Jurchens

The Jurchens (Korean=여진 ) were a Tungus people who inhabited parts of Manchuria and northern Korea until the 17th century, when they became the Manchus. They established the Jin Dynasty, 1115–1234 (ancun gurun in ancient Jurchen and aisin gurun in Standard Manchu) between 1115 and 1122; it lasted until 1234.

Etymology

The name Jurchen dates back to at least the beginning of the tenth century, when the Korean dynasty Balhae was destroyed. However, cognate ethnonyms like Sushen have been recorded in pre-Christian Era geographical works like the Shan Hai Jing and Book of Wei. It comes from the Jurchen word jusen, the original meaning of which is unclear — possibly a cognate of Joseon, which successively designated several states or cultures on the Korean Peninsula, but this still remains highly speculative.

Jurchens have lived with Korean during the dynasties of Gojoseon, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Balhae. After, destruction of Balhae, wandering people of Balhae including Jurchens are entered in Goryeo. But, the government of Joseon, which destroyed Goryeo, considers Jurchens as barbarians, and do not want them to be the people of Joseon dynasty even though Yi Ji-Ran, who is Jurchens, is a worthy-retainer of Joseon construction. So, Jurchens want to construct their own country, and, they established Qing dynasty. But, the the emperor of Qing dynasty don't forget that he is a Korean, and this is proved in the history book of Qing dynasty. 金之始祖諱函普. 初從高麗來，年已六十餘矣. 兄阿古好佛，留高麗不肯從 ->The name of Qing dynasty founder is Hambo. When he came from Goryeo, he is about 60 years older or more. His brother, Agohobol, don't follow Hambo, but stay in Goryeo. Quoted from history book of Qing (金史).

Jin Dynasty

The 11th century Jurchen tribes of northern Manchuria descended from the Tungusic Mohe, or Malgal tribes who were subjects of the ethnically Goguryeo Bohai/Barhae state during the Tang era. By the 11th century, the Jurchens were originally vassals of the Goguryeo

They rose to power after their leader Wanyan Aguda unified them in 1115, declared himself Emperor, and quickly seized Shangjing, also known as Huanglongfu, the Northern Capital of Liao. The Jurchens then invaded territories under the Han Chinese Northern Song Dynasty and overran most of North China, first setting up puppet regimes like Qi and Chu, later directly ruling as a Chinese dynastic state named Jin ("Gold", not to be confused with the several Jin Dynasties named after the region around Shanxi and Henan). Jin captured the Song capital of Kaifeng in 1126. Their armies pushed all the way south to the Yangtze but the boundary with the Southern Song was eventually stabilised roughly along the Huai River.

The Jurchen named their dynasty the Jin ("Golden") after the Anchuhu River ("Anchuhu" is synonym to "aisin" in the Jurchen language) in their homeland — For more detailed treatment of dynastic history and administration, see Jin Dynasty. At first, the Jurchen tribesmen were kept in readiness for warfare but decades of urban and settled life in China eroded their original hunting-gathering lifestyle in Manchurian tundra and marshes. Eventually intermarriage with Chinese was permitted and peace with the Southern Song confirmed. The Jin rulers themselves came to follow Confucian norms.

After 1189, the Jin became involved in exhausting wars on two fronts: against the Mongols and the Southern Song dynasty. By 1215, under Mongol pressure, they were forced to move their capital south from Zhongdu (modern day Beijing) to Kaifeng, where the Mongol hordes extinguished the Jin dynasty in 1234.

Culture, language and society

The Jurchens generally lived by traditions that reflected the hunting-gathering culture of Siberian-Manchurian tundra and coastal peoples. Like the Khitans and Mongols, they took pride in feats of strength, horsemanship, archery and hunting. They engaged in shamanic cults and believed in a supreme sky god (abka-i enduri, abka-i han). After conquering China, during the Jin Dynasty, the Jurchen adopted Buddhism as the state religion and Taoism was also assimilated.^*

The Jurchen made the Han, within the conquered territories, shave the tops of their heads and adopt Jurchen dress.This "bald-Head" fashion was known as 禿髮 tūfǎ (“Bald-Hair or Stripped-Hair”) to the Chinese.[http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/xixia-arts.html. The Manchus, descendents of the Jurchen, later made the Han shave their heads and adopt the Queue (ponytail), which was the traditional Manchurian hairstyle. This was known as the 辮子 biànzi by the Chinese.

The early Jurchen script was invented in 1120 by Wanyan Xiyin, acting on the orders of Wanyan Aguda. It was based on the Khitan script, that was inspired in turn by Chinese characters. However, because Chinese is an isolating language and the Jurchen and Khitan languages are agglutinative, the script proved to be cumbersome. The written Jurchen language died out soon after the fall of the Jin Dynasty, though its spoken form survived. Until the end of the sixteenth century, when Manchu became the new literary language, the Jurchens used a combination of Mongolian and Chinese.

The cultural conceptualisation of Jurchen society owes a great deal to the Mongols. Both Mongols and Jurchens used the title han for the leaders of a political entity, whether "emperor" or "chief". A particularly powerful chief was called beile ("prince, nobleman"), corresponding with the Mongolian beki and Turkish beg or bey. Also like the Mongols and the Turks, the Jurchens did not observe a law of primogeniture. According to tradition, any capable son or nephew could be chosen to become leader.

During Ming times the Jurchen people lived in social units that were sub-clans (mukun or hala mukun) of ancient clans (hala). Members of Jurchen clans shared a consciousness of a common ancestor and were led by a head man (mukunda). Not all clan members were blood related and division and integration of different clans was common. Jurchen households (boo) lived as families (booigon), consisting of five to seven blood-related family members and a number of slaves. Households formed squads (tatan) to engage in tasks related to hunting and food gathering; and formed companies (niru) for larger activities, such as war.

Jurchens during the Ming

Chinese chroniclers of the Ming Dynasty distinguished three groups of Jurchens: the Wild Jurchens of northernmost Manchuria, the Haixi Jurchens of modern Heilongjiang and the Jianzhou Jurchens of modern Jilin province. They led a pastoral-agrarian lifestyle, hunting, fishing and engaging in limited agriculture. In 1388, the Hongwu Emperor dispatched a mission to establish contact with the tribes of Odoli, Huligai and T'owen, beginning the sinicisation of the Jurchen people.

The Yongle Emperor found allies among the various Jurchen tribes against the Mongols. He bestowed titles and surnames to various Jurchen chiefs and expected them to send periodic tribute. Chinese commanderies were established over tribal military units under their own hereditary tribal leaders. In the Yongle period alone 178 commanderies were set up in Manchuria, an index of the Chinese divide-and-rule tactics. Later on, horse markets were also established in the northern border towns of Liaodong for trade. The increasing sinification of the Jurchens ultimately gave them the organisation structures to extend their power beyond the steppe. Later, a Korean army led by Yi-Il,and Yi Sun-sin would expel them from Korea.

Over a period of thirty years from 1586, Nurhaci, a chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens, united the three Jurchen tribes, and renamed the united tribe Manchu. He created a formidable synthesis of nomadic institutions, providing the basis of the Manchu state and later the conquest of China by the Qing dynasty.

External links

Jurchen script