| The Jin Dynasty (1115-1234; Anchu in Jurchen),
also known as the Jurchen dynasty, was founded by the Wanyanclan of
the Jurchen, the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing
Dynasty some 500 years later. The name is sometimes written as Jinn
to differentiate it from an earlier Jin Dynasty of China whose name
is spelled identically in the Roman alphabet.
Founded in 1115 in northern Manchuria, it successfully annihilated
in 1125 the Liao Dynasty which had held sway over Manchuria and
the northern frontier of China for several centuries. On January
9, 1127 Jin forces ransacked Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Song
Dynasty, capturing both Emperor Qinzong, and his father, Emperor
Huizong, who had abdicated in panic in the face of Jin forces. Following
the fall of Kaifeng, Song forces under the leadership of the succeeding
Southern Song Dynasty continued to fight for over a decade with
Jin forces, eventually signing a peace treaty in 1141, and ceding
all of North China to the Jin in 1142 in return for peace.
After taking over North China, the Jin Dynasty became increasingly
Sinicized, moving its capital from Huining Fu in northern Manchuria
(south of present-day Harbin) to Zhongdu (now Beijing). Starting
from the early 13th century the Jin Dynasty began to feel the pressure
of Mongols from the north. In 1214 the Jin Dynasty moved its capital
to Kaifeng (the old Song capital) to evade the Mongols; but under
the forces of the Mongol Empire led by ?gedei Khan, third son of
Genghis Khan, as well as their allies in the Southern Song Dynasty,
the dynasty crumbled in 1234.
In 1616, Manchus under the leadership of Nurhaci established the
Later Jin Dynasty, taking its name from this dynasty. Later Jin
was renamed the Qing Dynasty in 1636, and went on to conquer China
proper and become the last dynasty of Imperial China.
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