The Jin Empire: Jurchen Rule in Northern China

The Jin dynasty of 1115–1234 was an empire ruled by the Jurchen Wanyan clan. It began in northeast Asia, where Jurchen leaders had been subject to the Liao dynasty, then expanded across Liao territory and into northern China, formerly ruled by the Northern Song. Its rulers combined Jurchen political and military traditions with institutions adopted from the Liao and Song. This Jurchen Jin is distinct from the earlier Jin dynasty in Chinese history.

At its height, the empire extended from the northeast to the Qinling–Huaihe line in the south. Its relations with the Song alternated between war and negotiated peace, while pressure from the Mongols eventually drove the Jin court south and brought the dynasty to an end in 1234.

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From Jurchen unification to the fall of the Liao

Before the Jin state was founded, Jurchen groups lived across parts of what is now northeast China. Their political ties to the Liao varied, and Liao rule was not equally direct everywhere. In the 11th century, the Wanyan clan extended its influence over neighbouring Jurchen communities. Its leaders held titles granted by the Liao, but those titles did not give the Liao court firm control over their local power.

Resentment toward Liao rule helped turn that growing unity into rebellion. Jurchens objected to the conduct of Liao officials and to demands such as supplying rare gyrfalcons, large hunting falcons. After Wanyan Aguda became leader in 1113, conflict escalated. He attacked Liao forces in 1114, and in 1115 declared himself emperor of the Great Jin. The new state took its name from the Jurchen word for gold.

The Liao struggled to contain the rebellion. Jin forces took its major centres and drew in neighbouring groups and defectors. The Liao dynasty was defeated in 1125, leaving the Jin in control of its former territories. An alliance with the Song had helped shape the contest against the Liao, but it did not settle the relationship between the two expanding states. Their agreement of 1123 described them as equals, yet left important questions about borders and the transfer of territory unresolved.

Conquest of northern China and conflict with the Song

War between the Jin and Song followed quickly. Jin forces invaded in 1125 and, the next year, crossed the Yellow River and besieged the Song capital at Kaifeng. The Jin withdrew after the Song made major concessions, but the truce did not last. In 1126–1127, Jin forces returned, captured Kaifeng, and took the Song emperors Huizong and Qinzong prisoner. The capture ended Northern Song rule in the north. A surviving Song prince established a court farther south, beginning the period known as the Southern Song.

The Jin tried to govern its new conquests partly through regimes led by Han Chinese officials. One such government, Great Qi, was established under Liu Yu, a former Song official who had joined the Jin. It administered territory on the Jin’s behalf and fought Song forces, but the Jin court abolished it in 1137. The rulers instead incorporated northern China directly into their empire, while continuing the war and negotiations with the Southern Song.

The settlement of 1142 placed the border along the Qinling–Huai region and required the Southern Song to acknowledge subordination to the Jin. Annual transfers included 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 bolts of silk. The agreement of 1165 reduced each to 200,000 and replaced the vassal relationship with a fictive uncle–nephew relationship between rulers. Jin ceremonial precedence continued, although the Song’s diplomatic standing improved. Peace then lasted about four decades.

Governing a diverse empire

The Jin government combined Jurchen customs with institutions drawn from the Liao and Song. The early Jurchen political tradition had relied on local leaders and councils; under Aguda, these practices continued alongside a more centralized imperial government. The court also adopted the Liao practice of maintaining several capitals. As the empire’s political centre shifted south, Huiningfu gave way to Zhongdu, in the area of modern Beijing, and the court later moved to Kaifeng. In the dynasty’s final years, it withdrew to Caizhou.

Governing people with different political histories required administrative distinctions. The court maintained separate arrangements for sedentary populations formerly ruled by the Liao and those incorporated from the Northern Song. Their official classifications reflected this difference in prior status. The Jin also used the Chinese imperial title and traditions of rule. Its emperors called their realm Zhongguo, or the Middle Kingdom, asserting authority over a state that included Jurchens and many other peoples.

Imperial examinations and schools helped staff the bureaucracy. Examinations for Han candidates began in 1123, and the court established an imperial university in the capital in 1132. At first, examinations differed according to the territories from which candidates came: northern candidates were tested on poetry and rhapsodies, while southern candidates studied the Confucian classics. The court later brought the examination content together. Under Emperor Shizong, it also introduced examinations in the Jurchen language, including tests of political writing and poetry. These arrangements let the state recruit officials through established Chinese methods while also supporting Jurchen-language administration and learning.

Jurchen identity and Chinese cultural practices coexisted, though rulers disagreed over how much cultural change to encourage. Emperor Wanyan Liang moved the political centre south and adopted Chinese forms of ceremony and administration as part of his effort to strengthen his claim to rule China. Shizong, by contrast, promoted Jurchen language and customs, and tried to discourage Jurchens from adopting Chinese names and dress. Neither approach removed the Jurchens from the governing elite; the balance between cultural adaptation and preserving Jurchen traditions remained a political concern.

Jurchen settlement, land, and farming

After the conquest of northern China, the Jin moved Jurchen military households into its new territories and assigned them land. Households were registered in companies called mouke and larger formations called meng-an. The conventional company establishment was 300 households, but the organisation changed as units were relocated and reorganised. These were hereditary communities with obligations to supply military service, linking the maintenance of soldiers to land and household resources.

The ability of military households to support themselves became an important political problem. Some let land to tenants rather than cultivating it directly, and poorer households struggled to meet their obligations. Shizong’s government investigated abuses and reorganised units in the early 1180s, promoting arrangements for communal cultivation. Decisions about cultivation, rents and taxes affected both the settlers’ livelihoods and the state’s ability to maintain its army.

The state’s dependence on agriculture made environmental shocks politically dangerous. A major Yellow River flood in 1194 inundated farmland, displaced people, and disrupted communications. Drought and locusts added to hardship in areas near the Song border. The Jin government also spent resources on defence against the Mongols, and at times confiscated land from Han owners accused of tax evasion and redistributed it to Jurchens. These policies heightened friction between communities as the court tried to maintain revenue and secure support.

Relations with the Mongols and the Jin’s defeat

The Jin’s northern diplomacy included negotiations, gifts and demands for acknowledgement from steppe leaders. Mongol power nevertheless grew beyond the court’s ability to contain it. Genghis Khan broke with the Jin and invaded in 1211. The war exposed weaknesses in Jin frontier defence and prompted defections among populations whose support the dynasty needed.

The Mongols broke through Jin defences and won a series of battles. As their armies advanced, Jin territory suffered raids and defections, including the loss of Khitan and Han officials and troops to the Mongols. In 1214, the Jin court moved from Zhongdu to Kaifeng. Genghis Khan treated the relocation as a reason to resume the war, and the Mongols took Zhongdu in 1215. Rebellions and the loss of territory further weakened the Jin, which had already been forced to retreat south of the Yellow River.

In 1232, Mongol forces besieged Kaifeng. Defenders used gunpowder weapons, including iron-cased bombs and fire lances that projected flames at close range. Emperor Aizong eventually escaped to Caizhou, where Mongol and Song forces attacked the remaining court. He killed himself as resistance collapsed in February 1234; his briefly appointed successor also died. The fall of Caizhou ended the Jurchen Jin dynasty.

For the wider setting, see Chinese States and Dynasties: How Political Power Changed from Zhou to Qing.