Jurchen-led dynasty in Manchuria
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The
Later Jin
, officially known as
Jin
or the
Great Jin
, was a
Jurchen
-led
royal dynasty of China
in
Manchuria
and the precursor to the
Qing dynasty
. Established in 1616 by the
Jianzhou Jurchen
chieftain
Nurhaci
upon his
reunification of the Jurchen tribes
, its name was derived from the earlier
Jin dynasty
founded by the
Wanyan
clan which had ruled northern China in the 12th and 13th centuries.
In 1635, the lingering
Northern Yuan dynasty
under
Ejei Khan
formally submitted to the Later Jin. The following year,
Hong Taiji
officially renamed the realm to "Great Qing", thus marking the start of the Qing dynasty. During the
Ming?Qing transition
, the Qing conquered
Li Zicheng
's
Shun dynasty
and various
Southern Ming
claimants and loyalists, going on to rule an empire comprising all of China, stretching as far as
Tibet
,
Manchuria
,
Mongolia
,
Xinjiang
, and
Taiwan
until the
1911 Revolution
established the
Republic of China
.
Name
[
edit
]
Historians debate whether the official
Chinese
name of the state was "Jin" (
金
,
J?n
), "Later Jin"
(
後金
,
Hou J?n
), or both. Either describes it as a continuation or successor to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty established by the
Wanyan
clan in 1115. The
Manchu
form of the name was ?????? ????? (
Aisin Gurun
),
[3]
meaning simply "Golden State".
History
[
edit
]
Rise of Jianzhou Jurchens
[
edit
]
The
Jurchen people
had traditionally lived in
Manchuria
and were then divided into three tribes, the most powerful of which during the
Ming dynasty
was called
Jianzhou Jurchens
, living around the
Changbai Mountains
. In order to attack and suppress the
Northern Yuan dynasty
, the
Hongwu Emperor
sent military commissions to gain control of the Jurchen tribes in Manchuria. The Ming government divided the Jianzhou Jurchens into three
wei
(a military subdivision during the Ming dynasty), collectively known as the "Three Wei of Jianzhou". The leaders of the Jurchen tribes were usually chosen as commanders of the
wei
.
The northern tribe
Wild Jurchens
were strong at that time, and attacked the Jianzhou Jurchens.
Mengtemu
, commander of the
Jianzhou Wei
, was killed. The Jianzhou Jurchens were forced to move southwards, and finally settled at
Hetu Ala
.
Establishment of the Khanate
[
edit
]
Originally a Ming vassal who officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of imperial Ming power,
[4]
the Jianzhou Jurchen leader
Nurhaci
promoted the unification of the Jurchens living in Manchuria at the beginning of the 17th century. He organized "
Banners
", military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into a unified entity (which was renamed "
Manchu
" in 1635 by
Hong Taiji
), and proclaimed the establishment of the new dynasty called "Jin" (or "Great Jin") in 1616 and ruled as a
khan
. This marks the start of the Later Jin dynasty.
Expansion
[
edit
]
With the establishment of the Later Jin dynasty, Nurhaci took a hostile attitude towards the Ming for favoritism and meddling in the affairs of the Jurchen tribes. In 1618, he proclaimed his
Seven Grievances
(
nadan amba koro
; 七大恨) which effectively declared war on the
Ming dynasty
. He occupied
Fushun
, Qinghe (?河) and other cities before retreating. The death of the Ming Vice-General Zhang Chengyin (張承蔭) during the
Battle of Fushun
stunned the Ming court. In 1619, he attacked the Yehe (葉赫) in an attempt to provoke the Ming. The Ming responded by dispatching expeditionary forces led by Military Commissioner
Yang Hao
along four routes to besiege
Hetu Ala
. In a series of winter battles known collectively as the
Battle of Sarh?
Nurhaci broke three of the four Ming armies, forcing the survivors and the fourth to retreat in disorder. This caused the power sphere of the Later Jin to extend over the entire eastern part of Liaoyang.
Relocating his court from Jianzhou to
Liaodong
provided Nurhaci access to more resources; it also brought him in close contact with the
Khorchin Mongol
domains on the plains of Mongolia. Although by this time the once-united Mongol nation had long since fragmented into individual and hostile tribes, these tribes still presented a serious security threat to the Ming borders. Nurhaci's policy towards the Khorchins was to seek their friendship and cooperation against the Ming, securing his western border from a powerful potential enemy.
