The Jin dynasty (, Chinese: 金朝; pinyin: Jīn cháo), officially the Great Jin (大金; Dà Jīn), was a Jurchen-led imperial dynasty of China and empire ruled by the Wanyan clan that existed between 1115 and 1234. It is also often called the Jurchen dynasty or the Jurchen Jin after the ruling Jurchen people. At its peak, the empire extended from Outer Manchuria in the north to the Qinling–Huaihe Line in the south.
The Jin dynasty emerged from Wanyan Aguda's rebellion against the Liao dynasty (916–1125), which held sway over northern China until being driven by the nascent Jin to the Western Regions, where they would become known in Chinese historiography as the Western Liao. After conquering the Liao territory, the Jin launched a century-long campaign against the Song dynasty (960–1279) based in southern China, whose rulers were ethnically Han Chinese. Over the course of the Jin's rule, their emperors adapted to Han customs and even fortified the Great Wall against the ascendant Mongol Empire. The Jin also oversaw a number of internal cultural advances, such as the revival of Confucianism.
In 1211, the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, invaded the Jin Empire, winning several victories. Over the span of 23 years, the Jin faced several defeats, internal revolts, defections, and coups. They were finally conquered by the Mongols in 1234.
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Name
The Jin dynasty was officially known as the "Great Jin" (大金), with Jin meaning "gold". The Jurchen word for "gold" was alchun, which Aguda adopted as the name of his state. Alchun may refer to the "Anchuhu" River, which meant "golden" in Jurchen. This river, known as Alechuka in modern Chinese, is a tributary of the Songhua River east of Harbin. Alechuka (阿勒楚喀) is a transliteration of its Manchu name alchuqa (ᠠᠯᠴᡠᡴᠠ), suggesting that the Jurchen name for the river sounded more similar to alchuhu rather than anchuhu. It was common for Chinese translators at the time to use the final -n sound at the end of a Chinese character to transliterate -l, -r, -s, -z etc. at the end of a syllable in foreign words.
After conquering Kaifeng and occupying northern China, one of the suggestions on which of the wuxing ('five elements') to choose for their state was "metal" due to its association with "gold", their state name. This suggestion came as a nativist current that distanced the Jin from the Song and interpreted the Jin as an indigenous development rooted in Northeast Asia unrelated to the precedents of previous Chinese dynasties. However, the emperor dismissed the suggestion of adopting "metal" as their wuxing element. Instead the Jin deliberately chose earth as its dynastic element and yellow as its royal color. According to the wuxing theory, the earth element follows the fire, the dynastic element of the Song, in the sequence of elemental creation. This ideological move shows that the Jin regarded the Song reign of China as officially over and saw themselves as the rightful ruler of China Proper.
The Mongols called the ruler of the Jin dynasty the "Golden khan" (Altan khan). Through the Mongols, the Jin dynasty became the first Chinese dynasty to be known in Europe by their dynastic name. Marco Polo rendered the Mongol name for the Jin ruler as roi d'or, or "gold king".
The Jin emperors also referred to their state as China, Zhongguo (中國) (“Middle Kingdom”), just as some other non-Han dynasties. Non-Han rulers expanded the definition of "China" to include non-Han peoples in addition to Han people whenever they ruled China. Jin documents indicate that the usage of "China" by dynasties to refer to themselves began earlier than previously thought.
The Wanyan surname for the Jurchen imperial family is found in numerous languages in different forms such as Wongian, Wonyan, Wongyan, or Ongging. In the Manchu language, it is rendered Wanggiyan. The name does not originate from Jurchen but from a Sino-Khitan word combining the Middle Chinese title for king or prince (ong; wang in modern Mandarin Chinese) and a Khitan suffix. The name was written as 完颜 during the Liao-Jin period, resulting in the modern Mandarin pronunciation as Wányán. The Wanyan Jurchens therefore means the "kingly" or "royal" Jurchens.
Origin
Mohe people
The Tungusic speaking Mohe people who lived in what is now Northeast China are the most commonly cited progenitors of the Jin dynasty and its ruling Jurchen ethnic group. They were mentioned in Chinese texts by the late 5th century AD. The Mohe were a primarily sedentary people who practiced hunting, pig farming, and grew crops such as soybean, wheat, millet, and rice. Horses were rare in the region until the Tang period and pastoralism was not widespread until the 10th century under the domination of the Khitans. The Mohe exported reindeer products and may have ridden them as well. They practiced mass slavery and used the slaves to aid in hunting and agricultural work. The Tang described the Mohe as a fierce and uncultured people who used poisoned arrows.
