Jianzhou Jurchens
Encyclopedia
The Jianzhou Jurchens were a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

. They were the southernmost group of the Jurchen people (the others being the Wild Jurchens
Wild Jurchens
The Wild Jurchens were a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming Dynasty. They were the nouthernmost group of the Jurchen people in the fourteenth century, inhabiting the northernmost part of Manchuria from the western side of the Greater Khingan mountains to the Ussuri...

 (Chinese:野人女真) and Haixi Jurchens
Haixi Jurchens
The Haixi Jurchens were a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming Dynasty. They were inhabiting an area that consists of parts of modern day Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia in China.- External links :*...

 (Chinese:海西女真) in the fourteenth century, inhabiting modern Jilin
Jilin
Jilin , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...

 (Chinese:吉林) province in China.

Origins

After the fall of the Yuan dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 in 1368, pockets of resistance of power were still loyal to the Yuan in the northeast. In 1375, Nahacu an official of the Yuan in Liaoyang
Liaoyang
Liaoyang is a city in China, Liaoning province, located in the middle of the Liaodong Peninsula. The city is situated on the T'ai-tzu River and forms with Anshan a built up area of 2,057,200 inhabitants in 2010....

 province invaded Liaodong with aims of restoring the Yuan to power. Although he was finally defeated by the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 in 1387, in order to protect the northern border areas the Ming decided to "pacify" the Jurchens in order to deal with its problems with Yuan remnants along its northern border.

In 1388, the Hongwu Emperor
Hongwu Emperor
The Hongwu Emperor , known variably by his given name Zhu Yuanzhang and by his temple name Taizu of Ming , was the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China...

 established contact with three tribes of the Ilan Tumen area (the confluence
Yilan County, Heilongjiang
Yilan County is a county of central Heilongjiang province in Northeast China. It administratively belonging to Harbin, the provincial capital, more than to the west...

 of the Mudanjiang River
Mudanjiang River
The Mudan River or Mudanjiang River .is a river in Heilongjiang province in China. It is a right tributary of the Sungari River.Its modern Chinese name can be translated as the "Peony River"...

 and the Sungari River), the Odori
Odori
Odori may refer to:*Odori, a Japanese traditional dance*Odori ebi sometimes just called Odori, which in sushi refers to "dancing prawns", so called because they are alive and still moving on your plate.Odori can also refer to...

, Huligai (Hūrha or Hurka) and Tuowen and attempted to enlist them as allies against the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...

. There was a general migration south of the various Jurchen groups around the turn of the century and the three tribes established themselves around the Tumen River
Tumen River
The Tumen River is a 521 km-long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea, and Russia, rising in Mount Baekdu and flowing into the Sea of Japan....

 (near the modern border of China, Russia and North Korea). Not long afterwards, the various Jurchens began accepting Ming titles from the Yongle Emperor but not Chinese authority. Ahacu, chief of the Huligai, became commander of the Jianzhou Guard in 1403, named after a Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 political unit in the area. Möngke Temür
Möngke Temür
Möngke Temür or Dudu Mentemu was the Jurchen chieftain of the Odoli tribe, one fo the three tribes of the lower Sungari river valley in Manchuria...

 (猛哥帖木儿) of the Odoli became leader of the Jianzhou Left Guard and accepted the Chinese surname of Tong not long afterward. The two Jianzhou groups engaged in trade with the Ming at the designated market of Kaiyuan and Fushun. They undertook several short-term moves west, battling the Wild Jurchens of the north and the Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

ns to their south. Jurchen raids into Korean territory brought about joint Korean-Ming counterattacks in 1467 and 1478 which severely weakened the Jianzhou Jurchens.
This was the pretext of the turmoil at the court of King Danjong 10-15 years before that, in 1455. Self-made King Sejo was instrumental in the joint Korean-Ming against the coming Jianzhou Jurchens. If King Danjong sent Grand Prince Suyang(later King Sejo) and many other royal dissidents to counterattack Jianzhou Jurchens, he would attain 2 birds with one stone.

Confederation building

By the mid-sixteenth century, the Ming guard structure had mostly disappeared and the Jurchens were split between two confederations: the Haixi Jurchens and the Jianzhou Jurchens. The Jianzhou confederates, continued to live north of the Yalu River in five tribes: the Suksuhu River tribe, Hunehe, Wanggiya, Donggo and Jecen. Under the leadership of Wang Gao, the confederation raided the Ming frontier and even killed the Ming commander at Fushun in 1573. A major counterattack by the Chinese ended in the death of Wang Gao and the dissolution of the confederation.

A number of leaders within the Suksuhu tribe stood ready to take his place. In 1582 the chieftain Nikan Wailan allied with the Ming general Li Chengliang
Li Chengliang
Li Chengliang was a Chinese general of Korean descent in the reign of the Wanli Emperor during the Ming Dynasty who was in charge of maintaining peace and relations with the Jurchen tribes. He was from Tielin and was from a military family....

 against Wang Gao's son Atai. Giocangga
Giocangga
Giocangga was the grandfather of Nurhaci, the man who was to unify the Jurchen peoples and begin building what later became the Manchu state. Both he and his son Taksi went to the aid of Nurhaci's uncle Atai whose city was being besieged by a rival Jurchen chieftain Nikan Wailan, who promised...

, chief of the Beiles of the Sixes, was originally under Li's command since his grandson, the young Nurhaci
Nurhaci
Nurhaci was an important Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late sixteenth century in what is today Northeastern China...

 was under his hostage but later chose to oppose Nikan Wailan and took his fourth son Taksi to support Atai at his stronghold Fort Gure. In the ensuing battle at Gure, Atai was defeated, Giocangga and his son were massacred by Nikan Wailan when Li thought they had mutinied and left them behind. Soon afterwards, the Ming troops became engaged in another struggle amongst the Haixi Jurchens.

Nurhaci and the Manchu state

It was at this junction that Nurhaci
Nurhaci
Nurhaci was an important Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late sixteenth century in what is today Northeastern China...

, son of Taksi, appeared on the scene. Taking control of his grandfather's Suksuhu River tribe, he drove Nikan Wailan from the lands of the Jianzhou Jurchens. In 1588 he subjected the Wanggiya tribe and received the submission of the Donggo tribe. The unification of the Jianzhou Jurchens provided the basis for Nurhaci to expand his power throughout southern and central Manchuria, and to create a true Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...

state. The very name Manchu (Jurchen: manju) was perhaps an old term for the Jianzhou Jurchens.

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