The Jurchens and the Jin Dynasty

1
The Jurchens and the Jin Dynasty

• Barfield, Thomas, The Perilous Frontier,, pp
  177-186, OR
• Franke, Herbert and Chan, Hok-lam, Studies on the
  Jurchens and the Jin Dynasty,
• Chan, Hok-lam, Legitimation in Early China,
  discussions under the Jurchen-Chin dynasty
  (1115-1234), Ch. 2.

2
The Jurchens and the Jin Dynasty

• Introduction
• The Establishment of the Jin (Gold) Dynasty
  (1115-1234)
• The Jurchen
• The Jurchen and the Liao
• The Jin and the Song
• The Jin dynasty
• Succession Problems
• The End of the Jin

3
Introduction

• After the Five Dynasties Period, China was
  divided into three states
• Liao (907-1125) Qidan destroyed by the Jurchen
  in 1125 who established the Jin/Gold dynasty
• Xi Xia (c.982-1227) Tangut
• Jin (Gold) (1115-1234)
• Song (960-1279) Han
• The Mongols (260-1368) destroyed Xi Xia in 1227,
  Jin in 1234 and the Song in 1279.

4
The Establishment of the Jin (Gold) Dynasty

• The Jin (Gold ?) Dynasty (1115-1234), also known
  as the Jurchan dynasty, was founded by the Wanyan
  ?? clan of the Jurchan, the ancestors of the
  Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500
  years later.
• The Dynasty was founded in 1115 in northern
  Manchuria and conquered the Liao Dynasty in 1125.
  
• After taking over North China, the Jin Dynasty
  moved its capital from northern Manchuria (south
  of present-day Harbin) to Zhongdu (present day
  Beijing).
• Sinified Bo-hai and Qidan officials modified the
  Liao administrative structure to fit the needs of
  the Jurchens.

5
The Jurchen

• The Jurchen ?? lived in the territory to the
  north of the Liao (Qidan).
• The Jurchen homeland was the densely forested
  mountain areas of eastern Manchuria, northern
  Korea and what is now the Soviet far eastern
  province south of the Amur River.
• The climate and land gave them a low standard of
  living but they had a good cavalry.
• Those living in the forests hunted and fished
  while those living in the plains raised cattle
  and made their living through agriculture.
• The Chinese knew of the Jurchen during the Tang.
• The Jurchen sent tribute to the Liao after Tang
  dynasty was disintegrated.

6
The Jurchen (2)

• Wanyan Aguda ????? (r.1115-1123) was a chief of
  the Wanyan tribe and founder of the Jurchen Jin
  (Gold) dynasty.
• Wanyan Agudas father was able to dominate the
  whole territory of eastern Manchuria despite the
  resistance of the other tribal chiefs.
• Agudas elder brother (r.1103-13) succeeded the
  father and stabilized the Jurchen border with
  Korea.
• After his brothers death, Aguda was named leader
  of the Jurchen by the tribal leaders in 1113, and
  the Liao appointed him as military governor of
  the Jurchen lands.
• Due to harsh Qidan rule, there were frequent
  revolts along the Liao frontier by the Jurchens
  and Bo-hai ??.
• The Jurchen complained of abusive officials and
  the heavy tribute.
• In 1112, Aguda, refused an order to dance given
  by the Liao emperor.

7
The Jurchen (3)

• Aguda united all Jurchens under Wanyan leadership
  and attacked the Liao border positions.
• At first, he only had a few thousand trained
  soldiers but with each of his victories more
  tribal leaders joined him.
• Within a short time he succeeded in eliminating
  the Liao armies sent against him and establishing
  himself as the master of most of Manchuria.
• In 1114, Aguda began open rebellion against the
  Liao.
• In 1115, he assumed the title of emperor and
  adopted the dynastic name of Jin (Gold) taken
  from the name of a river.

8
The Jurchen and the Liao

• Until 1112, the Qidan state of Liao had appeared
  to remain secure as the emperor, Tianzuo ??
  (r.1101-1125), had not involved the Liao in his
  neighbors quarrels.
• After Aguda proclaimed himself the emperor of a
  new Jin ?dynasty, the Liao tried to appease them
  as well as fight them.
• With Liao growing weak the Song sent an envoy to
  the Jurchen in 1117 to negotiate a Song-Jurchen
  alliance against the Liao.
• In 1118, the Jin demanded recognition by the Liao
  emperor as an elder brother, the ceding of Liao
  territory and a prince, a princess and an
  imperial son-in-law as hostages.
• The negotiations dragged on and by 1119, Aguda
  sensed the possibility of total victory.
• Aguda attacked the Supreme Capital the Liao
  religious and ritual center and looted and
  destroyed the buildings at the imperial tombs and
  other important religious sites.

