The Jin Dynasty (also known as the Great Jin or Jurchen Dynasty) ruled north China from 1115 to 1234 CE.
[1]
The dynasty was founded by a confederation of Jurchen tribes from around Manchuria that defeated the Liao in 1115 CE and then ousted the Northern Song.
[2]
Jin forces captured the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng and forced the Song south in 1127 CE.
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The Jin territory included part of Korea in northeast Asia, and Uighur and Tibetan land in western China. In 1153 CE, the Jurchen government moved its capital from Manchuria to modern-day Beijing.
This period was marked by conflict with the Southern Song and the Mongols. The Jurchen government also struggled with economic inflation and flooding.
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In 1233 CE, the dynasty was conquered by Mongol forces, who then ruled as the Yuan dynasty.
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Population and political organization
The traditional Jurchen system of hereditary military chieftains was maintained by the first Jin ruler, Emperor Taizu.
[3]
After conquering the Liao and Northern Song, later rulers adopted a Chinese-style imperial central government, which was accepted as legitimate by Chinese Confucian scholars.
[4]
The Jin imperial government copied a number of Song institutions, including the nine-rank system for officials and recruitment by civil service examinations.
[3]
The Jin Dynasty was the first period in Chinese history in which large populations of ethnic Han citizens were ruled by an outsider government.
[1]
While many Jurchen people moved from Manchuria into China during Jin rule,
[4]
they still only made up about 10 percent of the population of Jin Dynasty China.
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The population of the Jin dynasty was between 45 million and 54 million people in 1200 CE.
[5]
[6]
[1]: (Perkins 1999, 246) Dorothy Perkins. 1999. Encyclopedia of China. New York: Routledge.
[2]: (Ebrey 1996, 167) Patricia Buckley Ebrey. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Theobald 2000) Theobald Ulrich. 2000. ’Jin Empire Government, Administration and Law’. Chinaknowledge.de. http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/jinn-admin.html. Accessed 15 March 2017.
[4]: (Holcombe 2011, 135) Charles Holcombe. 2011. A History of East Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: 中國文明史‧宋遼金時期‧金代》〈第十一章 民俗文化與社會精神風貌〉: 第2001頁－第2022頁
[6]: 中国人口发展史》.葛剑雄.福建人民出版社.
| alliance with [---] |
| China |
| Great Yuan |
| 3,600,000 km2 |
| continuity |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: Early Wei Dynasty (cn_wei_dyn_warring_states) [elite replacement] |
| unitary state |
| Year Range | Jin Dynasty (cn_later_great_jin) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1127 CE 1234 CE) | Middle Yellow River Valley |
Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
Huining: 1122-1153CE; Zhongdu: 1153-1214 CE; Kaifeng: 1214-1233; Caizhou: 1233-1234
The largest population in 1207 CE according to History of Jin (金史/Jin Shi)
former Zhou noble lineages became independent rulers of Wei territory
People. 32,700,000: 1142 CE; {44,705,086; 39,663,400; 36,989,014}: 1187 CE; 45,447,900: 1190 CE; 48,490,400: 1195 CE; {45,816,079; 53,532,151}: 1207 CE; 53,720,000: 1210 CE.
[1]
[2]
A Chinese source believes 53 million is too high, because similar dynasties had populations between 30 million and 40 million. "金朝人口数量(一)人口总置金朝人口发展,在其统治的北方地区,达到了比历史上几个盛大朝代更高的水平。其他各朝均只 3000 多万或 4000 多万,金朝则达到了5300 多万。对此或有不可理解,或对统计数字有怀疑."
[3]
[1]: (《中国人口发展史》.葛剑雄.福建人民出版社.)
[2]: (《中國文明史‧宋遼金時期‧金代》〈第十一章 民俗文化與社會精神風貌〉: 第2001頁－第2022頁.)
[3]: (《中国人口通史》2000. 路遇, 滕泽之. 山东人民出版社)
levels. Inferred from previous polities.
1. Emperor
2. Ministry of Rites
3. Ritual specialists
levels.
