Jin dynasty (1115–1234)

The Jin dynasty (1115–1234) is also known as the Jurchen dynasty, and as the Great Jin. It was one of the last dynasties before Mongol invasion (and eventual conquest) of China.

The dynasty was founded by the Wanyan (完顏 Wányán) clan of the Jurchens.^[1] These were the ancestors of the Manchu, who established the Qing dynasty some 500 years later. The Jin Dynasty was founded in northern Manchuria, The founder was Wanyan Aguda (完顏阿骨打).^[2]

The name of this dynasty is sometimes written as Jinn to differentiate it from an earlier Jin dynasty (265-420) of China whose name is spelt identically in the Roman alphabet.

The History of Jin recorded that Tangkuo Dingge (唐括定哥), Consort Gui (貴妃) was a Jurchen woman. She was first married to the Jurchen Jin royal Wanyan Wudai (完顏烏帶. She had an affair with her Han Chinese slave, Yan Qi'er (閻乞兒) and with Wanyan Liang (Prince Hailing). When Wanyan Liang became emperor of the Jin dynasty he forced Dingge to have her husband Wanyan Wudai killed by her other slaves, Ge Wen (葛溫) and Ge Lu (葛魯) and he promised that she would be named empress. Wanyan Liang broke his promise after he got bored of her when she entered the harem. Dingge then smuggled Yan Qi'er into the palace through a trunk after first smuggling a trunk full of her clothes as a dummy and then reprimanded him for looking at her clothes so he wouldn't look when Yan Qi'er was smuggled in next. Dingge and Yan Qi'er had sex until a Jurchen maid, Guige (貴哥) told on them to the emperor and Dingge was strangled and Yan Qi'er was beheaded.^[3][4][5][6]

References

1. Mote, Frederick W. (2003). Imperial China 900-1800, p. 271.
2. Holcombe, Charles. (2011). A History of East Asia: from the origins of civilization to the twenty-first century, p. 129.
3. McMahon, Keith (2016). Celestial Women: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Song to Qing. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 48. ISBN 978-1442255029.
4. Lévy, André (1978). Inventaire analytique et critique du conte chinois en langue vulgaire, Part 1, Volume 2 (in French). Vol. 8 of Mémoires de l'Institut des hautes études chinoises. College de France, Institut des hautes études chinoises. p. 692. ISBN 2857570236. ISSN 0337-792X. Feng Menglong wrote a novelized version of the historical account in his book Stories to Awaken the World.
5. Sukhu, Gopal (2011). The Unbridled Lust and Untimely Death of Prince Hailing--new. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1105396564.
6. Feng, Menglong (2012). Stories to Awaken the World: A Ming Dynasty Collection, Volume 3, Volume 3. Translated by Translated by Shuhui Yang, Yunqin Yang (reprint ed.). University of Washington Press. p. 526. ISBN 978-0295800714.

Preceded by Liao dynasty	Dynasties in Chinese history 1115-1234	Succeeded by Mongol Empire