Jin dynasty

(noun)

This dynasty lasted from 1115–1234 as one of the last dynasties in Chinese history to predate the Mongol invasion of China; they warred with the Song dynasty.

Related Terms

Examples of Jin dynasty in the following topics:

  • Expansion Throughout Eastern Asia

    • Under Genghis Khan and his son Ögedei, the Mongol Empire conquered both the Western Xia Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty to the west.
    • To the east and south was the Jin Dynasty of northern China.
    • The Xia Dynasty also shared a complex history with the neighboring Jin Dynasty, even serving as a vassal state  to the Jin for a period before the arrival of Mongol forces.
    • The last major battle between the Jin and the Mongols was the siege of Caizhou in 1234 CE, which marked the collapse of the Jin Dynasty.
    • The years of war took a heavy toll on the population of the Jin Dynasty, as it had in the Western Xia.

  • The Southern Song Era

    • The Southern Song (1127–1279) was the period after the Song lost control of its northern half to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars and retreated south of the Yangtze, establishing a capital at Lin'an.
    • Although the Song dynasty was able to hold back the Jin, a new foe came to power over the steppe, deserts, and plains north of the Jin dynasty.
    • The Jin dynasty was forced to submit and pay tribute to the Mongols as vassals; when the Jin suddenly moved their capital city from Beijing to Kaifeng, the Mongols saw this as a revolt.
    • Under the leadership of Ögedei Khan (r.1229–1241), Mongol forces conquered both the Jin dynasty and Western Xia dynasty.
    • The extent of the land holdings of the Southern Song dynasty, significantly reduced from Northern Song's holdings by the Jin dynasty.

  • Origins of the Song Dynasty

    • The Song dynasty was an era of Chinese history that began in 960 and continued until 1279; it succeeded the tumultuous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and saw many technological and cultural innovations.
    • It succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was followed by the Yuan dynasty.
    • The Song dynasty was divided into two distinct periods, Northern and Southern.
    • The Southern Song (1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of its northern half to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the Jin-Song Wars.
    • The Later Zhou was the last of the Five Dynasties that had controlled northern China after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907.

  • The Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms Period

    • He Jin wanted to exterminate the Ten Attendants, a group of influential eunuch officials.
    • The plot was discovered by the eunuchs, and He Jin was killed.
    • Xian would be the last emperor of the Han Dynasty.
    • The result was the period of the Three Kingdoms, which lasted until 280 CE, when the Jin Dynasty took over.
    • The Three Kingdoms in 262 CE after the fall of the Han dynasty.

  • The Mongol Invasions

    • The Yuan dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan.
    • The Yuan dynasty is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and an imperial Chinese dynasty.
    • In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song dynasty and preceding the Ming dynasty.
    • In the Proclamation of the Dynastic Name, Kublai announced the name of the new dynasty as Great Yuan and claimed the succession of former Chinese dynasties from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the Tang dynasty.
    • Under the reign of Genghis's third son, Ögedei Khan, the Mongols destroyed the weakened Jin dynasty in 1234, conquering most of northern China.

  • The Northern Song Era

    • During the Northern Song (960-1127), the Song capital was in the northern city of Kaifeng, and the dynasty controlled most of what is now Eastern China.
    • From its inception under Taizu, the Song dynasty alternated between warfare and diplomacy with the ethnic Khitans of the Liao dynasty in the northeast and with the Tanguts of the Western Xia in the northwest.
    • The Song dynasty used military force in an attempt to quell the Liao dynasty and recapture the Sixteen Prefectures, a territory under Khitan control that was traditionally considered part of China proper.
    • The Jurchen, a subject tribe of the Liao, rebelled against them and formed their own state, the Jin dynasty (1115–1234).
    • The extent of the land holdings of the Northern Song dynasty in 1111.

  • The Eastern Zhou Period

    • The period from 685-591 BCE was called The Five Hegemons, and featured, in order, the Hegemony of Qi, Song, Jin, Qin, and Chu.
    • This period, in the second half of the Eastern Zhou, lasted from about 475-221 BCE, when China was united under the Qin Dynasty.
    • The partition of the Jin state created seven major warring states.
    • After a series of wars among these powerful states, King Zhao of Qin defeated King Nan of Zhou and conquered West Zhou in 256 BCE; his grandson, King Zhuangxiang of Qin, conquered East Zhou, bringing the Zhou Dynasty to an end.

  • The Eastern Han Period

    • When the Western Han period ended in 9 CE, the regent to the prior emperor, Wang Mang, proclaimed his own new dynasty, the Xin Dynasty.
    • He defeated the Chimei rebels, as well as rival warlords, to reunify China again under the Han Dynasty.
    • General-in-Chief He Jin plotted to overthrow palace eunuchs.
    • This ended the Han Dynasty, and started a period of conflict between these three states, called Cao Wei, Eastern Wu and Shu Han.
    • A ceramic candle holder from the Eastern Han Dynasty, with prancing animal figures.

  • Art Under the Ming Dynasty

    • Jin Ping Mei, published in 1610, although incorporating earlier material, marks the trend toward independent composition and concern with psychology.
    • In the later years of the dynasty, Feng Menglong and Ling Mengchu innovated with vernacular short fiction.
    • This highly individualistic school of poetry and prose was criticized by the Confucian establishment for its association with intense sensual lyricism, which was also apparent in Ming vernacular novels such as the Jin Ping Mei.
    • More colors were used in painting during the Ming dynasty.
    • Ming dynasty Xuande mark and period (1426–35) imperial blue and white vase.

  • The Role of Foreign Trade

    • Trade during the Ming dynasty began slowly, with severe restrictions, especially toward Japan, but later expanded to markets around the world.
    • In the Song dynasty (960–1279), rice had become the major staple crop of the poor; after sweet potatoes were introduced to China around 1560, it gradually became the traditional food of the lower classes.
    • The Augustinian monk Juan Gonzáles de Mendoza wrote an influential work on China in 1585, remarking that the Ming dynasty was the best-governed kingdom he was aware of in the known world.
    • The Ming saw the rise of several merchant clans such as the Huai and Jin clans, who disposed of large amounts of wealth.