[5]
The unbroken series of military successes by Nurhaci came to an end in January 1626 when he was defeated by
Yuan Chonghuan
while laying siege to
Ningyuan
. He died a few months later and was succeeded by his eighth son,
Hong Taiji
, who emerged after a short political struggle amongst other potential contenders as the new khan.
Although Hong Taiji was an experienced leader and the commander of two Banners at the time of his succession, his reign did not start well on the military front. The Jurchens suffered yet another defeat in 1627 at the hands of Yuan Chonghuan. As before, this defeat was in part due to the Ming's newly acquired cannons. To redress his technological and numerical disparity, Hong Taiji in 1634 created his own artillery corps, the
ujen cooha
(Chinese: 重軍) from among his existing Han troops who cast their own cannons with the help of defector Chinese metallurgists.
One of the defining events of Hong Taiji's reign was the official adoption of the name "Man" (?) for the united Jurchen people in November 1635. In 1635, the Manchus' Mongol allies were fully incorporated into a separate Banner hierarchy under direct Manchu command. Hong Taiji conquered the territory north of Shanhai Pass by the Ming dynasty and
Ligdan Khan
in Inner Mongolia.
In April 1636,
Mongol nobility
of Inner Mongolia, Manchu nobility, and the
Han mandarin
held the
Kurultai
in
Shenyang
, recommended the khan of Later Jin to be the emperor of the Great Qing empire. One of the
Yuan dynasty's jade seals
was also dedicated to the emperor (Bogd Secen Khaan) by nobility. When he was said to be presented with the
imperial seal
of the Yuan dynasty by
Ejei Khan
, Hong Taiji renamed his state from "Jin" to "Great Qing" and elevated his position from Khan to
Emperor
, suggesting imperial ambitions beyond unifying the Manchu tribes, and marking the formal end of the Later Jin period.
Aftermath
[
edit
]
This was followed by the creation of the first two Han Banners in 1637 (increased to eight in 1642). Together these military reforms enabled Hong Taiji to resoundingly defeat Ming forces in a
series of battles
from 1640 to 1642 for the territories of
Songshan
and
Jinzhou
. This final victory resulted in the surrender of many of the Ming dynasty's most battle-hardened troops, the death of Yuan Chonghuan at the hands of the
Chongzhen Emperor
(who mistakenly thought Yuan had betrayed him), and the complete and permanent withdrawal of the remaining Ming forces north of the
Great Wall
.
Hong Taiji died suddenly in September 1643 without a designated heir. His five-year-old son, Fulin, was installed as the
Shunzhi Emperor
, with Hong Taiji's half brother
Dorgon
as regent and de facto leader of the Qing dynasty.
In 1644,
Shun
forces led by
Li Zicheng
captured the Ming capital,
Beijing
. However, the Qing would soon defeat and destroy Li Zicheng's forces. The Ming general
Wu Sangui
refused to serve Li's Shun forces. Wu instead made an alliance with the Qing and opened the
Shanhai Pass
to the Banner armies led by Dorgon, who defeated Li and the rebels at the
Battle of Shanhai Pass
and seized the capital. Zhang Xianzhong and enfeoffed princes of the
Ming imperial family
remained in control of southern China as the
Southern Ming
, but the Qing dynasty took control of their territories by 1683.
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Later Jin cavalry charging
Ming
infantry in the
Battle of Sarh?
.
-
Official portrait of
Nurhaci
, the founder of the Later Jin dynasty.
-
Official portrait of
Hong Taiji
, the second khan of the Later Jin dynasty and subsequently the founder of the
Qing dynasty
.
-
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Hong Taiji mediator wood letter card, have three languages of Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese
.
Chinese Economy
(in Chinese). 2008-02-18. Archived from
the original
on 2015-06-18
. Retrieved
2013-04-28
.
- ^
Kai-lung Ho (2012).
"The Myth of the Seal Transmitting the State in the Yuan and Qing Dynasties"
. New History Journal (新史學雜誌) -
Academia Sinica
. Retrieved
12 April
2023
.
- ^
Manju i Yargiyan Kooli
(滿洲實錄). Zhonghua Book Company, p. 283.
- ^
The Cambridge History of China: Volume 9, The Ch'ing Empire to 1800, Part 1, by Denis C. Twitchett, John K. Fairbank, p. 29
- ^
Bernard Hung-Kay Luk, Amir Harrak-Contacts between cultures, Volume 4, p.25
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