as widespread throughout Serica. Continued expansion in the north and the Western Migration outside of the Bei Peninsula has spread their culture and script throughout Serica, with the absorption of many native Serican groups as well as intertwining of languages. While most languages that are present in modern day Qi groups use Qi script, they are normally not mutually intelligible.

The term when referring to Qi people overseas is Ji Ren (Qi script: 䶓人; Alphabetized Huajiangite: jìrén; Latin Guavai: tshihdëng) and is used for those who identify and are ethnically of Qi heritage.

Qi culture is one of the most dominant and unique cultures in the world, with traditions rooting back during the time of the Qi Confederation and cultural customs stemming afterwards. Despite the multiple language barriers that exist within contemporary Qi culture, orthodox customs and traditions normally do not deviate.