The Comparative Study On The Reasons For The Perishing Of The Liao And Jin Dynasties

In Chinese history,Liao and Jin were two consecutive dynasties established by minority ethnic groups in the north.Their rise and fall is worth a comparative study.Measures taken by Liao and Jin in terms of politics,ethnic relations,military affairs,and ideology and culture together with their results had effect to different extents to the perishing of these two dynasties.Liao and Jin,however,had similarities but also differences in the four above mentioned aspects.In politics,the top level of the ruling classes of Liao and Jin had been filled with infighting.Especially,various forces in the royal family kept jostling against each other.The situation mentioned above was of even more evil influence in later stage of the two dynasties.In middle and later stage of Liao and Jin,the ruling class became corrupted rapidly,indulging themselves in a luxurious lifestyle.A few emperors were brutal and murderous,filling their dynasties with political darkness and seriously weakening the strength of the ruling class.Both Liao and Jin saw frequent throne change.There was a common occurrence of abnormal throne succession.Many princes in the imperial clan had control of a large number of troops,posing a great threat to imperial power.A few emperors even had personality defects.All the factors above went against political stability.In internal fights inside the ruling class,queen families in the Liao Dynasty brought more influence and harm than consort clans in the Jin Dynasty.Tyrannical politics in Liao and Jin had essential differences.Besides,Liao and Jin varied significantly in terms of crown prince selection.In terms of ethnic relations,there had been oppression by ruling ethnic groups and resistance from subject ethnic groups throughout the two dynasties.Resistance from Bohai and Jurchen tribes was a huge blow to the rule of Liao.Similarly,armed struggle of Han and Khitan ethnic groups as well as tribes on the Mongolian Plateau,at last,resulted in the fall of the Jin Dynasty.Tyranny against subject ethnic groups by Liao and Jin dynasties was not only national oppression but also class oppression.The two dynasties also adopted the strategy of “Divide and rule” on the subject ethnic groups and fomented their internal conflict.Liao and Jin treated various subject ethnic groups differently as well,often suppressing resistance of a subject ethnic group by duping another subject ethnic group.The above mentioned measures undoubtedly accumulated hatred of subject ethnic groups to Liao and Jin royal courts as well as the ruling ethnic groups.In addition,Liao and Jin dynasties had looser control of frontier tribes in their later stages,sowing the seeds of their perishing.Liao and Jin,however,differed from each other in terms of ethnic relations.The Liao Dynasty always had a stubborn persistence of a special social status for Khitan people while the Jin Dynasty had a dramatic shift in ethnic policies,failing to adhere to some progressive content.Compared with the Liao Dynasty,the Jin Dynasty was tougher to the Han ethnic group.An evidence is that massive uprising of Bohai tribes in the Liao Dynasty basically stopped in the Jin Dynasty.As for military affairs,Liao and Jin respectively perished in wars by Jurchens and Mongolians.Activities in both Song Dynasty and the Xixia Kingdom also contributed to the trend of the wars to some extent.A few similarities can also be identified in mistakes by Liao and Jin in the above mentioned two wars.In the early stage of the wars,both dynasties blindly underestimated their enemies,causing reversal of enemy and their strength.Their under-armed troops had low combat effectiveness.The rulers,however,further damaged morale because no distinction was made between those meriting rewards and those deserving punishments.Furthermore,the ruling class themselves were busy with infighting,resulting in discord between generals.In some crucial battles,weather even went against them.Between wars in the late Liao Dynasty and those in the late Jin Dynasty,the latter lasted longer with more twists and turns as well as more diverse waring forces.During wars in the late Liao Dynasty,there was not a unified commanding system.There used to be two emperors in the one state.In the Jin Dynasty,there had always been a unified central government with way better resistance to enemies than the Liao Dynasty though they weakened their strength by capital moving during wars in the late Jin Dynasty.Besides,the Han people played a more important role in wars in the late Jin Dynasty than those in the late Liao Dynasty.In terms of ideology and culture,both Liao and Jin dynasties learned from the Han ethnic group and pushed the development of themselves by imitating the Central Plains.Meanwhile,they refused to treat other ethnic groups,including Han,equally to themselves by keeping a special status for their ethnic groups.Viewpoints such as " the Liao Dynasty Perished as a result of worshiping Buddhism"," the Jin Dynasty Fell as a result of respecting Confucianism",and the Jin Dynasty was conquered as a result of sinicization have long been of strong influence.Though " the Liao Dynasty Perished as a result of worshiping Buddhism” sounds reasonable,the perishing of Liao was mainly due to the Buddha worship policy by the rulers but not Buddhism itself.Confucianism saw noticeable development in the Jin Dynasty.Jurchens also changed their concepts and customs to some extent under the influence of Confucian culture.Viewpoints " the Jin Dynasty Fell as a result of respecting Confucianism” and “the Jin Dynasty was conquered as a result of sinicization”,however,have no solid evidence.In fact,central-landization mainly played a positive role in the progress and prosperity of Khitan and Jurchen societies.The perishing of Liao and Jin was the consequence of corrupted ruling and ethnic oppression but not highly correlated to central-landization.