Jin Dynasty

The Jin Dynasty was founded in what would become northern Manchuria by the Jurchen tribal chieftan W ny n g d ( ) in 1115. In 1125, it successfully annihilated the Liao Dynasty which had held sway over northern China, including Manchuria and part of the Mongol region for several centuries. Also at this time, the Jin made overtures to the Korean kingdom of Goryeo, which Emperor Yejong refused.

On January 9, 1127, Jin forces ransacked Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, capturing both Emperor Qinzong, and his father, Emperor Huizong, who had abdicated in panic in the face of Jin forces. Following the fall of Kaifeng, Song forces under the leadership of the succeeding Southern Song Dynasty continued to fight for over a decade with Jin forces, eventually signing the Treaty of Shaoxing in 1141, calling for the cessation of all Song land north of the Huai River to the Jin and the execution of Song General Yue Fei in return for peace.

[edit] The migration south Jade ornament with flower design, Jin Dynasty, Shanghai Museum. After taking over Northern China, the Jin Dynasty became increasingly Sinicized. About three million people, half of them Jurchens, migrated south into northern China over two decades, and this minority governed about thirty million people.

The Jurchens were given land grants and organized society into 1,000 households ( - meng'an) and 100 households ( - mouke). Many married Hans, although the ban on Jurchen nobles marrying Hans was not lifted until 1191.

After Jin Emperor T iz ng ( ) died in 1135, the next three Jin emperors were grandsons of W ny n g d by three different princes. Young Jin Emperor X z ng ( ) (r. 1135-1149) studied the classics and wrote Chinese poetry. He adopted Han cultural traditions, but the Jurchen nobles had the top positions.

Later in life, Emperor X z ng became an alcoholic and executed many officials for criticizing him. He also had Jurchen leaders who opposed him murdered, even those in his own Wanyan family clan. In 1149 he was murdered by a cabal of relatives and nobles, who made his cousin W ny n Li ng ( ) the next Jin emperor.

Because of the brutality of both his domestic and foreign policy, Wanyan Liang was posthumously demoted from the position of emperor. Consequently, historians have commonly referred to him by the posthumous name of Prince H il ng ( ).

Rebellions in the north A marble statue of a Buddhist monk, 1180 AD, Jin Dynasty. Having usurped the throne, Wanyan Liang embarked on the program of legitimizing his rule as an emperor of China. In 1153, he moved the empire's main capital from Huining Fu in northern Manchuria (south of present-day Harbin) to the former Liao capital, Yanjing (now Beijing).

Four years later, in 1157, to emphasize the permanence of the move, he razed the nobles residences in Huining.[4][5] H il ng also reconstructed the former Song capital, Bianjing (now Kaifeng), which had been sacked in 1127, making it the Jin's southern capital.[4]