Editing Qing dynasty (section)

====Nurhaci====
[[File:Minggunbattle.jpg|thumb|Manchu cavalry charging Ming infantry at the 1619 [[Battle of Sarhū]]]]
The early form of the Manchu state was founded by [[Nurhaci]], the chieftain of a minor Jurchen tribe{{snd}}the Aisin-Gioro{{snd}}in [[Jianzhou Jurchens|Jianzhou]] in the early 17th century. Nurhaci may have spent time in a Han household in his youth, and became fluent in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] languages and read the Chinese novels ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''[[Water Margin]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Swope |first=Kenneth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRaoAgAAQBAJ&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PA16 |title=The Military Collapse of China's Ming Dynasty, 1618–44 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1134462094 |edition=Illustrated |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mair |first1=Victor H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agI7CwAAQBAJ&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PT159 |title=Chinese Lives: The People Who Made a Civilization |last2=Chen |first2=Sanping |last3=Wood |first3=Frances |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2013 |isbn=978-0500771471 |edition=Illustrated}}</ref> As a vassal of the Ming emperors, he officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of the Ming dynasty.<ref name="Peterson" /> Nurhaci embarked on an intertribal feud in 1582 that escalated into a campaign to [[Jurchen unification|unify the nearby tribes]]. He also began organizing the [[Eight Banners]] military system which included Manchu, Han, and [[Mongols|Mongol]] elements. By 1616, however, he had sufficiently consolidated Jianzhou so as to be able to proclaim himself [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the [[Later Jin (1616–1636)|Later Jin dynasty]] in reference to the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|previous Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty]].{{sfnp|Ebrey|2010|pp=220–224}}

Two years later, Nurhaci announced the "[[Seven Grievances]]" and openly renounced the sovereignty of Ming overlordship in order to complete the unification of those Jurchen tribes still allied with the Ming emperor. After a series of successful battles, he relocated his capital from [[Hetu Ala]] to successively bigger captured Ming cities in Liaodong: first [[Liaoyang]] in 1621, then [[Mukden]] (Shenyang) in 1625.{{sfnp|Ebrey|2010|pp=220–224}} Furthermore, the Khorchin proved a useful ally in the war, lending the Jurchens their expertise as cavalry archers. To guarantee this new alliance, Nurhaci initiated a policy of inter-marriages between the Jurchen and Khorchin nobilities, while those who resisted were met with military action. This is a typical example of Nurhaci's initiatives that eventually became official Qing government policy. During most of the Qing period, the Mongols gave military assistance to the Manchus.<ref>Bernard Hung-Kay Luk, Amir Harrak-Contacts between cultures, Vol. 4, p. 25</ref>