The two most powerful groups of Mohe were the Heishui Mohe (Blackwater Mohe) in the north, named after the Heilong River (Black River), and the Sumo Mohe in the south, named after the Songhua River. According to the ancestral traditions of early 12th century Jurchens, their people emerged from the Heishui Mohe in the forested mountain areas of eastern Manchuria and Russia's Primorsky Krai. In the 10th century, the Mohe formed a group known as the Wuguo (五國) ("Five Nations") federation to the northeast of modern Jilin that is also considered to have contributed to rise of the Jurchens. The Jurchens may have been mentioned as the Little Ruzhe people who presented silver and gold to the Tang court in 748, otherwise the Jurchens do not appear in historical records until the 10th century as tribute bearers to the Liao, Later Tang, and Song courts. A Jurchen embassy to Later Tang is recorded in 925 and an embassy to the Song in 961 that arrived by sea via the Liaodong peninsula. They practiced hunting, fishing, and kept domestic oxen while their primary export was horses. They had no script, calendar, or offices during the mid-11th century. The Jurchens were minor political actors in the international system at the time. By the 10th century, the Jurchens had become vassals of the Liao dynasty, but they also sent a number of tributary and trade missions to the Song capital of Kaifeng, which the Liao tried unsuccessfully to prevent. Some Jurchens paid tribute to Goryeo and sided with the latter during the Goryeo–Khitan War. They offered tribute to both courts out of political necessity and for material benefits.
In the 11th century, there was widespread discontent against Khitan rule among the Jurchens as the Liao violently extorted annual tribute from the Jurchen tribes. Leveraging the Jurchens' desire for independence from the Khitans, chief Wugunai (1021–1074) of the Wanyan clan rose to prominence, dominating all of eastern Manchuria from Mount Changbai to the Wuguo tribes. According to tradition, Wugunai was a sixth generation descendant of Hanpu while his father held a military title from the Liao court, although the title did not confer or hold any real power. His grandson Aguda eventually founded the Jin dynasty.
Balhae
The Mohe (Kr. Malgal) people made up part of the population of the Northeast Asian state of Balhae (698–926), also rendered as Bohai. The exact significance and role of the Mohe people in Balhae's social structure is disputed as part of the Balhae controversies. Due to the scarcity of indigenous Balhae sources, the study of Balhae draws on a wide range of textual sources from outside of Balhae, and investigations into Balhae's ethnic makeup usually start from the two official histories of the Tang dynasty. The Old Book of Tang states that Dae Joyeong (C. Da Zuorong), the founder of Balhae, was ethnically Mohe but adds that he was "'gaoli biezhong" (高麗別種). Literally speaking, biezhong means "separate kind." Due to the ambiguity of the wording, the term has been interpreted as meaning "a branch of the Goguryeo people" by South and North Korean historians, but as "distinct from Goguryeo" by Chinese researchers. The New Book of Tang refers to Dae Joyeong and his state as Sumo Mohe affiliated with Goguryeo before it received investiture from China and assumed the name "Bohai". According to historian Jesse D. Sloane, Tang sources divided Balhae's population into two categories, Goguryeo and Mohe. The royalty and upper class were composed of Goguryeo remnants while the majority of Balhae's population were Mohe.
Other historical sources also present different views on Balhae's relationship to Goguryeo and the Mohe. According to Ch'oe Ch'iwŏn (b. 857), a scholar from the Korean kingdom of Silla, the people of Balhae were Mohe. Sillan aristocracy tended to view the Balhae population as consisting of solely Mohe people, but this could be due to the antagonistic relations between the two states causing the Sillan nobility to ignore Goguryeo elements of Balhae ethnic composition. The Samguk sagi, written in the 12th century by Kim Pusik, did not consider Balhae a Korean state. The Samguk yusa, a 13th-century collection of Korean history and legends, describes Dae as a Sumo Mohe leader. However, it gives another account of Dae being a former Goguryeo general, citing a now-lost Sillan record. While diplomatic communications between Balhae and Japan recognized it as a successor state of Goguryeo and Buyeo, a 9th-century Japanese text also states that all of Balhae's villages were Mohe tribes.
In the early 12th century, the Jurchen leader Aguda sent ambassadors to the Liao dynasty to call on the Balhae people there to rebel against the Liao by appealing to a common origin between the Jurchens and Balhae. Aguda claimed that "the Jurchens and Bohai were originally of the same family" (女直渤海本同一家) and that they were "actually one family, because in origin they were consisted of seven Wuji tribes." The appeal states that both the Jurchens and Balhae people descended from the seven Wuji (Kr. Mulgil) tribes. However, according to Alexander Kim, this only applied to the Mohe portion of Balhae's population and not the Goguryeo people, who were not included in the seven Wuji tribes. The call for Balhae cooperation against the Liao Khitans was a success. A Song observer notes that due to discrimination in the Liao government against Balhae people, they were the first to defect to the Jin.
Wanyan clan
There is no dated evidence of the Jurchens before the time of Wugunai (1021–74), when the Jurchens began to coalesce into a nation-like federation. According to tradition passed down via oral transmission, Wugunai was the 6th generation descendant of Hanpu, the founder of the Wanyan clan, who therefore must have lived around the year 900. Hanpu originally came from the Heishui Mohe tribe of Balhae. According to the History of Jin, when he came to the Wanyan tribe, it was a form of compensation for the repayment of a murder. He had two brothers, one who stayed in Goryeo and the other in Balhae when he left. By the time he arrived and settled among the Wanyan, he was already 60 years old and accepted as a "wise man". He succeeded in settling a dispute between two families without resorting to violence, and as a reward, was betrothed to a worthy unmarried maiden also 60 years old. The marriage was blessed with the gift of a dark ox, which was revered in Jurchen culture, and from this union came one daughter and three sons. With this, Hanpu became the chief of the Wanyan and his descendants became formal members of the Wanyan clan.
