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108-600: Acheng was known to medieval China as Huining Prefecture , an area of Shangjing. Its eponymous seat served as the first capital of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1122–1234) and served as a subsidiary capital from 1173 until their conquest by the Mongolian Empire . There is currently a museum at the site, about 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the Acheng urban area. Acheng County was established in 1909. It

216-638: A Song turncoat who had joined the Qi, led the campaign. Xiangyang and nearby prefectures fell to his army. The capture of Xiangyang on the Han River gave the Jurchens a passage into the central valley of the Yangtze River. Their southward push was halted by the general Yue Fei. In 1134, Yue Fei defeated Li and retook Xiangyang and its surrounding prefectures. Later that year, however, Qi and Jin initiated

324-631: A battle against Wuzhu at Shunchang (modern Fuyang in Anhui). Yue Fei was assigned to head the Song forces defending the Huainan region. Instead of advancing to Huainan, however, Wuzhu retreated to Kaifeng and Yue's army followed him into Jin territory, disobeying an order by Gaozong that forbade Yue from going on the offensive. Yue captured Zhengzhou and sent soldiers across the Yellow River to stir up

432-533: A critic of the treaty, retired. Yue Fei also announced his resignation as an act of protest. In 1141 Qin Hui had him imprisoned for insubordination. Charged with treason, Yue Fei was poisoned in jail on Qin's orders in early 1142. Jurchen diplomatic pressure during the peace talks may have played a role, but Qin Hui's alleged collusion with the Jin has never been proven. After his execution, Yue Fei's reputation for defending

540-541: A few months later when the eastern army withdrew. Meanwhile, on the eastern front, Wuzhu commanded the main Jin army. He crossed the Yangtze southwest of Jiankang and took that city when Du Chong surrendered. Wuzhu set out from Jiankang and advanced rapidly to try to capture Gaozong. The Jin seized Hangzhou (January 22, 1130) and then Shaoxing further south (February 4), but general Zhang Jun 's (1086–1154) battle with Wuzhu near Ningbo gave Gaozong time to escape. By

648-466: A major defeat on Jurchen forces and tried to prevent Wuzhu from crossing back to the north bank of the Yangtze. The small boats of the Jin army were outmatched by Han Shizhong's fleet of seagoing vessels. Wuzhu eventually managed to cross the river when he had his troops use incendiary arrows to neutralize Han's ships by burning their sails. Wuzhu's troops came back south of the Yangtze one last time to Jiankang, which they pillaged, and then headed north. Yet

756-516: A massive strategic blunder when he commanded his remaining armies to protect prefectural cities instead of Kaifeng. Neglecting the importance of the capital, he left Kaifeng defended with fewer than 100,000 soldiers. The Song forces were dispersed throughout China, powerless to stop the second Jurchen siege of the city. The Jin assault commenced in mid-December 1126. Even as fighting raged on, Qinzong continued to sue for peace, but Jin demands for territory were enormous: they wanted all provinces north of

864-634: A new offensive further east along the Huai River. For the first time, Gaozong issued an edict officially condemning Da Qi. The armies of Qi and Jin won a series of victories in the Huai valley, but were repelled by Han Shizhong near Yangzhou and by Yue Fei at Luzhou ( 廬州 , modern Hefei ). Their sudden withdrawal in 1135 in response to the death of Jin Emperor Taizong gave the Song time to regroup. The war recommenced in late 1136 when Da Qi attacked

972-533: A peasant rebellion against the Jin. On July 8, 1140, at the Battle of Yancheng , Wuzhu launched a surprise attack on Song forces with an army of 100,000 infantry and 15,000 horsemen. Yue Fei directed his cavalry to attack the Jurchen soldiers and won a decisive victory. He continued on to Henan, where he recaptured Zhengzhou and Luoyang. Later in 1140, Yue was forced to withdraw after the emperor ordered him to return to

1080-441: A ruler. Huizong was known for his extravagance, and funded the costly construction of gardens and temples while rebellions threatened the state's grip on power. A modern analysis by Ari Daniel Levine places more of the blame on deficiencies in the military and bureaucratic leadership. The loss of northern China was not inevitable. The military was overextended by a government too assured of its own military prowess. Huizong diverted

1188-437: A series of negotiations that embittered both sides, the Jurchens attacked the Song in 1125, dispatching one army to Taiyuan and the other to Bianjing (modern Kaifeng ), the Song capital. Surprised by news of an invasion, Song general Tong Guan retreated from Taiyuan, which was besieged and later captured. As the second Jin army approached the capital, Song emperor Huizong abdicated and fled south. Qinzong , his eldest son,

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1296-892: A year in the city. When the Jurchens advanced to the Huai River, the court was partially evacuated to Hangzhou in 1129. Days later, Gaozong narrowly escaped on horseback, just a few hours ahead of Jurchen vanguard troops. After a coup in Hangzhou almost dethroned him, in May 1129 he moved his capital back north to Jiankang (modern Nanjing ) on the south bank of the Yangtze. One month later, however, Zong Ze's successor Du Chong ( 杜充 ) vacated his forces from Kaifeng, exposing Jiankang to attack. The emperor moved back to Hangzhou in September, leaving Jiankang in Du Chong's hands. The Jin eventually captured Kaifeng in early 1130. From 1127 to 1129,

