Jin Dynasty

Jin Dynasty, Chinese dynasty (1115-1234), established by the Jurchen people of Dongbei, ancestors of the Manchus. The Jin allied with the ruling Song dynasty of China to defeat the Khitan nomads threatening its northern frontiers, but immediately broke their alliance and conquered northern China in 1126. A treaty signed in 1142 established a recognized border with the reduced Southern Song state, which survived in southern China and which agreed to pay regular tribute to the Jin. This established relationship was broken only twice in the following 70 years.

The Jin employed a dual administration, using traditional institutions to control the Jurchen in Dongbei and Chinese bureaucratic practices to govern the Chinese. The one innovative feature of their Chinese administration was the establishment of multiple capitals. The army was based on artificial “tribal” units, with Khitan and Chinese troops grouped in parallel formations.

Over time the Jurchen abandoned their nomadic traditions to live off income extracted from Chinese peasants. A late 12th-century attempt to reimpose the Jurchen language and customs could not reverse the process. Famine, a rebellion in Shandong, and Song refusal to pay tribute induced a crisis that allowed the Mongol Empire to occupy Dongbei in 1215. Jin was reduced to a buffer state in the Huang He (Yellow River) valley. In 1234 the Mongols completed the conquest, destroying the Jin state and incorporating its territory.