Nurhaci

Nurhaci
Khan of the Later Jin dynasty
Reign 17 February 1616 – 30 September 1626
Predecessor None
(Dynasty established)
Successor Hong Taiji
1st Emperor of the Qing dynasty
Predecessor None
(Awarded posthumously)
Successor Hong Taiji
Born 21 February 1559
Died 30 September 1626(1626-09-30) (aged 67)
Ningyuan, Manchuria
Spouse Lady Tunggiya
Empress Xiaocigao
Empress Xiaoliewu
13 concubines
Issue Princess Donggo
Cuyen, Crown Prince
Daišan, Prince Li
Abai, Duke of Zhen
Tangguldai, Duke of Fu
Manggūltai
Princess Nunje
Tabai, Duke of Fu
Abatai
Mangguji, Princess Hada
Hong Taiji, Emperor Taizong of Qing
Babutai, Duke of Zhen
Degelei, Beile
Mukushen
Babuhai, Duke of Zhen
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Ajige, Prince Ying
Laimbu, Duke of Fu
Dorgon, Prince Rui
Daughter
Dodo
Fiyanggu
Full name
Chinese: Aixin-Jueluo Nǔ'ěrhāchì 努爾哈赤
Manchu: ᠠᡳᠰᡳᠨ ᡤᡳᠣᡵᠣ ᡥᠠᠯᠠ ‍ᡳ ᠨᡠᡵᡤᠠᠴᡳ
Aisin Gioro hala-i Nurgaci
Aisin Giuro hala-i Nurgaqi
Mongolian: ᠲᠩᠷᠢ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠰᠦᠯᠳᠡᠲᠦ
Тэнгэрийн сүлдэт
Era name and dates
Tiānmìng 天命
Manchu: Abkai fulingga: 1616–1626
Posthumous name
Chéngtiān Guǎngyùn Shèngdé Shéngōng Zhàojì Lìjí Rénxiào Ruìwǔ Duānyì Qīn'ān Hóngwén Dìngyè Gāo Huángdì
承天廣運聖德神功肇紀立極仁孝睿武端毅欽安弘文定業高皇帝
Manchu: Dergi hūwangdi
House Aisin Gioro
Father Taksi
Mother Lady Hitara

Nurhaci (Manchu: ᠨᡠᡵᡤᠠᠴᡳ; Möllendorff: Nurgaci; Abkai: Nurgaqi; simplified Chinese: 努尔哈赤; traditional Chinese: 努爾哈赤; pinyin: Nǔ'ěrhāchì; alternatively Nurhachi; 21 February 1559 – 30 September 1626) was a Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th century in Manchuria. Nurhaci was part of the Aisin Gioro clan, and reigned from 1616 to his death in September 1626.

Nurhaci reorganized and united various Jurchen tribes (the later "Manchu"), consolidated the Eight Banners military system, and eventually launched attacks on Ming China and Joseon Korea. His conquest of Ming China's northeastern Liaoning province laid the groundwork for the conquest of the rest of China by his descendants, who founded the Qing dynasty in 1644. He is also generally credited with ordering the creation of a written script for the Manchu language.

Name and titles

Nurhaci is written as ᠨᡠᡵᡤᠠᠴᡳ in the Manchu language. The meaning of the name in the Manchu language is "the skin of a wild boar". Regarded as the founding father of the Qing dynasty, he is given the customary temple name of Taizu, which is traditionally assigned to founders of dynasties. His name is also alternatively spelled Nurgaci, Nurhachi, or Nu-er-ha-chi (the last of these simply the transcription of the Chinese characters used to write his name).

Nurhaci was the last chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens and First Khan of the Later Jin dynasty. His title in Manchu as Khan was Geren gurun-be ujire genggiyen Han ᡤᡝᡵᡝᠨ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ᠪᡝ
ᡠᠵᡳᡵᡝ
ᡤᡝᠩᡤᡳᠶᡝᠨ
ᡥᠠᠨ ("Brilliant Khan Who Benefits All Nations"). His regnal name was Tianming (Chinese: 天命; Wade–Giles: T'ien-ming; Manchu:ᠠᠪᡴᠠᡳ
ᡶᡠᠯᡳᠩᡤᠠ Abkai fulingga), in Mongolian Tengri-yin Süldetü. It means "The Emperor of Heaven's Mandate." He was given a posthumous name in 1736 (see infobox), the shortened form of which was "Emperor Gao" (Wade–Giles: Emperor Kao; Chinese: 高皇帝).