1404-408: Is strong, having produced 33,100 tons of grain in 2002; much of this grain is essential in feeding the important city of Harbin. Acheng is a major industrial area for Heilongjiang, with over 300 types of enterprises, including textile, electromechanics, food, building materials (especially brickworks ), metallurgy, breweries fueled by the local grain, sugar refineries, a flax plant, iron, steel, and

1512-517: The Bohai Sea . Negotiations for an alliance began secretly under the pretense that the Song wanted to acquire horses from the Khitans. Song diplomats traveled to the Jin court to meet Aguda in 1118, while Jurchen envoys arrived in the Song capital Kaifeng the next year. At the beginning, the two sides agreed to keep whatever Liao territory they would seize in combat. In 1120, Aguda agreed to cede

1620-635: The Censorate , Qin purged his enemies and continued negotiations. In 1138 the Jin and Song agreed to a treaty that designated the Yellow River as border between the two states and recognized Gaozong as a "subject" of the Jin. But because there remained opposition to the treaty in both the courts of the Jin and Song, the treaty never came into effect. A Jurchen army led by Wuzhu invaded in early 1140. The Song counteroffensive that followed achieved large territorial gains. Song general Liu Qi ( 劉錡 ) won

1728-494: The Huainan circuits of the Song. Qi lost a battle at Outang ( 藕塘 ), in modern Anhui , against a Song army led by Yang Qizhong ( 楊沂中 ; 1102–1166). The victory boosted Song morale, and the military commissioner Zhang Jun (1097–1164) convinced Gaozong to begin plans for a counterattack. Gaozong first agreed, but he abandoned the counteroffensive when an officer named Li Qiong ( 酈瓊 ) killed his superior official and defected to

1836-573: The Khitan -led Liao dynasty (916–1125), and declared the formation of the Jin. Allying with the Song against their common enemy the Liao dynasty, the Jin promised to cede to the Song the Sixteen Prefectures that had fallen under Liao control since 938. The Song agreed but the Jin's quick defeat of the Liao combined with Song military failures made the Jin reluctant to cede territory. After

1944-496: The Sixteen Prefectures , a line of fortified cities and passes that the Liao had annexed from the Shatuo Turk Later Jin in 938, and that the Song had repeatedly but unsuccessfully tried to reconquer. The Song thus sought an alliance with the Jin against their common enemy the Liao. Because the land routes between the Song and Jin were controlled by the Liao, diplomatic exchanges had to occur by traveling across

2052-610: The Sixteen Prefectures , they had faced fierce resistance from the Han Chinese population, yet when the Jurchens invaded that area, the Han Chinese did not oppose them at all. By the end of December 1125, the Jin army had seized control of two prefectures and re-established Jurchen rule over the Sixteen Prefectures. The eastern army was nearing Kaifeng by early 1126. Fearing the approaching Jin army, Song emperor Huizong planned to retreat south. The emperor deserting

2160-466: The Western Xia in the northwest and suppressing a large popular rebellion led by Fang La in the south. When a Song army under Tong Guan's command finally attacked Yanjing in May 1122, the smaller forces of the weakened Liao repelled the invaders with ease. Another attack failed in the fall. Both times, Tong was forced to retreat back to Kaifeng. After the first attack, Aguda changed the terms of

2268-487: The Yellow River on January 27, 1126, two days after the New Year. Huizong fled Kaifeng the next day, escaping south and leaving the newly enthroned emperor Qinzong (r. 1126–1127) in charge of the capital. Kaifeng was besieged on January 31, 1126. The commander of the Jurchen army promised to spare the city if the Song submitted to Jin as a vassal; forfeited the prime minister and an imperial prince as prisoners; ceded

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2376-535: The "superior state". The text of the treaty has not survived in Chinese records, a clear sign of its humiliating reputation. The contents of the agreement were recovered from a Jurchen biography. Once the treaty had been settled, the Jurchens retreated north and trade resumed between the two empires. The peace ensured by the Treaty of Shaoxing lasted for the next 70 years, but was interrupted twice. One military campaign

2484-477: The 1130s but were bogged down by a pro-Song insurgency in the north and a counteroffensive by Song generals, including Yue Fei and Han Shizhong . The Song generals regained some territories but retreated on the orders of Southern Song emperor Gaozong , who supported a peaceful resolution to the war. The Treaty of Shaoxing (1142) set the boundary of the two empires along the Huai River , but conflicts between

2592-462: The Chinese prefectures of Hejian , Taiyuan, and Zhongshan; and offered an indemnity of 50 million taels of silver, 5 million taels of gold, 1 million packs of silk, 1 million packs of satin, 10,000 horses, 10,000 mules, 10,000 cattle, and 1,000 camels. This indemnity was worth about 180 years of the annual tribute the Song had been paying to the Jin since 1123. With little prospect of help from afar arriving, infighting broke out in

2700-401: The Chinese". The Jin hoped a proxy state would be capable of administering northern China and collecting the annual indemnity without requiring Jurchen interventions to quell anti-Jin uprisings. In 1127, the Jurchens installed a former Song official, Zhang Bangchang (張邦昌; 1081–1127), as puppet emperor of the newly established " Da Chu " (Great Chu) dynasty. The puppet government did not deter

2808-600: The Great Chu and execution of Zhang Bangchang antagonized the Jurchens and violated the treaty that the two parties had negotiated. The Jin renewed their attacks on the Song and quickly reconquered much of northern China. In late 1127 Gaozong moved his court further south from Yingtianfu to Yangzhou , south of the Huai River and north of the Yangtze River , by sailing down the Grand Canal . The court spent over