Because Hanpu arrived from Goryeo, some South Korean scholars have claimed that Hanpu hailed from Goryeo. According to Alexander Kim, this cannot be easily identified as him being Korean because many Balhae people lived in Goryeo at that time. Later when Aguda appealed to the Balhae people in the Liao dynasty for support by emphasizing their common origin, he only mentioned those who descended from the "seven Wuji tribes", which the Goguryeo people were not a part of. It seems by that point, the Jurchens saw only the Mohe tribes as a related people. Some western scholars consider the origin of Hanpu to be legendary in nature. Herbert Franke described the narrative provided in the History of Jin as an "ancestral legend" with a historical basis in that the Wanyan clan had absorbed immigrants from Goryeo and Balhae during the 10th century. Frederick W. Mote described it as a "tribal legend" that may have born the tribe's memories. The two brothers remaining in Goryeo and Balhae may represent ancestral ties to those two peoples while Hanpu's marriage may represent the tribe's transformation from a matrilineal to patrilineal society.
Wugunai was a sixth generation descendant of Hanpu. He and his father had received military titles from the Liao court but they held no real power or functions other than recognition of the Liao's loose sovereignty. According to Jin sources, the Jurchens had no writing, calendar, or offices in the 11th century. In those times, a significant number of place names were simply named the "town of such and such a person". Wugunai is described as "a brave warrior, a great eater and drinker, and a lover of women". He extended his rule from the Changbai Mountains in the south to the Wuguo "Five Nations" in the north. The Liao appointed him as the military governor of the Uncivilized Jurchens.
History
Taizu (1115–1123)
After Wuyashu's death in 1113, his brother Aguda (posthumously Emperor Taizu of Jin) was elected leader of the Jurchens by the tribal elders. The Liao continued to bestow upon the Wanyan leaders the title of military governor, but the Jurchens soon came into military conflict with the Liao.
In late 1112, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao embarked on a fishing expedition to the Huntong River (modern Songhua River) where the Jurchen tribes were expected to pay homage to the emperor. As a symbolic gesture of obeisance, the Jurchen chieftains were supposed to get up in turn and dance in the emperor's camp, but one of them, Aguda, refused. Even after being bidden three times, Aguda still refused to dance. Tianzuo wanted him executed for his act of defiance but the influential chancellor, Xiao Fengxian, dissuaded him from that course and belittled the harm Aguda could do. This would prove to be a fatal mistake as Aguda was elected ruler of the Jurchens in the following year. Aguda immediately began harassing the Liao for the return of Ashu, a Jurchen chieftain who opposed Wanyan hegemony and had taken refuge in Liao territory, and when his demands were refused, began building fortifications on the Liao border. In the late autumn of 1114 Aguda attacked Ningjiang. Underestimating the Jurchen threat, Tianzuo only sent some Balhae detachments from the Eastern Capital, which were defeated. Another force composed of Khitan and Kumo Xi troops led by Xiao Sixian, the brother of Xiao Fengxian, was also defeated on the Songhua. Despite Sixian's incompetence, he escaped punishment, leading to demoralization of Khitan generals. By the end of the year, several border prefectures had been taken by the Jurchens and some neighboring tribes had also joined them.
In 1115 Tianzuo sent envoys to negotiate with the Jurchens, but Aguda had already declared himself emperor of the Jin "Gold" dynasty in the spring of 1115, and rejected the Liao letters because they did not address him by his new title. Aguda also took on a Chinese name (Min "compassionate") and a Chinese reign title (Shouguo "receiving statehood") in addition to all the regalia befitting of a Chinese emperor. The one responsible for this seems to be a man of Balhae origins, Yang Pu, who had received the jinshi degree under the Liao as a young man. He advised Aguda not to be content with mere independence for the Jurchens but to aspire to emperorship based on Chinese traditions.
Aguda continued to demand the return of Ashu and the withdraw of Liao troops from Huanglong, the major administrative center of the region. Huanglong fell to the Jin in late autumn. Tianzuo assembled a massive army west of the Songhua and crossed the river in the winter of 1115. His invasion was undermined by a plot to dethrone him and install his uncle, Prince Chun. The conspirators led by Yelü Zhangnu deserted the army and sent messengers informing Chun of their plan. Chun refused to take part in the coup and beheaded Zhangnu's messengers. The rebels then went about the countryside creating havoc until they were defeated by a small group of loyal Jurchens. Zhangnu was caught trying to escape to the Jin disguised as a messenger and was executed by being cut in half at the waist. More than 200 implicated nobles were executed and their families condemned to slavery. In early 1116 another rebellion occurred at the Eastern Capital when a Balhae officer named Gao Yongchang declared himself emperor of the Yuan dynasty and requested aid from the Jin. The Jin relief troops to Yuan easily repulsed the Liao troops but then turned on the Balhae rebels and killed Gao Yongchang. With the destruction of the Yuan dynasty, the entire region east of the Liao River fell to the Jin. To ensure Chun's continued loyalty, he was made commander in chief of the Liao armies and entrusted with defense operations against the Jin. Chun proved to be an awful commander. His new army, composed of Balhae refugees, inflicted more damage on the civilian population than the enemies. When the Jin attacked Chunzhou on the Songhua in early 1117, the Liao army melted away, not even offering a token resistance. At the end of the year, the Jin forces crossed the Liao River, defeated Chun's army, and conquered several prefectures.