Early life

Nurhaci was born in 1559. Being a member of the Gioro clan of the Suksuhu River tribe, Nurhaci also claimed descent from Möngke Temür, a Jurchen headman who lived some two centuries earlier. According to Chinese sources, the young man grew up as a soldier in the household of the Ming dynasty general Li Chengliang in Fushun, where he learned Chinese. He named his clan Aisin Gioro around 1612, when he formally ascended the throne as the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty.

In 1582, Nurhaci's father Taksi and grandfather Giocangga were killed in an attack on Gure (now a village in Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County) by a rival Jurchen chieftain, Nikan Wailan ("Nikan Wailan" means "secretary of Chinese people" in the Jurchen language, thus his existence is suspected by some historians.) while being led by Li Chengliang. The following year, Nurhaci began to unify the Jurchen bands around his area.

In 1584, when Nurhaci was 25, he attacked Nikan Wailan at Tulun (today a village in Xinbin too) to avenge the deaths of his father and grandfather, who are said to have left him nothing but thirteen suits of armor. Nikan Wailan fled away to Erhun, which Nurhaci attacked again in 1587. Nikan Wailan this time fled to Li Chengliang's territory. Later, as a way to build relationship, Li gave Nikan Wailan to Nurhaci, who beheaded Nikan Wailan immediately. With Li's support, Nurhaci gradually grew his strength in the following years.

Unifying the Jurchen tribes

In 1593, an alliance of nine tribes composed of Yehe, Hada, Ula, Hoifa, Khorchin, Sibe, Guwalca, Jušeri, and Neyen attacked Nurhaci and were defeated at the Battle of Gure.[1]

From 1599 to 1618, Nurhaci sets out on a campaign against the four Hulun tribes. He began by attacking the Hada in 1599 and conquering them in 1603. Then in 1607, Hoifa was also conquered with the death of its beile Baindari, followed by an expedition against Ula and its beile Bujantai in 1613, and finally the Yehe and its beile Gintaisi at the Battle of Sarhu in 1619.

In 1599, Nurhaci gave two of his translators, Erdeni Bagshi and Dahai Jarguchi, the task of creating a Manchu alphabet by adapting the Mongolian script.

In 1606, he was granted the title of Kundulun Khan by the Mongols.

At the Battle of Sarhu Nurhaci defeated a four pronged Chinese offensive intended to capture his capital of Hetu Ala by concentrating his forces in one column at a time.

In 1616, Nurhaci declared himself Khan and founded the Jin dynasty (aisin gurun), often called the Later Jin in reference to the legacy of the earlier Jurchen Jin dynasty of the 12th century. He constructed a palace at Mukden (present-day Shenyang, Liaoning). The "Later Jin" was renamed to "Qing" by his son Hong Taiji after his death in 1626, however Nurhaci is usually referred to as the founder of the Qing dynasty.

In order to help with the newly organized administration, five of his trusted companions were appointed as his chief councilors, Anfiyanggū, Eidu, Hūrhan, Fiongdon, and Hohori.

Nurhaci captured Liaoyang in 1621 and made it the capital of his empire until 1625.

Only after he became Khan did he finally unify the Ula (clan of his consort Lady Abahai, mentioned below) and the Yehe Nara clan, the clan of his consort Monggo.

Nurhaci chose to variously emphasize either differences or similarities in lifestyles with other peoples like the Mongols for political reasons.[2] Nurhaci said to the Mongols that "The languages of the Chinese and Koreans are different, but their clothing and way of life is the same. It is the same with us Manchus (Jušen) and Mongols. Our languages are different, but our clothing and way of life is the same." Later Nurhaci indicated that the bond with the Mongols was not based in any real shared culture, rather it was for pragmatic reasons of "mutual opportunism", when he said to the Mongols: "You Mongols raise livestock, eat meat and wear pelts. My people till the fields and live on grain. We two are not one country and we have different languages."[3]

Challenging Ming China

In 1618, Nurhaci commissioned a document entitled the Seven Grievances in which he enumerated seven problems with Ming rule and began to rebel against the domination of the Ming dynasty. A majority of the grievances dealt with conflicts against Yehe, and Ming favouritism of Yehe.

In 1621, Nurhaci started the construction of a new palace for his Later Jin dynasty's capital in Mukden.

Nurhaci led many successful engagements against the Ming Chinese, the Koreans, the Mongols, and other Jurchen clans, greatly enlarging the territory under his control.

