The Study On Khitans In Jin Dynasty

Entering the era of Jin from Liao, they accomplished something in military, political and cultural field and they made contributions to the political stability, economic development and cultural prosperity in Jin Dynasty. Of course, when their interest is threathened, the Khitan people in Jin Dynasty constantly launched anti-Jin struggles, which brought trouble to Nuchen archons.This paper is divided into six chapters to discuss the Khitan people of Jin dynasty.Chapter 1 Military activities of Khitan people in Jin Dynasty. In the early years of Jin Dynasty, the subjugated Khitans served as pioneers and guides in allying Jin to attack and occupy Zhongjing , Xijing and so forth of Liao dynasty and to capture Yelv Dashi. The officials and soldiers of Khitan people charged forward, stormed and shattered the enemy's positions and fulfilled exploits repeatedly in the wars to annihilate the North Song Dynasty and to attack the South Song Dynasty and in the series of anti-Mongolia wars. In the later stage of wars between Jin and Meng, a lot more Khitan officials and solders served actively in anti-mongolian wars, giving strong blow to the Mongolian. Besides the external wars, the Khitan generals held the post of anti-Military Town, defending the frontier and hinterland of Jin Dynasty. Of course, impelled by circumstances, the Khitan people in Jin Dynasty constantly launched anti-Jin struggles, which caused social unrests in Jin Dynasty.Chapter 2 The political activities and status of Khitan people in Jin Dynasty. The Khitan officials shared positions in the central and local governments in Jin Dynasty. The officials working for the central government participate in the political discussions and offering advice to addressing the national isssues, while the local officials make efforts to maintain political stability in Jin dynasty. They were often sent abroad to Song, Western Xia, and koryo and some other peripheral countries on behalf of Jin Dynasty to complete diplomatic missions.Chapter 3 The Social organization of Khitan people. After the fall of Liao, the Nuchen rulers set up Meng' anmouke system, tribal and Jiu system among the Khitans, and under the group-tending organization lived a lot of Khitan herdsmen. Khitan people under Meng'anmouke system mainly engaged in agricultural production, paid taxes, military service and corvee and so on to the government.Jin rulers have a management system to organize the Khitan people under tribal and Jiu system and people in both systems served lord and military service.Khitans in the group-tending organization provided for the Jin court with large herd of horses of the army and farm cattle, and at the same time guarded the borders.Chapter 4 Surname, marriage and clan of the Khitans. In the early stage of Jin Dynasty,Khitans' surnames were dominated by Yelv and Xiao. Starting from Shizong period, there appeared the family names as Yici and Shimo and they simultaneously started to use Han surnames. In addition, there were Khitan people who enjoyed being bestowed with family names. In the aspect of marriage, A small number of Khitan people married into Nuchen royal family and to their princes. Khitan officials and family members were frequently married to the Han people and there were also instances of intermarriage with the Mongols. In the process of merging into Han culture and the habitation with the other ethnic groups and the promotion and encouragement of Jin government, the inter-ethnic marriage was a common phenomenon.Chapter 5 The cultural activities and contributions of Khitan people in Jin Dynasty. The Khitan people had fulfilled accomplishments in literature, art, astronomy and legislation. The culture developed by Khitan people was inherited by the Nuchen people, such as worshipping the heaven, sheliu and so forth. Khitan characters, together with Chinese and Nuchen characters were implemented as statutory text in Jin Dynasty and severed as the media between Nuchen characters and the Chinese.Chapter 6 The peripheral power's influence on Khitan people in Jin Dynasty. The peripheral regimes including Song, Xia, Koryo, the later Mongol and the Western Liao established on an exotic land had a certain appeal to Khitan people. The ruler of Song Dynasty took the policy of luring the Khitans under the rule of Jin against the Jin, and achieved some results. A lot of Khitan officiers and men attached to Song Dynasty rendered service in wars attacking Jin Dynasty. Western Xia was once an ally of the Liao and they were related by marriage, so when some Khitan people got frustrated or unhappy under the rule of Jin,they would often seek shelter at Western Xia. Western Liao is the home country of Khitans, and it was the dreamland of the Khitan people, therefore events of defecting to Western Xia occurred frequently.