Taizong (1123–1135)
After Aguda died in 1123, he was succeeded by his younger brother Wuqimai (posthumously Emperor Taizong of Jin). Wuqimai oversaw the final defeat of the Liao dynasty and continued to expand the Jin dynasty's territory by waging war on the Song.
Emperor Tianzuo of Liao sought refuge with Emperor Chongzong of Western Xia, who while initially receptive, changed his mind after warnings from the Jurchens and declared himself a vassal of Jin in 1124. Tianzuo fled further north into the steppes where he traded his clothes for food from the Khongirad. In spite of all these setbacks, Tianzuo still held onto the delusion of retaking the Western and Southern Capitals, and attacked nearby prefectures. Yelü Dashi, who had rejoined Tianzuo, grew tired of his behavior and left for the west. Tianzuo was captured in early 1125 and taken to the Jin court where he held the title of "king of the seashore" (haipin wang). According to the History of Liao, Tianzuo died at the age of 54 in 1128.
After the defeat of the Liao dynasty and the submission of the Western Xia as a vassal, Wuqimai strengthened border defenses against Goryeo and quelled unrest among the Balhae districts. The Jin then focused its attention on the Song frontier. Prior to Aguda's death, the former Liao military governor of Pingzhou named Zhang Jue killed a Liao commander of Yan who had defected to the Jin. Zhang Jue declared his allegiance to the Song, who reappointed him to his former office. A Jin army attacked Pingzhou, forcing Zhang Jue to escape to Yan, where another former Liao commander, Guo Yaoshi, had defected to the Song. The Jin pressured the Song into returning Zhang Jue, whom they considered a criminal. The Song acquiesced to their demands, executed Zhang Jue, and sent his head to the Jin. Realizing that the Song were unwilling to stand up to the Jin, Guo Yaoshi declared his allegiance to the Jin, who reinstated him as the governor of Yan.
The Jin decided to invade the Song in the fall of 1125. Within a few months, they had occupied most of Shanxi and Hebei. In early 1126, the Jin army crossed the Yellow River and laid siege to the Song capital of Kaifeng. Due to considerations for material losses that the Jin army would have incurred from a prolonged siege, the Jin commander, Wanyan Zongwang (Wolibu, second son of Aguda), withdrew with heavy concessions from the Song. The Song ceded the three prefectures of Taiyuan, Hejian, and Zhongshan, representing the majority of Shanxi and Hebei's territory. The Song was also forced to pay a large indemnity in silver, silk, and coins worth 180 years of annual payments. The prince of Kang, a younger brother of Emperor Qinzong, was sent to Zongwang's camp along with the high ranking official Zhang Bangchang as hostages. After a week of negotiations, the siege of Kaifeng was lifted on 10 February 1126. A mistake that the Song had made during this invasion was the removal of the defensive forest that was planted along the Song-Liao border. Because of the removal of this landscape barrier, in 1126/27, the Jin army marched quickly across the North China Plain to Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng).
Xizong (1135–1150)
After Emperor Taizong of Jin died in 1135, he was succeeded by Hela (posthumously Emperor Xizong of Jin), a grandson of Emperor Taizu of Jin. Hela was much less favorable towards Liu Yu than his predecessor. He demoted Liu Yu from emperor of Great Qi to the rank of prince and abolished the state of Great Qi in 1137. Liu Yu lived out the rest of his life in supervised retirement at Linhuang.
A peace treaty with the Song was finalized on 11 October 1142. There was a preliminary peace in 1139 when the Jin returned Shaanxi and Henan to the Song but this was short lived. In 1140, the Jin retook Shaanxi and Henan and sent troops south of the Yellow River. The Southern Song court, based in Hangzhou since 1138, sought to appease the Jin by eliminating the revanchist faction. Due to the machinations of Qin Hui, who has the ears of the emperor, the Song general who had experienced the most success in fighting back against the Jin, Yue Fei, was put to death in 1141. In October 1141, the Jin general Wanyan Zongbi (Jin Wuzhu), the fourth son of Aguda, offered to make the Huai River the border between the two states. The Song agreed to the terms of the Treaty of Shaoxing, which stipulated that the entire course of the Huai River would become the new border, Tangzhou and Dengzhou would be ceded to the Jin, 250,000 ounces of silver and silk would be paid annually to the Jin as tribute, no garrisons could be constructed on the side of the Song border, and the Song would not pursue criminals north of the border but would surrender criminals to the Jin. In return, the Jin withdrew their armies and promised to return the coffin of Huizong and the empresses. The treaty was couched in terms of vassalage with the Jin addressed as "Your superior state" investing Emperor Gaozong of Song as ruler of the Song. With the finalization of the treaty, the Jin had fully conquered northern China and the Central Plains. The political and economic center started shifting south as more Jurchens settling in northern China and larger numbers of Han Chinese were integrated into the state.
After taking over northern China, the Jin became increasingly sinicised. Over the span of 20 years, the new Jurchen ruling class constituted around half of a larger pattern of migration southward into northern China. There, many Jurchens were granted land, which was then organised around a social structure based on hereditary military units: a mouke ('company') was a unit consisting of 300 households, and groups of 7–10 moukes were further organised into meng-an ('battalions').