2916-557: The Jin capital was much smaller than its Northern Song prototype. The capital was moved to Yanjing (present-day Beijing ) in 1153 by Wanyan Liang , the fourth emperor of the Jin dynasty. Yanjing was more centrally located within the Jin Empire, and it was easier to supply it with food. Wanyan Liang is said to have support of most of his officials in this move. In 1157, Wanyan Liang even went so far as to destroy all palaces in his former capital. While Yanjing and later Bianjing were

3024-432: The Jin decided to create Da Qi (the "Great Qi"), their second attempt at a puppet state in northern China. The Jurchens believed that this state, nominally ruled by someone of Han Chinese descent, would be able to attract the allegiance of disaffected members of the insurgency. The Jurchens also suffered from a shortage of skilled manpower, and controlling the entirety of northern China was not administratively feasible. In

3132-639: The Jin dynasty's principal capitals thereafter, Shangjing continued to sometimes play an important role in the Jin Empire. Wanyan Liang's successor, Emperor Shizong , who strove to revive Jurchen language and culture, spent a year in Shangjing from 1184-85, greatly enjoying hunting, traditional dancing, and speaking in Jurchen. Ruins of the city were discovered and excavated in present-day Acheng District , Harbin City , Heilongjiang Province , about 2 km from Acheng District's central urban area. The site of

3240-473: The Jin had been caught off guard by the strength of the Song navy, and Wuzhu never tried to cross the Yangtze River again. In early 1131, Jin armies between the Huai and the Yangtze were repelled by bandits loyal to the Song. Zhang Rong ( 張榮 ), the leader of the bandits, was given a government position for his victory against the Jin. After the Jin incursion that almost captured Gaozong, the sovereign ordered pacification commissioner Zhang Jun (1097–1164), who

3348-623: The Jin leaders were ready to attack their southern neighbor. Before they could invade the Song, the Jurchens reached a peace agreement with their western neighbors the Tangut Western Xia in 1124. The following year near the Ordos Desert , they captured Tianzuo , the last emperor of the Liao, putting an end to the Liao dynasty for good. Ready to end their alliance with the Song, the Jurchens began preparations for an invasion. In November 1125 Taizong ordered his armies to attack

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3456-466: The Jin with 30,000 soldiers. This rebellion was provoked by Zhang Jun's attempt to reassert government control over the regional military commanders, as the court had previously been forced to tolerate growing military autonomy during the chaos of the Jin invasion. Meanwhile, Emperor Xizong (r. 1135–1150) inherited the Jin throne from Taizong, and pushed for peace. He and his generals were disappointed with Liu Yu's military failures and believed that Liu

3564-543: The Jin would now attack the Liao Central Capital, whereas the Song would seize the Liao Southern Capital, Yanjing (modern-day Beijing). The joint attack against the Liao had been planned for 1121, but it was rescheduled for 1122. On February 23 of that year, Jin captured the Liao Central Capital as promised. The Song delayed their entry into the war because it diverted resources to fighting

3672-405: The Jin. Qin Hui, in a reply to Gaozong's gratitude for the success of the peace negotiations, told the emperor that "the decision to make peace was entirely Your Majesty's. Your servant only carried it out; what achievement was there in this for me?" On October 11, 1142, after about a year of negotiations, the Treaty of Shaoxing was ratified, ending the conflict between the Jin and the Song. By

3780-410: The Jin. Wanyan Liang began the invasion in 1161 without formally declaring war. Jurchen armies personally led by Wanyan Liang left Kaifeng on October 15, reached the Huai River border on October 28, and marched in the direction of the Yangtze. The Song lost the Huai to the Jurchens but captured a few Jin prefectures in the west, slowing the Jurchen advance. A group of Jurchen generals were sent to cross

3888-465: The Jurchen cavalry to breach its fortifications. Access to the sea made it easier to retreat from the city. In 1138, Gaozong officially declared Lin'an the capital of the dynasty, but the label of temporary capital would still be in place. Lin'an would remain the capital of the Southern Song for the next 150 years, growing into a major commercial and cultural center. Qin Hui , an official of

3996-588: The Jurchen demands, and his officials convinced him to go through with the deal. The Song recognized Jin control over the three prefectures. The Jurchen army ended the siege in March after 33 days. Almost as soon as the Jin armies had left Kaifeng, Emperor Qinzong reneged on the deal and dispatched two armies to repel the Jurchen troops attacking Taiyuan and bolster the defenses of Zhongshan and Hejian. An army of 90,000 soldiers and another of 60,000 were defeated by Jin forces by June. A second expedition to rescue Taiyuan

4104-597: The Jurchen tribes were vassals of the Liao dynasty (907–1125), an empire ruled by the nomadic Khitans that included most of modern Mongolia , a portion of North China , Northeast China, northern Korea , and parts of the Russian Far East . To the south of the Liao lay the Han Chinese Song Empire (960–1276). The Song and Liao were at peace, but since a military defeat to the Liao in 1005 ,

4212-402: The Jurchen troops from advancing to Luoyang. Meanwhile, the eastern army, commanded by Wanyan Zongwang, was dispatched towards Yanjing (modern Beijing) and eventually the Song capital Kaifeng. It did not face much armed opposition. Zongwang easily took Yanjing, where Song general and former Liao governor Guo Yaoshi ( 郭藥師 ) switched his allegiances to the Jin. When the Song had tried to reclaim

