Chin (Jin) Dynasty

The Jin (or Kin) Dynasty was established in northern China by the Jurchen (Nuzhen) tribe. The founder was Wanyan Aguda. The Dynasty was headed by nine successive emperors and reigned for 120 years.

The Jurchen people originally came from the Changbai Mountains and the Helongjiang Valley. The name "Jurchen" did not appear in historical records until the Five Dynasties Period (907 - 960) when it was under the control of the Khitan (Qidan).

The Jurchen tribe consisted of dozens of clans, of which the Wanyan clan was the largest. In 1113, Wanyan Aguda succeeded as the chieftain of his clan and united all the others under him.

In 1114, Wanyan Aguda declared war on the Liao. After his victories in Ningjiang and Chuhedian, Aguda established the Jin (golden) dynasty in 1115 and proclaimed himself emperor. His official name was Emperor Taizu.

Initially, the Jin Dynasty established its capital city in Huining (present-day Baicheng, south of Acheng), and later moved to Yanjing (present Beijing).

In 1120, the Jin Dynasty made an alliance with the Northern Sung (960 -1127) to defeat the Liao. In 1125, the Liao Emperor Tianzuo was captured and his dynasty collapsed. The Jin then took total control of Northern China.

Emperor Taizong (Wanyan Sheng), encouraged by the victory over the Liao, now turned on the Northern Sung. The Song put up strong resistance but due to ineffective leadership, the Jin army gained successive victories. In 1127, the Jin army took Kaifeng, the capital city and captured the Sung emperor. The remainder of the Song court fled south and established a new dynasty - Southern Sung (1127 - 1279).

An uneasy period of peace during which the rival Jin and Southern Sung existed side by side was made possible by the Jin allying themselves with the Western Xia. This gave the Jin a dominant position from which they were able to demand tribute from the Song. However, the Jin underestimated the growing threat from their ancient enemies, the Mongolians.

In the spring of 1211, Genghis Khan advanced across the Gobi desert and defeated a large Jin army at a pass called Huan-erh-tsui - the Badger's Mouth. The Jin retreated to their capital, Beijing. Soon their second city, Mukden, was taken and in 1214, Beijing fell. By then the Jin emperor had moved his capital to Bianjing on the site of modern Kaifeng.

Genghis moved off to capture the rest of the world, but in 1234 his successors captured Kaifeng, making Mongol rule supreme in northern China.