When Xizong was enthroned, he was only a boy of 16 years, and did not take part in much of the diplomatic and military activities that occurred immediately after his accession. Xizong left most of these affairs to the imperial clan members, who held the highest military and civilian offices. Despite his absence from the administration of the empire, the Jin remained relatively stable throughout his reign and did not face many urgent crises. Like the Song before them, the Jin sought to appease the northern nomads like the Mongols rather than to rule them directly. In 1146-7, the Jin invested Khabul Khan with the title of assisting state ruler of the Mongols. A Song record states that the Jin originally tried to use military force to defeat the Mongols but failed. Khabul was once invited to the Jin court. During the visit, Khabul tweaked the emperor's beard in a drunken outburst. While the emperor was initially willing to overlook this incident, he later changed his mind and ordered for Khabul to be captured. The Jin pursuers failed in the effort and were killed in an ambush. The Jin settled for sending elite troops to occupy a few strategic points before returning. After peaceful relations were established with the Mongols, the Jin sent them generous gifts as appeasement.
Wanyan Liang (1150–1161)
Having usurped the throne, Wanyan Liang embarked on a program of legitimization to ensure his rule as an emperor of China. In the process he became known as a monster, according to both Song and Jin sources, who was far worse than his predecessor. He normalized the killing of his opponents, including those among the Wanyan royal clan, particularly the descendants of Taizong. In total, he executed 155 princes. After killing them, Liang transferred the widows and concubines of the murdered princes to his own harem. In later centuries, he became the subject of pornography where he was portrayed as an anti-hero and his exploits described with gusto.
As part of Liang's efforts to legitimize himself as emperor, he became thoroughly entrenched in Chinese traditions. In his youth, he was highly impressed by the Song Chinese he came into contact with and their influence caused him to adopt Chinese practices such as drinking tea and playing chess. His predilection for Chinese culture was so strong during his childhood that he was given the nickname of Boliehan, which in the Jurchen language means "aping the Chinese". Liang initiated reforms to make the Jin more Chinese in ritual, ceremony, fiscal policy, and administration. He was no longer satisfied with the northern base of political power in the Supreme Capital (Shangjing) in Huining Prefecture (present day Acheng, Harbin), considering the region to be too underdeveloped for his liking. He started shifting the bureaucracy to Yanjing (modern Beijing) in the south. In 1152, Liang relocated his residence to Yanjing and renamed it the Central Capital. To emphasize the permanence of the move, in 1157 he ordered the destruction of the palaces and mansions of the Jurchen chiefs in the Supreme Capital and reduced it in rank to a prefecture. He also gave orders to reconstruct the former Song capital, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng), and made it the Southern Capital.
Liang's vision of himself as a Chinese emperor extended to his ambition to control all of China, including the territory of the Song dynasty. To fulfil his dream of becoming the ruler of all China, Wanyan attacked the Song in 1161. In 1158, he accused the Song of breaking the Shaoxing Treaty by making illicit purchases of horses at the border markets. Preparations for an all out invasion of the Song started in 1159. He dispatched the minister of war to inspect the border with the Western Xia to make sure no border unrest could upset the campaign against the Song. Horses were requisitioned in great numbers and a total of 560,000 animals were reported to have been utilized for the war effort. A large store of weaponry was gathered in the Central Capital. A mandatory draft for the Han population was implemented, which was met with local resistance and rebellions in the south, particularly on the border with the Song dynasty. However, recruitment efforts continued until the summer of 1161. Anticipating combat with the Song navy and the need for river transport, Liang recruited 30,000 sailors and confiscated a great number of barges for his army.
Shizong (1161–1189)
The new emperor, Wulu, also known as Yong (posthumously Emperor Shizong of Jin), was not officially recognized as emperor until the murder of Wanyan Liang's heir. He was the grandson of Taizu and the son of Wanyan Zongfu and a Balhae consort. Prior to his accession as emperor, Shizong was stationed in the Eastern Capital (Liaoyang) as the city's vice-regent. When a Khitan rebellion in the region broke out in 1161, Shizong took part in the anti-rebel campaign and was able to bring them back under control. Khitans also rebelled in the northwest but they were defeated by 1162. Some Khitans escaped to the Song while others in the Jin military were disbanded or spread out among Jurchen units. County towns in the northwest were fortified against further rebellions and to protect the region from the Mongols. During the 1150s or 1160s, the Jin captured the Mongol khan Ambaghai of the Taichiud, who was duped in a ruse by the Tatars. Ambaghai was nailed to a wooden donkey and left to die.
Supported primarily by Balhae people and Jurchens dissatisfied with Wanyan Liang's rule, Shizong left for the Central Capital (modern Beijing) after he was proclaimed emperor. His first order in 1162 was to withdraw the army from the Yangtze region and in spring he sent envoys to the Song seeking peace. There were repeated clashes with the Song both in the Huai River region and in the southwest region bordering the Song province of Shu (Sichuan) until 1165, when a peace treaty was concluded on more favorable terms for the Song. The Song was no longer a vassal of the Jin and the word "tribute" was replaced with "payment", however the actual amount paid to the Jin remained unchanged. The border between the two states remained the same as before. The Treaty of Longxing ushered in 40 years of peace between the Song and Jin dynasties.
