The Jin dynasty (,"Jin". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. ), officially the Great Jin (), 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.
Name
The Jin dynasty was officially known as the "Great Jin" (), 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 () is a transliteration of its Manchu name alchuqa (), 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 colour. 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 () (“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 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 () ("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 Ethnicity 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" ().Old Book of Tang, Original: . Link 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".New Book of Tang, Chapter 219: 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.Samguk yusa, Chapter 1, Section Mohe Bohai. 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.
Relationship to the Jurchens
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" () and that they were "actually one family, because in origin they were consisted of seven Wuji tribes."History of Jin, chapter 1, p. 25 of the Beijing Zhonghua shuju edition. 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.
Families of Balhae descent were able to rise high in the Jin hierarchy. Aguda was advised by a Balhae man named Yang Pu who aided him in establishing an imperial court. Another Balhae man named Gao Qinyi became the advisor of Wanyan Zonghan, a Jurchen general and close friend of Aguda. An 1125 embassy noted that Jin protocol officers included Khitans, Jurchens, as well as Balhae. They all spoke Chinese. Balhae descendants were integrated into the Jin military and government structure, serving as military commanders in the wars against the Song dynasty and the Mongols, as well as advisors for the Jin emperors. Some Jin emperors were descended from Balhae people through their mothers. Many Balhae-literati officials were trusted as arbiters of culture. Despite significant integration into the Jin state, the Balhae people continued to exist apart from the Jurchens, but their identity gradually eroded under Jin rule, possibly as a result of southward migration by large groups of Jurchen soldiers and their families.