Editing Jin dynasty (1115–1234) (section)

==Founding==
The Jin dynasty was founded in modern [[Jilin]] and [[Heilongjiang]] by the [[Jurchen people|Jurchen]] tribal chieftain [[Emperor Taizu of Jin|Aguda]] in 1115. According to tradition, Aguda was a descendant of [[Hanpu]]. Aguda adopted the term for "gold" as the name of his state, itself a translation of "Anchuhu" River, which meant "golden" in [[Jurchen language|Jurchen]]. This river, known as Alechuka in modern Chinese, is a tributary of the [[Songhua River]] east of [[Harbin]].{{sfn|Franke|1994b|p=221}} ''Alechuka'' ({{lang|zh|阿勒楚喀}}) is a transliteration of its Manchu name ''alchuqa'' ({{lang|mnc|ᠠᠯᠴᡠᡴᠠ}}), suggesting that the Jurchen name for the river sounded more similar to ''alchuhu'' rather than ''anchuhu''. It was common for Chinese translators at the time to use the final ''-n'' sound at the end of a Chinese character to transliterate ''-l'', ''-r'', ''-s'', ''-z'' etc. at the end of a syllable in foreign words. The Jurchens' early rulers were the [[Khitan people|Khitan]]-led [[Liao dynasty]], which had held sway over modern [[North China]] and [[Northeast China]] and the [[Mongolian Plateau]], for several centuries. In 1121, the Jurchens entered into the [[Alliance Conducted at Sea]] with the [[Han Chinese|Han]]-led [[Northern Song dynasty]] and agreed to jointly invade the Liao dynasty. While the Song armies faltered, the Jurchens succeeded in driving the Liao to Central Asia. In 1125, after the death of Aguda, the Jin dynasty broke its alliance with the Song dynasty and invaded north China. When the Song dynasty reclaimed the Han-populated [[Sixteen Prefectures]], they were "fiercely resisted" by the Han Chinese population there who had previously been under Liao rule, while when the Jurchens invaded that area, the Han Chinese did not oppose them at all and handed over the Southern Capital (present-day [[Beijing]], then known as Yanjing) to them.{{sfn|Franke|1994a|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iN9Tdfdap5MC&pg=PA39 39]}} The Jurchens were supported by the anti-Song, Beijing-based noble Han clans.{{sfn|Tillman|1995a|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IdYGiGan4o8C&pg=PA28 28]}} The Han Chinese who worked for the Liao were viewed as hostile enemies by the Song dynasty.<ref>{{Citation |last=Elliott |first=Mark |title=Critical Han Studies The History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority |page=186 |year=2012 |editor-last=Mullaney |editor-first=Tomhas S. |editor-last2=Leibold |editor-first2=James |editor-last3=Gros |editor-first3=Stéphane |editor-last4=Bussche |editor-first4=Eric Vanden |chapter=8. Hushuo The Northern Other and the Naming of the Han Chinese |chapter-url=http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/elliott/files/critical_han_studies_ch8_elliott.pdf |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> Song Han Chinese also defected to the Jin.{{sfn|Gernet|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/358 358]}} One crucial mistake that the Song made during this joint attack was the removal of the defensive forest it originally built along the Song-Liao border. Because of the removal of this landscape barrier, in 1126/27, the Jin army marched quickly across the North China Plain to Bianjing (present-day [[Kaifeng]]).<ref>{{Citation |last=Chen |first=Yuan Julian |title=Frontier, Fortification, and Forestation: Defensive Woodland on the Song–Liao Border in the Long Eleventh Century |date=2018 |journal=Journal of Chinese History |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=313–334 |language=en |doi=10.1017/jch.2018.7 |doi-access=free}}</ref> On 9 January 1127, the Jurchens [[Jingkang Incident|ransacked]] the Imperial palaces in Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song dynasty, capturing both [[Emperor Qinzong of Song|Emperor Qinzong]] and his father, [[Emperor Huizong of Song|Emperor Huizong]], who had abdicated in panic in the face of the Jin invasion. Following the fall of Bianjing, the succeeding [[Southern Song dynasty]] continued to fight the Jin dynasty for over a decade, eventually signing the [[Treaty of Shaoxing]] in 1141, which called for the cession of all Song territories north of the [[Huai River]] to the Jin dynasty and the execution of Song general [[Yue Fei]] in return for peace. The peace treaty was formally ratified on 11 October 1142, when a Jin envoy visited the Song court.<ref name="Hymes">{{Citation |last=Hymes |first=Robert |title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture |page=[https://archive.org/details/columbiachronolo00john/page/34 34] |year=2000 |editor-last=John Stewart Bowman |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiachronolo00john |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-11004-4 |url-access=registration |authorlink=Robert Hymes}}</ref>

Having conquered Kaifeng and occupied northern China, the Jin later deliberately chose earth as its dynastic element and yellow as its royal color. According to the theory of the ''[[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|wuxing]]'' ('five elements'), the earth element follows the fire, the dynastic element of the Song, in the sequence of elemental creation. Therefore, this ideological move shows that the Jin regarded the Song reign of China was officially over and themselves as the rightful ruler of China Proper.<ref>{{Citation |last=Chen |first=Yuan Julian |title=Legitimation Discourse and the Theory of the Five Elements in Imperial China |date=2014 |journal=Journal of Song-Yuan Studies |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=325–364 |doi=10.1353/sys.2014.0000 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The decision to choose earth (signalling the Jin as successor of the Song) was chosen against the alternative suggestion of linking ''Jin'' (meaning 'gold') with the element of metal. This rejected suggestion was based on a nativist current that distanced the Jin from the Song and interpreted the Jin as an autonomous development rooted in Northeast Asia unrelated to the precedents of Chinese dynasties. However, the emperor dismissed the "metal" suggestion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hok-lam Chan |title=Legitimation in Imperial China: Discussions Under The Jurchen-Chin Dynasty |date=1984 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295961491}}</ref>