Although educated in the Chinese classics, Shizong was not as infatuated with Chinese culture as his predecessor, Wanyan Liang. He had a great nostalgia for the traditional Jurchen lifestyle of those who still lived in their ancestral homelands. He saw the increasingly Chinese way of life that the Jurchens adopted as a concerning development, so he passed edicts prohibiting them from adopting Chinese names or dress. He promoted the Jurchen language and culture; during his reign, a number of Chinese classics were translated into Jurchen, the Imperial Jurchen Academy was founded, and the imperial examinations started to be offered in the Jurchen language. The old center of power in Huining Prefecture was rebuilt and returned to its former status as Supreme Capital. In 1184-5, Shizong spent a year in the Supreme Capital to reminisce about his forefathers.
Zhangzong (1189–1208)
By the time Shizong died in 1189, the crown prince and heir apparent Wanyan Yungong had already passed, so his grandson Madage (posthumously Emperor Zhangzong of Jin) succeeded him. The new emperor did not have as strong of a personality as his grandfather but was still able to maintain the unity of the Wanyan clan and the Jurchen noblemen. His reign saw the continued adoption of Chinese culture by the Jurchens and Khitans despite prohibitions against such behavior. Despite brewing trouble to the north with the rise of Genghis Khan, the main source of disaster during Zhangzong's reign was the 1194 Yellow River flood which inundated vast regions and formed two new courses. The flooding displaced farmers, disrupted communication, and fomented unrest among the population, causing the decline of the dynasty. In addition to the flooding, there were droughts and locusts plaguing the regions bordering the Song. Shandong in particular was heavily affected by natural disasters. At the same time, the Jin had to contend with the rising Mongols, forcing them to construct large scale fortifications along the northwestern border after 1192. The Jin also spent a significant portion of their resources on sending punitive expeditions into Mongol territory during the Yellow River flood. To raise more funds, the Jin government resorted to confiscating land from Han owners accused of tax evasion and redistributing the land to reliable Jurchens, causing friction between the two populations.
In 1195, the Jin attacked the Khongirad in conjunction with the Tatars but fallout over the distribution of loot caused the Jin to attack the Tatars in the following year. A Jin vanguard force led by Wanyan Anguo held off the Tatars on the Kherlen River for three days before reinforcements arrived and defeated them. Conflict with the Khongirad reignited on 4 February 1196 when they invaded Jin territory and defeated a Jin detachment. Meanwhile the Tatars fleeing Jin forces were defeated by Toghrul and Temüjin. Toghrul and Temüjin met with Jin officials who awarded them with titles. One of the officials, a Khitan named Yelü Ahai, later joined Temüjin along with his brother Tuhua in 1203. The defeated Tatar Zuxu submitted to the Jin and rebelled again before submitting again in 1198. Zuxu soon died afterward.
In the south, the Song court was well aware of the Jin's difficulties. Song embassies traveled to the Central Capital twice a year and passed through the disaster struck regions. Song military leaders started instigating conflict on the Huai River border starting from 1204. The Song chancellor Han Tuozhou encouraged Song raids and military intrusions into Jin territory. By the summer of 1206, Han had decided it was time to formally declare war on the Jin. The deputy minister of war, Ye Shi, was tasked with drafting the declaration of war. However, he refused due to his opposition to the war. Ye Shi was demoted and replaced by Li Bi, who was a part of Han's revanchist party. The formal declaration of war was officially announced on 14 June 1206.
Wanyan Yongji (1208–1213)
When Emperor Zhangzong died in 1208, he was succeeded by Shizong's seventh son, Wanyan Yongji (originally Wanyan Yunji). Wanyan Yongji was born to a Balhae concubine and is not recorded in history as an emperor due to his successor, Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, reverting his status to that of a prince posthumously, therefore he is known as "Prince Shao of Wei" or "Prince Weishao". Yongji's succession was uncertain due to the seniority of Zhangzong's elder brother (Xuanzong), who should have succeeded Zhangzong according to tradition. However a court clique enthroned Yongji instead.
By the time Yongji came to power, the Jin had constructed a long line of fortifications from modern Qiqihar to Hulun Lake connecting with the previous Great Wall of China. However the units stationed along the fortifications were of Khitan and Kumo Xi extraction rather than Jurchen, making their worth of questionable value. It is uncertain why the Mongols under Genghis Khan invaded the Jin dynasty and numerous reasons are given, including the earlier killing of Ambaghai Khan (predecessor of Genghis) and Yongji personally insulting Genghis. Genghis broke off tributary relations with the Jin in 1210 and decided to invade them when he received news that the Jin were suffering from a severe famine.
In the spring of 1211, the Mongols attacked the Jin in two directions. The eastern army was led by Genghis. The Mongol forces led by Jochi, Ögedei, and Chagatai easily overcame the border fortifications of the Jin and took Juyong Pass. Jin reinforcements were easily defeated by the Mongols, who ravaged the countryside while the western army blocked Jin auxiliary troops in Shanxi from coming to the aid of their frontline forces. The Mongols withdrew in the winter.