4320-557: The Jurchen-led Jin dynasty , Aguda (Emperor Taizu) (r. 1115–1123) resettled captives to the Shangjing area during his war against the Khitan -led Liao dynasty . Aguda's successor, Wuqimai (Emperor Taizong) (r. 1123–1134) conquered most of northern China in the wars against the Han -led Northern Song dynasty . He continued the policy, resulting in numerous wealthy people, skilled craftsmen from Yanjing (present-day Beijing ) and

4428-431: The Jurchens for the tax revenue they would have earned had they not returned the prefectures. In May 1123 Tong Guan and the Song armies entered the looted Yanjing. Barely one month after the Song had recovered Yanjing, Zhang Jue ( 張覺 ), who had served as military governor of the Liao prefecture of Pingzhou about 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Yanjing, killed the main Jin official in that city and turned it over to

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4536-577: The Sixteen Prefectures to the Song in exchange for transfer to the Jin of the annual tributary payments that the Song had been giving the Liao. By the end of 1120, however, the Jurchens had seized the Liao Supreme Capital, and offered the Song only parts of the Sixteen Prefectures. Among other things, Jin would keep the Liao Western Capital of Datong at the western end of the Sixteen Prefectures. The two sides agreed that

4644-476: The Song Southern Capital at Yingtianfu ( 應天府 ; modern Shangqiu ) in early June 1127. For Gaozong (r. 1127–1162), Yingtianfu was the first in a series of temporary capitals called xingzai 行在 . The court moved to Yingtianfu because of its historical importance to Emperor Taizu of Song , the founder of the dynasty, who had previously served in that city as a military governor. The symbolism of

4752-426: The Song and Jin brought about the introduction of various gunpowder weapons . The siege of De'an in 1132 was the first recorded use of the fire lance , an early ancestor of firearms . There were also reports of incendiary huopao or the exploding tiehuopao , incendiary arrows , and other related weapons. In northern China, Jurchens were the ruling minority of an empire predominantly inhabited by former subjects of

4860-454: The Song court between the officials who supported the Jin offer and those who opposed it. Opponents of the treaty like Li Gang ( 李剛 ; 1083–1140) rallied around the proposal of remaining in defensive positions until reinforcements arrived and Jurchen supplies ran out. They botched an ambush against the Jin that was carried out at night, and were replaced by officials who supported peace negotiations. The failed attack pushed Qinzong into meeting

4968-419: The Song court received news of the fall of Taiyuan, the officials who had advocated defending the empire militarily fell from favor again and were replaced by counselors who favored appeasement. In mid-December the two Jurchen armies converged on Kaifeng for the second time that year. After the defeat of several Song armies in the north, Emperor Qinzong wanted to negotiate a truce with the Jin, but he committed

5076-417: The Song court were captured by the Jurchens as hostages. They were taken north to Huining (modern Harbin ), where they were stripped of their royal privileges and reduced to commoners. The former emperors were humiliated by their captors. They were mocked with disparaging titles like "Muddled Virtue" and "Double Muddled". In 1128 Jin made them perform a ritual meant for war criminals. The harsh treatment of

5184-438: The Song court, recommended a peaceful solution to the conflict in 1130, saying that, "If it is desirable that there will be no more conflicts under Heaven , it is necessary for the southerners to stay in the south and the northerners in the north." Gaozong, who considered himself a northerner, initially rejected the proposal. There were gestures toward peace in 1132, when the Jin freed an imprisoned Song diplomat, and in 1133, when

5292-423: The Song court. Emperor Gaozong supported settling a peace treaty with the Jurchens and sought to rein in the assertiveness of the military. The military expeditions of Yue Fei and other generals were an obstacle to peace negotiations. The government weakened the military by rewarding Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun (1086–1154) with titles that relieved them of their command over the Song armies. Han Shizhong,

5400-514: The Song imperial court in an event known as the Jingkang Incident . This separated north and south China between Jin and Song. Remnants of the Song imperial family retreated to southern China and, after brief stays in several temporary capitals, eventually relocated to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou ). The retreat divided the dynasty into two distinct periods, Northern Song and Southern Song . The Jurchens tried to conquer southern China in

5508-553: The Song in 1217 to replace territory they had lost to the invading Mongols . The Song allied with the Mongols in 1233, and in the next year jointly captured Caizhou , the last refuge of the Jin emperor. The Jin dynasty collapsed that year. After the demise of Jin, the Song became a target of the Mongols , and collapsed in 1279. The wars engendered an era of swift technological, cultural, and demographic changes in China. Battles between

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5616-403: The Song offered to become a Jin vassal, but a treaty never materialized. The Jin requirement that the border between the two states be moved south from the Huai River to the Yangtze was too large of a hurdle for the two sides to reach an agreement. The continuing insurgency of anti-Jin forces in northern China hampered the Jurchen campaigns south of the Yangtze. Reluctant to let the war drag on,

5724-460: The Song paid its northern neighbor an annual indemnity of 200,000 bolts of silk and 100,000 ounces of silver. Before the Jurchens overthrew the Khitan, married Jurchen women and Jurchen girls were raped by Liao Khitan envoys as a custom which caused resentment by the Jurchens against the Khitan. Song princesses committed suicide to avoid rape or were killed for resisting rape by the Jin. In 1114,