9
The Jurchen and the Liao (2)

• Meanwhile, the demoralized Liao court was shaken
  by internal dissension as there was a conspiracy
  to depose the emperor.
• The plot was discovered and some of the
  conspirators were executed but the main
  conspirator escaped to the Jurchen and led an
  army to attack the Central Capital.
• In 1122 when Aguda attacked the Western Capital
  and the Song became alarmed as they had not yet
  attacked Liao as promised.
• The Song then invaded the Southern Capital but
  was defeated by the Liao.
• Aguda took the Southern Capital by the end of
  1122.
• In 1123, the Liao Central Capital (in Manchuria)
  fell and the entire imperial family was captured.
• The Jurchen now ruled over large parts of
  northern China

10
The Jin and the Song

• In 1125, the Jin waged a full scale war against
  the Song.
• In early 1126 they crossed the Yellow River and
  laid siege to the Song capital of Kaifeng.
• The terms for the withdrawal of the Jin were
• Three prefectures ceded to the Jin and the annual
  payments of 300,000 taels of silver, 300,000
  bolts of silk and 1 million strings of coin.
• A Song imperial prince, Prince Kang, later known
  as Song Gaozong, was sent as hostage together
  with Zhang Bangchang ???, a high ranking official
  who had been in favor of appeasing the enemy.

11
The Jin and the Song (2)

• After the siege was lifted, Song Huizong
  (r.1100-26) abdicated and Song Qinzong (r.1126-7)
  became emperor.
• War began again with the Jin complaining that the
  Song was breaking the peace agreement by inducing
  former Liao generals to attack them.
• The Jin armies crossed the Yellow River and the
  victorious Jurchen army entered Kaifeng after
  heavy fighting.
• Song surrendered and Emperor Qinzong and Emperor
  Huizong were degraded as commoners, taken north
  and forced to wear mourning clothes to pay
  respect to the spirit of Aguda in his mausoleum.
• Six Song princesses were given as wives to
  members of the imperial Wanyan clan of Jin and
  the entire Song court and family members were
  made prisoners.
• Although the Jurchens had captured the Song
  capital of Kaifeng, they were unable to drive the
  Song out of south China.

12
The Jin (Gold) Dynasty

• The Jin dynasty adopted Chinese philosophy and
  administrative practices and had a dynasty more
  Chinese in style than the Liao.
• The reasons are
• The Jin used Chinese advisors and institutions on
  a larger scale as the Chinese territory was the
  bulk of their empire.
• While the ratio of Chinese to Qidan was 31 the
  Chinese outnumbered the Jurchens 101.
• The Jurchen had a low level of cultural
  development and so their traditional values,
  customs, and even language were lost at a rapid
  rate.
• The Manchurian homeland then became their
  borderland and most of the Jurchen were settled
  into China.

13
The Jin (Gold) Dynasty (2)

• Centralization was accomplished by increasing
  emphasis on Chinese culture.
• When the tribal supporters were alienated, the
  5th emperor (1161-1189) tried to reverse the
  policies.
• He promoted hunting, encouraged the use of the
  Jurchen language, increased the number of Jurchen
  appointments to the government and redistributed
  land to Jurchen commoners.
• He played tribal politics along its northern
  frontier to keep the nomads divided.
• The Mongols were the first victims of the Jurchen
  divide and rule strategy.
• Before Jinggis/Genghis Khan, the Mongols were
  only one of the many small tribes north of the
  Gobi that could cause trouble.

14
Succession Problems

• Towards the end of the dynasty, the Jin court had
  succession problems.
• It had been the custom to have brothers succeed
  each other before passing it on to the next
  generation.
• When Zhangzong ?? (1190-1208) died, a court group
  enthroned another prince, the 7th son of the
  previous emperor Wei Shao Wang ???
  (1209-1213), born of a Bohai concubine.
• Wei Shao Wang was later killed in a conspiracy
  and the elder brother of Zhangzong (1163-1223),
  later known as Xuanzong (r.1214-23), became
  emperor.
• Succession was thus returned to the fraternal
  system.

15
The End of the Jin

• The Jurchen often dealt with the tribes in the
  north by giving them gifts and inviting their
  leaders to visit.
• When these positive policies failed, they used
  force.
• When the Mongols attacked, the Jin at first
  refused to agree to a peace in which it would be
  forced to pay subsidies to the nomads, as did the
  Han and Tang or the Song.
• Instead, it battled the Mongols for a quarter of
  a century before Jin was destroyed in 1234.
• The Jin had strengthened their northwestern
  border with troops of Qidan and Xi Xia descent
  rather than with their own troops.
• In 1211, the Mongols overran these borders and
  the Jin asked the Mongols for peace and offered
  in marriage, a daughter of Wei Shao Wang, to
  Jinggis/Genghis khan.

16
The End of Jin

• After the Mongols withdrew from the Central
  Capital.
• Xuanzong decided it would be safer to move his
  court to the Southern Capital at Kaifeng which
  was protected in the north by the Yellow River.
• The Mongols took this as a preparation of war and
  marched against against the Jin which surrendered
  in 1215.
• The dynasty was conquered by the Mongols in 1234.
• After the Jin was defeated by the Mongols, the
  Jurchen returned to Manchuria.
• In time, their descendants, the Manchus,
  conquered China and established the Qing Dynasty.

17
The Mongols and the Yuan

• Mongols and the Yuan
• Barfield, Thomas, The Perilous Frontier,, Ch. 6,
  "The Mongol Empire, pp 164-222 OR
• Sinor, Denis, Inner Asia, a Syllabus, Ch 20-24
• Observations on Marriage and Inheritance
  Practices in Early Mongol and Yuan Society with
  particular reference to the Levirate in
  Holmgren, Jennifer, Marriage, Kinship and Power
  in Northern China, Part III, pp 127-192.