The Mongols invaded the Jin again in 1212. In February, the Mongols took Huanzhou and besieged Zhengzhou. Yongji sent out an army led by Heshilie Jiujin, the commander of the Jurchen and Khitan cavalry, and Duji Qianjianu and Hu Sha, who led the Han Chinese infantry, against the Mongol invasion. The Jin army was said to have been several hundred thousand strong. The Khitan commanders advocated for a surprise attack, but Heshilie Jiujin preferred to advance as a whole with the entire army. He also sent a letter to Genghis denouncing him, alerting the Mongols to the Jin advance. Although heavily outnumbered, Mongol cavalry led by Muqali charged the Jin forces, discomforting their ranks. The Mongol main army then followed up with an attack on the Jin forces, chasing them for 48 kilometres (30 mi) before defeating their rearguard at Huihebao Fort. The Mongol victory at the Battle of Yehuling has been attributed to the overly cautious Jurchen commander, the disaffection of the Khitan commanders who resented Jurchen control, and the fighting qualities of the Mongol cavalry.
Xuanzong (1213–1224)
The events of Wanyan Yongji's death and the accession of Wudubu (posthumously Emperor Xuanzong of Jin) happened while the Mongols were advancing toward the Central Capital. Repeated droughts had severely impacted the Jin dynasty's ability to wage war and muster troops. In a last ditch effort, the Jin court removed all limitations on its population's ability to take office, lifting former restrictions on the Khitans and Han. However this came to naught and the Jin started negotiations with the Mongols in the spring of 1214. The Mongols agreed to withdraw in return for the Jin submitting as a tributary and sending a daughter (Princess Qiguo) of the former emperor in marriage to the khan.
Despite the momentary peace, Xuanzong judged the situation in the north to be too precarious to remain at the Central Capital and relocated the court to the Southern Capital, which was located in the center of the agriculturally developed Chinese plains and defended to the north by the Yellow River. Genghis saw the relocation as casus belli for the continuation of the war. By December 1214, Muqali's Mongol forces had taken the northeastern portion of the Jin dynasty while the Central Capital fell to the Mongols on 31 May 1215. The Khitan and Han subjects of the Jin dynasty defected to the Mongols, who placed the Khitan Shimo Ming'an and Jabar Khoja in charge of the Central Capital. At the same time the Jin and Western Xia came into conflict in the west while the Song refused to pay the sum stipulated in the 1208 treaty. The Mongols created a Han army out of defecting Jin troops, and another army out of defected Song troops called the "Newly Submitted Army" (新附軍). Two Han leaders, Shi Tianze and Liu Heima, and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the three tumens in the Mongol army.
In Shandong, a rebellion led by Yang Anguo, a man descended from a line of boot and leather workers, plundered the country towns in the east. In the summer of 1214, Yang proclaimed himself emperor. Despite the ongoing Mongol invasion, the Jin mobilized an army to put down the rebellion. The Jin forces led by Pusan Anchen had destroyed most of Yang's strongholds by late autumn. Yang was captured and killed in early 1215. Another two rebel leaders were defeated in the anti-rebel campaign, but general unrest in Shandong continued to incite rebellions. The rebels coalesced into a group known as the Red Coats in 1215. The Jin were unable to defeat them and in 1217, another Yellow River flood prevented them from taking action in Shandong. The Song tried to use the Red Coats to their advantage by offering their leaders official and material assistance. In 1218, the Song appointed the rebel leader Li Quan as commanding prefect of Shandong. In 1225, the Mongols invaded Shandong, resulting in the surrender of Li Quan in 1227. Li Quan joined the Mongols in attacking the Song in 1230 but the invasion ended in failure and Li Quan was killed on 18 February 1231. Li Quan's adopted son, Li Tan, inherited his father's position and defected to the Song in 1262, for which Kublai Khan had him executed.
Aizong (1224–1234)
Ningjiasu, posthumously Emperor Aizong of Jin, succeeded his father, Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, in 1224. His posthumous name, Aizong, means "Pitiable Ancestor", representing his role as the last emperor of the Jin dynasty. Upon Aizong's accession, the Jin had lost all territory north of the Yellow River.
Aizong made peace with the Song in 1224 and formally renounced their claim to annual payments from the Song. A peace treaty with the Western Xia was concluded in 1225 acknowledging that the Western Xia was no longer a vassal of the Jin.
When Genghis Khan died in 1227, Aizong tried to appease the Mongols with an embassy offering their condolences, but the Mongols refused to receive their envoys. In 1230 and 1231, Ögedei Khan launched another invasion of the Jin dynasty, attacking them from two directions under the personal command of Ögedei and Genghis' youngest son Tolui. The combined army, led by Subutai, crossed the Yellow River on 28 January 1232 and reached Bianjing (Kaifeng) on 6 February. The Siege of Kaifeng (1232) began on 8 April 1232. There were peace talks into the summer of 1232 but negotiations ceased after the Jin murdered the Mongol envoy Tang Qing in his hostel as well as some 30 other people. Bianjing suffered from an epidemic in the summer of 1232 and ran out of emergency food supplies, causing starvation. Despite these setbacks and disorderly conditions within the city, the siege is well recorded due to the eyewitness account of a Han intellectual who recorded these events in his memoirs. As a result, the siege became historically significant for its descriptions of gunpowder weapons.