5832-412: The Song royalty softened after the death of Huizong in 1135. Titles were granted to the deceased monarch, and his son Qinzong was promoted to Duke, a position with a salary. Many factors contributed to the Song's repeated military blunders and subsequent loss of northern China to the Jurchens. Traditional accounts of Song history held the venality of Huizong's imperial court responsible for the decline of

5940-473: The Song sent thirteen embassies to the Jin to discuss peace terms and to negotiate the release of Gaozong's mother and Huizong, but the Jin court ignored them. In December 1129, the Jin started a new military offensive, dispatching two armies across the Huai River in the east and west. On the western front, an army invaded Jiangxi , the area where the Song dowager empress resided, and captured Hongzhou ( 洪州 , present-day Nanchang ). They were ordered to retreat

6048-414: The Song still intended to seize most of the prefectures. In the spring of 1123 the two sides finally set the terms of the first Song–Jin treaty. Only seven prefectures (including Yanjing) would be returned to the Song, and the Song would pay an annual indemnity of 300,000 packs of silk and 200,000 taels of silver to the Jin, as well as a one-time payment of one million strings of copper coins to compensate

6156-445: The Song was willing to provoke the Jin, and that the Jin had yet to solidify their control over the newly conquered territories. The submission and abolition of Chu meant that Kaifeng was now back under Song control. Zong Ze  [ zh ] ( 宗澤 ; 1059–1128), the Song general responsible for fortifying Kaifeng, entreated Gaozong to move the court back to the city, but Gaozong refused and retreated south. The southward move marked

6264-579: The Song, the Song did not have a significant foothold in Central Asia where a large proportion of its horses could be bred or procured. As Song general Li Gang noted, without a consistent supply of horses the dynasty was at a significant disadvantage against Jurchen cavalry : "Jin were victorious only because they used iron-shielded cavalry , while we opposed them with foot soldiers. It is only to be expected that [our soldiers] were scattered and dispersed." The Jin leadership had not expected or desired

6372-714: The Song. The Jurchens defeated his armies a few months later and Zhang took refuge in Yanjing. Even though the Song agreed to execute him in late 1123, this incident put tension between the two states, because the 1123 treaty had explicitly forbidden both sides from harboring defectors. In 1124, Song officials further angered Jin by asking for the cession of nine more border prefectures. The new Jin emperor Taizong (r. 1123–1135), Aguda's brother and successor, hesitated, but warrior princes Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang ( 完颜宗望 ) vehemently refused to give them any more territory. Taizong eventually granted two prefectures, but by then

6480-433: The Song. The defection of Zhang Jue two years earlier served as the casus belli . Two armies were sent to capture the major cities of the Song. The western army, led by Wanyan Zonghan, departed from Datong and headed towards Taiyuan through the mountains of Shanxi , on its way to the Song western capital Luoyang . The Song forces were not expecting an invasion and were caught off guard. The Chinese general Tong Guan

6588-405: The Song. Jurchen migrants settled in the conquered territories and assimilated with the local culture. Jin, a conquest dynasty , instituted a centralized imperial bureaucracy modeled on previous Chinese dynasties , basing their legitimacy on Confucian philosophy . Song refugees from the north resettled in southern China. The north was the cultural center of China, and its conquest by Jin diminished

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6696-413: The Southern Song grew to that of a national folk hero. Qin Hui was denigrated by later historians, who accused him of betraying the Song. The real Yue Fei differed from the later myths based on his exploits. Contrary to traditional legends, Yue was only one of many generals who fought against the Jin in northern China. Traditional accounts have also blamed Gaozong for Yue Fei's execution and submitting to

6804-482: The Yangtze near the city of Caishi (south of Ma'anshan in modern Anhui) while Wanyan Liang established a base near Yangzhou. The Song official Yu Yunwen was in command of the army defending the river. The Jurchen army was defeated while attacking Caishi between November 26 and 27 during the Battle of Caishi . The paddle-wheel ships of the Song navy , armed with trebuchets that fired gunpowder bombs, overwhelmed

6912-408: The Yellow River. After more than twenty days of heavy combat against the besieging forces, Song defenses were decimated and the morale of Song soldiers was on the decline. On January 9, 1127, the Jurchens broke through and started to loot the conquered city. Emperor Qinzong tried to appease the victors by offering the remaining wealth of the capital. The royal treasury was emptied and the belongings of

7020-641: The ability of the Jin to exert control over the north. Meanwhile, one Song prince, Zhao Gou, had escaped capture. He had been held up in Cizhou while on a diplomatic mission, and never made it back to Kaifeng. He was not present in the capital when the city fell to the Jurchens. The future Emperor Gaozong managed to evade the Jurchen troops tailing him by moving from one province to the next, traveling across Hebei, Henan , and Shandong . The Jurchens tried to lure him back to Kaifeng where they could finally capture him, but did not succeed. Zhao Gou finally arrived in

7128-556: The agreement and only promised Yanjing and six other prefectures to the Song. In early 1123 it was Jurchen forces that easily took the Liao Southern Capital. They sacked it and enslaved its population. The quick collapse of the Liao led to more negotiations between the Song and Jin. Jurchen military success and their effective control over the Sixteen Prefectures gave them more leverage. Aguda grew increasingly frustrated as he realized that despite their military failures

7236-509: The area also attract visitors. Acheng District is a 50 km (31 mi) drive from Harbin Taiping International Airport . The Harbin–Suifenhe Railway (part of the original Chinese Eastern Railway ) passes through the district. There are over twenty commuter rail lines in the rural area. The station is Acheng Railway Station . G10 Suifenhe–Manzhouli Expressway and China National Highway 301 both connect

