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 princeLiu Ying 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 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. She then summoned Liu Ruyi to the capital Chang'an in an attempt that was initially resisted by Liu Ruyi's chief of staffZhou Chang, 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 by Hong Ge, Qi had a maid named Jia Peilan who escaped and later married to a commoner named Duan Ru from Fufeng Prefecture. She described Qi as a very beautiful woman, a great songwriter and weiqi player. On the fourth day of the eighth lunar month every year, Qi would play a weiqi game with Emperor Gaozu in the bamboo forest on the north side of the palace. The winner would make a wish that they believed to come true, while the loser would suffer from illness for the year; however loser can avoid this bad luck by cutting off a strand of hair and praying to the North Star. Qi won every year and wished for good fortune for the Han Dynasty. Jia Peilan is credited in passing outHan Dynasty court customs of Double Ninth Festival to commoners.
