Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
The Jin dynasty, 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, 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 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 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". 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 , 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 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 in the north, named after the Heilong 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 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 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 people made up part of the population of the Northeast Asian state of Balhae, 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. The controversy revolves around the ethnic makeup and social structure of Balhae, which various states such as China, Russia, Korea, and Japan have given different views on through different interpretations of historical sources. While each perspective can vary significantly, most scholars agree that Balhae's population was at least partially composed of Goguryeo remnants and Mohe people.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, the founder of Balhae, was ethnically Mohe but adds that he was "'gaoli biezhong". 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, a scholar from the Korean kingdom of Silla, the people of Balhae were Mohe. In the conflict between the joint Tang-Silla forces against Balhae, Silla described Balhae as "rebellious barbarians." 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.
In a diplomatic mission to Japan in 727 or 728, the Balhae envoy said that Balhae has "recovered the lost land of Goguryeo and inherited the old traditions of Buyeo." Japanese diplomatic communications with Balhae recognized it as a "state of Goryeo." The Ruijū Kokushi, a 9th-century Japanese text, says that when Balhae was founded, it spanned 2,000 li and was filled with villages, each of which were Mohe tribes.