7344-423: The battle is said to have rivaled a similarly revered victory at the Battle of Fei River in the 4th century. Contemporaneous Song accounts claimed that the 18,000 Song soldiers commanded by Yu Yunwen and tasked with defending Caishi were able to defeat the invading Jurchen army of 400,000 soldiers. Modern historians are more skeptical and consider the Jurchen numbers an exaggeration. Song historians may have confused

7452-482: The bureaucracy, and enacted laws that enforced the collection of high taxes. It was also responsible for supplying a large portion of the troops that fought the Song in the seven years following its creation. The Jin granted Qi more autonomy than the first puppet government of Chu, but Liu Yu was obligated to obey the orders of the Jurchen generals. With Jin support, Da Qi invaded the Song in November 1133. Li Cheng,

7560-486: The capital would have been viewed as an act of capitulation, so court officials convinced him to abdicate. There were few objections. Rescuing an empire in crisis from destruction was more important than preserving the rituals of imperial inheritance. In January 1126, a few days before the New Year , Huizong abdicated in favor of his son and was demoted to the ceremonial role of Retired Emperor . The Jurchen forces reached

7668-517: The chieftain Wanyan Aguda (1068–1123) united the disparate Jurchen tribes and led a revolt against the Liao. In 1115 he named himself emperor of the Jin "golden" dynasty (1115–1234). Informed by a Liao defector of the success of the Jurchen uprising, the Song emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1127) and his highest military commander the eunuch Tong Guan saw the Liao weakness as an opportunity to recover

7776-451: The city was meant to secure the political legitimacy of the new emperor, who was enthroned there on June 12. After reigning for barely one month, Zhang Bangchang was persuaded by the Song to step down as emperor of the Great Chu and to recognize the legitimacy of the Song imperial line. Li Gang pressured Gaozong to execute Zhang for betraying the Song. The emperor relented and Zhang was coerced into suicide. The killing of Zhang showed that

7884-407: The city's residents were seized. The Song emperor offered his unconditional surrender a few days later. On the evening of the twenty-fifth, [Yao] Zhongyou was beaten to death by soldiers in the southern part of the city. His brain and intestines scattered, it was impossible to locate his flesh and bones afterward. Even his home got ransacked. What a shameful end to a good man like him! The spirit of

7992-632: The district to downtown Harbin. Formally part of Oroqen Banner in Inner Mongolia but administered de facto by Daxing'anling Prefecture in Heilongjiang. Huining Prefecture 45°30′04″N 126°58′26″E  /  45.501°N 126.974°E  / 45.501; 126.974 Huining Fu ( simplified Chinese : 会宁府 ; traditional Chinese : 會寧府 ; pinyin : Huìníng Fǔ ), or Shangjing Huiningfu ( 上京會寧府 ; 'Upper Capital', 'Huining Prefecture'),

8100-402: The dynasty. These narratives condemned Huizong and his officials for their moral failures. Early Song emperors were eager to enact political reforms and revive the ethical framework of Confucianism , but the enthusiasm for reforms gradually died after the reformist Wang Anshi 's expulsion as chancellor in 1076. Corruption marred the reign of Huizong, who was more skilled as a painter than as

8208-723: The end of the Northern Song and the beginning of the Southern Song era of Chinese history. The descendant of Confucius at Qufu , the Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou, while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. Zhang Xuan 張選, a great-grandson of Zhang Zai , also fled south with Gaozong. The Song disbandment of

8316-422: The fall of the Song dynasty. Their intention was to weaken the Song in order to demand more tribute, and they were unprepared for the magnitude of their victory. The Jurchens were preoccupied with strengthening their rule over the areas once controlled by Liao. Instead of continuing their invasion of the Song, an empire with a military that outnumbered their own, they adopted the strategy of "using Chinese to control

8424-597: The final months of 1129, Liu Yu ( 劉豫 ; 1073–1143) won the favor of the Jin emperor Taizong. Liu was a Song official from Hebei who had been a prefect of Jinan in Shandong before his defection to the Jin in 1128. Da Qi was formed late in 1130, and the Jin enthroned Liu as its emperor. Daming in Hebei was the first capital of Qi, before its move to Kaifeng, former capital of the Northern Song. The Qi government instituted military conscription , made an attempt at reforming

8532-665: The former Song capital, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng ), being relocated to Shangjing. Historical accounts report that, after the fall of Bianjing in 1127, the Jurchen generals brought to Shangjing (and elsewhere in North China) several thousand of people, including: "about 470 imperial clansmen; erudites and students of the imperial academy; eunuchs; medical doctors; artisans; prostitutes; imperial gardeners; artisans of imperial constructions; actors and actresses; astronomers; musicians". A variety of valuable goods captured in Bianjing

8640-433: The light ships of the Jin fleet. Jin ships were unable to compete because they were smaller and hastily constructed. The bombs launched by the Song contained mixtures of gunpowder, lime, scraps of iron, and a poison that was likely arsenic . Traditional Chinese accounts consider this the turning point of the war, characterizing it as a military upset that secured southern China from the northern invaders. The significance of