1. Polity: Emperor2. Central Secretariat3. Lu/Fu governor4. Zhou (country subdivision) governor5. County governor
"By the tenth century, soldiers, to the intense consternation of statesmen, were wholly divorced from any productive activities and earned their livings by skill at arms. Despite many attempts to replace this "mercenary" system, it remained in place until the end of imperial times." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"By the tenth century, soldiers, to the intense consternation of statesmen, were wholly divorced from any productive activities and earned their livings by skill at arms. Despite many attempts to replace this "mercenary" system, it remained in place until the end of imperial times." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"early versions of siege crossbows and traction trebuchets may be noted in the accounts of the wars of the Qin and Han dynasties, and appear in the early military writings associated with the name of Mo Zi." [1] "Of the date of the introduction of the counterweight trebuchet to China there can be no doubt. It occurred in 1272, during one of the greatest sieges of Chinese history, at Xiangyang, where the Mongols besieged the Southern Song for five years." [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Turnbull 2012, 33) Stephen Turnbull. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"early versions of siege crossbows and traction trebuchets may be noted in the accounts of the wars of the Qin and Han dynasties, and appear in the early military writings associated with the name of Mo Zi." [1] "Of the date of the introduction of the counterweight trebuchet to China there can be no doubt. It occurred in 1272, during one of the greatest sieges of Chinese history, at Xiangyang, where the Mongols besieged the Southern Song for five years." [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Turnbull 2012, 33) Stephen Turnbull. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
Fire-spear as a primitive firearm: "By the early thirteenth century, shrapnel of various kinds was regularly added to the gunpowder of a fire-spear." However, "... the weapon was not conceived of as a missile arm." [1] Fire-tube as a primitive firearm. "The Bandit-striking Penetrating Tube: Use iron to make a barrel three feet long with a handle two feet long. Infantry use this. In one discharge the pellet is able to strike a bandit at a distance of three hundred paces (five hundred yards)." "Needham dates this particular section of the text, the Fire Dragon Classic (Huolong Jing), to the first half of the fourteenth century, but believed that the quoted passage is "probably as old as 1200."" Needham also believes the stated range is an exaggeration and that the tube fired multiple pellets rather than one. [2] "The earliest known specimen of a gun was excavated in July of 1970 in Acheng county, Heilongjiang province. Made of bronze, it is 34 centimeters long, weighs 3.5 kilograms and has three distinct parts to its length: a barrel, powder chamber, and socket for a handle at the rear end. It has been dated no later than 1290." [3] Are these references referring to a Later Jin or Southern Song practices; neither, or both? ET
[1]: (Lorge 2011, 37)
[2]: (Lorge 2011, 37-38)
[3]: (Lorge 2011, 69)
Fire-spear as a primitive firearm: "By the early thirteenth century, shrapnel of various kinds was regularly added to the gunpowder of a fire-spear." However, "... the weapon was not conceived of as a missile arm." [1] Fire-tube as a primitive firearm. "The Bandit-striking Penetrating Tube: Use iron to make a barrel three feet long with a handle two feet long. Infantry use this. In one discharge the pellet is able to strike a bandit at a distance of three hundred paces (five hundred yards)." "Needham dates this particular section of the text, the Fire Dragon Classic (Huolong Jing), to the first half of the fourteenth century, but believed that the quoted passage is "probably as old as 1200."" Needham also believes the stated range is an exaggeration and that the tube fired multiple pellets rather than one. [2] "The earliest known specimen of a gun was excavated in July of 1970 in Acheng county, Heilongjiang province. Made of bronze, it is 34 centimeters long, weighs 3.5 kilograms and has three distinct parts to its length: a barrel, powder chamber, and socket for a handle at the rear end. It has been dated no later than 1290." [3] Are these references referring to a Later Jin or Southern Song practices; neither, or both? ET
[1]: (Lorge 2011, 37)
[2]: (Lorge 2011, 37-38)
[3]: (Lorge 2011, 69)