The Mongols deployed gunpowder weapons along with other more conventional siege techniques such as building stockades, watchtowers, trenches, guardhouses, and forcing Chinese captives to haul supplies and fill moats. The Jin scholar Liu Qi recounts in his memoir, "the attack against the city walls grew increasingly intense, and bombs rained down as [the enemy] advanced." The Jin defenders also deployed gunpowder bombs as well as fire arrows launched using a type of early solid-propellant rocket. Of the bombs, Liu Qi writes, "From within the walls the defenders responded with a gunpowder bomb called the heaven-shaking-thunder bomb (震天雷). Whenever the [Mongol] troops encountered one, several men at a time would be turned into ashes." The History of Jin provides a description of the bomb: "The heaven-shaking-thunder bomb is an iron vessel filled with gunpowder. When lighted with fire and shot off, it goes off like a crash of thunder that can be heard for a hundred li [48 kilometres or 30 miles], burning an expanse of land more than half a mu [所爇圍半畝之上, a mu is 670 square metres or 1⁄6 acre], and the fire can even penetrate iron armor."
Government
The government of the Jin dynasty merged Jurchen customs with institutions adopted from the Liao and Song dynasties. The pre-dynastic Jurchen government was based on the quasi-egalitarian tribal council. Jurchen society at the time did not have a strong political hierarchy. The Shuo Fu (說郛) records that the Jurchen tribes were not ruled by central authority and locally elected their chieftains. Tribal customs were retained after Aguda united the Jurchen tribes and formed the Jin dynasty, coexisting alongside more centralised institutions. The Jin dynasty had five capitals, a practice they adopted from the Balhae and the Liao. The Jin had to overcome the difficulties of controlling a multicultural empire composed of territories once ruled by the Liao and Northern Song. The solution of the early Jin government was to establish separate government structures for different ethnic groups.
The Jin court maintained a clear separation between the sedentary population who had lived under Liao rule, and the sedentary population who formerly lived under Northern Song rule but had never been under Liao rule. The former they referred to as hanren or yanren while the latter they referred to as nanren.
Culture
Architecture
The Jin dynasty sought to revive of Tang-era urban design through architectural projects in Kaifeng and Zhongdu (modern Beijing), constructing landmarks such as a bell tower and drum tower to announce the night curfew which had been reinstated after being abolished by the Song government. The Jurchens, following the Khitan precedent, lived in tents amid Han Chinese-style architecture, which itself was modeled after Song dynasty Kaifeng.
Religion
Because the Jin had few contacts with its southern neighbour, the Song dynasty, different cultural developments took place in both states. Within Confucianism, the Neo-Confucian "Learning of the Way" that developed and became orthodox in Song did not take root in Jin. Jin scholars put more emphasis on the work of northern Song scholar and poet Su Shi (1037–1101) rather than on Zhu Xi's (1130–1200) scholarship that constituted the foundation of the Learning of the Way.
A significant branch of Taoism called the Quanzhen School was founded under the Jin Dynasty by Han Chinese Wang Zhe (1113–1170), founder of formal congregations in 1167 and 1168. He took the nickname of Wang Chongyang (Wang "Double Yang"), and his disciples were retrospectively known as the "seven patriarchs of Quanzhen". The ci poetry that characterized Jin literature was tightly linked to Quanzhen: two-thirds of the ci poetry written in Jin times was composed by Quanzhen Taoists.
The Jin state sponsored an edition of the Taoist Canon that is known as the Precious Canon of the Mysterious Metropolis of the Great Jin (大金玄都宝藏; Dà Jīn Xuándū Bǎozàng). Based on a smaller version of the Canon printed by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1125) of the Song, it was completed in 1192 under the direction and support of Emperor Zhangzong (r. 1190–1208). In 1188, Zhangzong's grandfather and predecessor Shizong (r. 1161–1189) ordered for the Song Canon woodblocks to be transferred from the Jin southern capital Kaifeng (the former Northern Song capital) to the central capital's "Abbey of Celestial Perpetuity" (天长观; Tiāncháng Guān), on the site of what is now the White Cloud Temple in Beijing. Other Taoist writings were also moved there from another abbey in the central capital. Zhangzong instructed the abbey's superintendent Sun Mingdao (孙明道) and two civil officials to prepare a complete Canon for printing. After sending people on a "nationwide search for scriptures" that yielded 1,074 fascicles of text that had not been included in the Huizong edition of the Canon and also securing donations to fund the new printing, Sun Mingdao proceeded to have the new woodblocks cut in 1192. The final print consisted of 6,455 fascicles. Despite records that the Jin emperors offered copies of the Canon as gifts, no surviving traces of the Canon had been found as of 2008.
A Buddhist Canon or "Tripitaka" was also produced in Shanxi, the same place where an enhanced version of the Jin-sponsored Taoist Canon would be reprinted in 1244. The project was initiated in 1139 by a Buddhist nun named Cui Fazhen, who swore (and allegedly "broke her arm to seal the oath") that she would raise the necessary funds to make a new official edition of the Canon printed by the Northern Song. Completed in 1173, the Jin Tripitaka counted about 7,000 fascicles, "a major achievement in the history of Buddhist private printing." It was further expanded during the Yuan dynasty.