8748-452: The number of Jurchen soldiers at the Battle of Caishi with the total number of soldiers under the command of Wanyan Liang. The conflict was not the one-sided battle that traditional accounts imply, and the Song had numerous advantages over the Jin. The Song fleet was larger than the Jin's, and the Jin were unable to use their greatest asset, cavalry, in a naval battle. Government troops using

8856-538: The pressure of the rising Mongols to the north, a series of floods culminating in a Yellow River flood in 1194 that devastated Hebei and Shandong in northern China, and the droughts and swarming locusts that plagued the south near the Huai. The Song were informed of the Jurchen predicament by their ambassadors, who traveled twice a year to the Jin capital, and started provoking their northern neighbor. The hostilities were instigated by chancellor Han Tuozhou . The Song Emperor Ningzong (r. 1194–1224) took little interest in

8964-488: The production of medicine. In 1996 a new technology industrial development zone was created on the western side of the city to encourage the development of high technology, export-oriented industry. Tourism is also a growing part of the local economy. Acheng is located on the popular tourist route serving Harbin, the Yabuli Ski Resort , Jingpo Lake , and Xingkai Lake . A number of historic and nature reserves in

9072-404: The regional stature of the Song dynasty. The Southern Song, however, quickly returned to economic prosperity, and trade with Jin was lucrative despite decades of warfare. Lin'an, the Southern Song capital, expanded into a major city for commerce. The Jurchens were a Tungusic-speaking group of semi-agrarian tribes inhabiting areas of northeast Asia that are now part of Northeast China . Many of

9180-405: The resistance in northern China, but the insurgents were motivated by their anger towards the Jurchens' looting rather than by a sense of loyalty towards the inept Song court. A number of Song commanders, stationed in towns scattered across northern China, retained their allegiance to the Song, and armed volunteers organized militias opposed to the Jurchen military presence. The insurgency hampered

9288-400: The river. A modern analysis of the battlefield has shown that it was a minor battle, although the victory did boost Song morale. The Jin lost, but only suffered about 4,000 casualties and the battle was not fatal to the Jurchen war effort. It was Wanyan Liang's poor relationships with the Jurchen generals, who despised him, that doomed the chances of a Jin victory. On December 15, Wanyan Liang

9396-596: The ruins is a national historical heritage site, and includes a museum open to the public, renovated in the late 2005. Many of the artifacts found there are on display in Harbin. Jin%E2%80%93Song Wars Jin dynasty Song dynasty Mongol Empire ( 1233–34 ) The Jin–Song Wars were a series of conflicts between the Jurchen -led Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the Han -led Song dynasty (960–1279). In 1115, Jurchen tribes rebelled against their overlords,

9504-502: The state's resources to failed wars against the Western Xia. The Song insistence on a greater share of Liao territory only succeeded in provoking their Jin allies. Song diplomatic oversights underestimated Jin and allowed the unimpeded rise of Jurchen military power. The state had plentiful resources, with the exception of horses, but managed its assets poorly during battles. Unlike the expansive Han and Tang empires that preceded

9612-399: The terms of the treaty, the Huai River , north of the Yangtze, was designated as the boundary between the two states. The Song agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 packs of silk to the Jin. The treaty reduced the Southern Song dynasty status to that of a Jin vassal. The document designated the Song as the "insignificant state", while the Jin was recognized as

9720-465: The time Wuzhu resumed pursuit, the Song court was fleeing on ships to islands off the coast of Zhejiang , and then further south to Wenzhou . The Jin sent ships to chase after Gaozong, but failed to catch him. They gave up the pursuit and the Jurchens retreated north. After they plundered the undefended cities of Hangzhou and Suzhou , they finally started to face resistance from Song armies led by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong . The latter even inflicted

9828-405: The two dynasties continued until the fall of Jin in 1234. A war against the Song begun by the 4th Jin emperor, Wanyan Liang , was unsuccessful. He lost the Battle of Caishi (1161) and was later assassinated by his own disaffected officers. An invasion of Jin territory motivated by Song revanchism (1206–1208) was also unsuccessful. A decade later, Jin launched an abortive military campaign against

9936-419: The war effort. Under Han Tuozhou's supervision, preparations for the war proceeded gradually and cautiously. The court venerated the irredentist hero Yue Fei and Han orchestrated the publishing of historical records that justified war with the Jin. From 1204 onwards, Chinese armed groups raided Jurchen settlements. Han Tuozhou was designated the head of national security in 1205. The Song funded insurgents in

10044-449: The warrior flowed in Yao’s blood. For three generations, his family served the state loyally and their name was feared among the barbarians. Ever since the defense began, he labored day and night and allowed himself little time to eat and rest. He was the only court official to do this. How ironic that he would meet his tragic end because of it! Qigong, the former emperor Huizong, and members of

10152-414: The western front again from 1132 to 1134. The Jin attacked Hubei and Shaanxi in 1132. Wuzhu captured Heshang Yuan in 1133, but his advance was halted by a defeat at Xianren Pass. He gave up on taking Sichuan, and no more major battles were fought between the Jin and Song for the rest of the decade. The Song court returned to Hangzhou in 1133, and the city was renamed Lin'an. The imperial ancestral temple

10260-450: The “sea-eels” sailed straight towards the seventeen [enemy] boats, and split them up into two groups. The government troops shouted “The government troops have won,” and struck at the men of Jin. The bottoms of the boats of the Jin were as broad as a box and the boats were unstable. Moreover, their men knew nothing about handling boats and were quite helpless. Only five or seven men [on each boat] could use their bows. So they were all killed in

10368-454: Was a Fu in the Shangjing region of Northeast China . It served as the first superior capital of the Jurchen -led Jin dynasty (1115-1234) from 1122 to 1153 (and was a secondary capital after 1173). Its location was in present-day Acheng District , Harbin , Heilongjiang Province. During the early years of building up their empire, Jurchen rulers often moved people from elsewhere in China to their capital, Shangjing. The first emperor of

10476-496: Was also unsuccessful. Accusing the Song of violating the agreement and realizing the weakness of the Song, the Jin generals launched a second punitive campaign, again dividing their troops into two armies. Wanyan Zonghan, who had withdrawn from Taiyuan after the Kaifeng agreement and left a small force in charge of the siege, came back with his western army. Overwhelmed, Taiyuan fell in September 1126, after 260 days of siege. When

10584-416: Was assassinated in his military camp by disaffected officers. He was succeeded by Emperor Shizong (r. 1161–1189), who had long resented Digunai for driving his wife, Lady Wulinda , to suicide. Shizong was pressured into ending the unpopular war with the Song, and ordered the withdrawal of Jin forces in 1162. Emperor Gaozong retired from the throne that same year. His mishandling of the war with Wanyan Liang

10692-492: Was brought to the Jin capital as well. In Aguda's days, palaces were not much more than tents, but in 1123, the Jurchens built their first ancestral temples and tombs (where the captured Song emperors Huizong and Qinzong were to venerate the Jin emperors' ancestors in 1128), and in 1124 the Jin dynasty's Emperor Taizong ordered a Han architect, Lu Yanlun, build a new city on uniform plan. The city plan on Shangjing emulated major Chinese cities, in particular Bianjing, although

10800-561: Was built in Lin'an later that same year, a sign that the court had in practice established Lin'an as the Song capital without a formal declaration. It was treated as a temporary capital. Between 1130 and 1137, the court would sporadically move to Jiankang, and back to Lin'an. There were proposals to make Jiankang the new capital, but Lin'an won out because the court considered it a more secure city. The natural barriers that surrounded Lin'an, including lakes and rice paddies, made it more difficult for

10908-418: Was designated a county-level city in 1987 and turned into a district of Harbin on October 9, 2006. Acheng is divided into fifteen subdistricts and four towns : Subdistricts: Towns: The area is rich in mineral resources, including sources of rock, volcanic rock, granite, molybdenum, zinc, lead, iron, and copper. The agricultural strengths of the area are grain production and cattle. Grain production

11016-410: Was enthroned. The Jin dynasty laid siege to Kaifeng in 1126, but Qinzong negotiated their retreat from the capital by agreeing to a large annual indemnity . Qinzong reneged on the deal and ordered Song forces to defend the prefectures instead of fortifying the capital. The Jin resumed war and again besieged Kaifeng in 1127. They captured Qinzong, many members of the imperial family and high officials of

11124-590: Was in charge of Shaanxi and Sichuan in the far west, to attack the Jin there to relieve pressure on the court. Zhang put together a large army, but was defeated by Wuzhu near Xi'an in late 1130. Wuzhu advanced further west into Gansu , and drove as far south as Jiezhou ( 階州 , modern Wudu ). The most important battles between Jin and Song in 1131 and 1132 took place in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sichuan. The Jin lost two battles at Heshang Yuan in 1131. After failing to enter Sichuan, Wuzhu retreated to Yanjing. He returned to

11232-451: Was informed of the military expedition by an envoy he had sent to the Jin to obtain the cession of two prefectures. The returning envoy reported that the Jurchens were willing to forgo an invasion if the Song ceded control of Hebei and Shanxi to the Jin. Tong Guan retreated from Taiyuan and left command of his troops to Wang Bing. Jin armies besieged the city in mid January 1126. Under Wang Bing's command, Taiyuan held on long enough to stop

11340-430: Was initiated by the Song and the other by the Jin. Wanyan Liang led a coup against Emperor Xizong and became fourth emperor of the Jin dynasty in 1150. Wanyan Liang presented himself as a Chinese emperor, and planned to unite China by conquering the Song. In 1158, Wanyan Liang provided a casus belli by announcing that the Song had broken the 1142 peace treaty by acquiring horses. He instituted an unpopular draft that

11448-418: Was one of many reasons for his abdication. Skirmishes between the Song and Jin continued along the border, but subsided in 1165 after the negotiation of a peace treaty. There were no major territorial changes. The treaty dictated that the Song still had to pay the annual indemnity, but the indemnity was renamed from "tribute", which had implied a subordinate relationship, to "payment". The Jin were weakened by

11556-403: Was secretly conspiring with Yue Fei. In late 1137, the Jin reduced Liu Yu's title to that of a prince and abolished the state of Qi. The Jin and Song renewed the negotiations towards peace. Gaozong promoted Qin Hui in 1138 and put him in charge of deliberations with the Jin. Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and a large number of officials at court criticized the peace overtures. Aided by his control of

11664-484: Was the source of widespread unrest in the empire. Anti-Jin revolts erupted among the Khitans and in Jin provinces bordering the Song. Wanyan Liang did not allow dissent, and opposition to the war was severely punished. The Song had been notified beforehand of Wanyan Liang's plan. They prepared by securing their defenses along the border, mainly near the Yangtze River, but were hampered by Emperor Gaozong's indecisiveness. Gaozong's desire for peace made him averse to provoking

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