The first capitals of the state established by Nurhaci were Fe Ala and Hetu Ala.[4][5][6][7][8] Han Chinese participated in the construction of Hetu Ala, the capital of Nurhaci's state.[9]

Defectors from the Ming side played a massive role in the Qing conquest of the Ming. Ming generals who defected to the Manchus were often married to women from the Aisin Gioro clan while lower-ranked defectors were given non-imperial Manchu women as wives. Nurhaci arranged for a marriage between one of his granddaughters and the Ming general Li Yongfang (李永芳) after Li surrendered Fushun in Liaoning to the Manchus in 1618.[10][11][12][13][14]

The Han prisoner of war Gong Zhenglu (Onoi) was appointed to instruct Nurhaci's sons and received gifts of slaves, wives, and a domicile from Nurhaci after Nurhaci rejected offers of payment to release him back to his relatives.[15]

Nurhaci had treated Han in Liaodong differently according to how much grain they had, those with less than 5 to 7 sin were treated like chattel while those with more than that amount were rewarded with property. Due to a revolt by Han in Liaodong in 1623, Nurhachi, who previously gave concessions to conquered Han subjects in Liaodong, turned against them and ordered that they no longer be trusted and enacted discriminatory policies and killings against them, while ordering that Han who assimilated to the Jurchen (in Jilin) before 1619 be treated equally as Jurchens were and not like the conquered Han in Liaodong.

By May 1621, Nurhaci had conquered the cities of Liaoyang and Shenyang. In April 1625, he designated Shenyang the new capital city, which would hold that status until the Qing conquest of the Ming in 1644.[16]

Finally in 1626, Nurhaci suffered the first serious military defeat of his life at the hands of the Ming general Yuan Chonghuan. Nurhaci was wounded by the Portuguese-made cannons in Yuan's army at the Battle of Ningyuan. Unable to recover either physically or mentally, he died two days later in Aiji Fort (靉雞堡; in present-day Da'aijinbao Village, Dijia Township, Yuhong District, Shenyang) on 30 September at the age of 68. His tomb (Chinese: 福陵; pinyin: Fúlíng) is located east of Shenyang.

Legacy

Among the most lasting contributions Nurhaci left his descendants was the establishment of the Eight Banners, which would eventually form the backbone of the military that dominated the Qing Empire. The status of Banners did not change much over the course of Nurhaci's lifetime, nor in subsequent reigns, remaining mostly under the control of the royal family. The two elite Yellow Banners were consistently under Nurhaci's control. The two Blue Banners were controlled by Nurhaci's brother Šurhaci until he died, at which point the Blue Banners were given to Šurhaci's two sons, Chiurhala and Amin. Nurhaci's eldest son, Cuyen, controlled the White Banner for most of his father's reign until he rebelled. Then the Bordered White Banner was given to Nurhaci's grandson and the Plain White was given to his eighth son and heir, Hong Taiji. However, by the end of Nurhaci's reign, Hong Taiji controlled both White Banners. Finally, the Red Banner was run by Nurhaci's second son Daišan. Later in Nurhaci's reign, the Bordered Red Banner was handed down to his son. Daišan and his son would continue holding the two Red Banners well into the end of Hong Taiji's reign.

Nurhaci watching his army storm the walls of Ningyuan, 1626.

The details of Hong Taiji's succession as the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty are unclear.[17] When he died in late 1626, Nurhaci did not designate an heir; instead he encouraged his sons to rule collegially.[18] Three of his sons and a nephew were the "four senior beiles": Daišan (43 years old), Amin (son of Nurhaci's brother Šurhaci; 40 or 41), Manggūltai (38 or 39), and Hong Taiji himself (33).[19] On the day after Nurhaci's death, they coerced his primary consort Lady Abahai (1590–1626)––who had borne him three sons: Ajige, Dorgon, and Dodo––to commit suicide to accompany him in death.[20] This gesture has made some historians suspect that Nurhaci had in fact named the fifteen-year-old Dorgon as a successor, with Daišan as regent.[21] By forcing Dorgon's mother to kill herself, the princes removed a strong base of support for Dorgon. The reason such intrigue was necessary is that Nurhaci had left the two elite Yellow Banners to Dorgun and Dodo, who were the sons of Lady Abahai. Hong Taiji exchanged control of his two White Banners for that of the two Yellow Banners, shifting their influence and power from his young brothers onto himself.

According to Hong Taiji's later recollections, Amin and the other beile were willing to accept Hong Taiji as Khan, but Amin then would have wanted to leave with his Bordered Blue Banner, threatening to dissolve Nurhaci's unification of the Jurchens.[22] Eventually the older Daišan worked out a compromise that allowed Hong Taiji as the Khan, but almost equal to the other three senior beiles.[23] Hong Taiji would eventually find ways to become the undisputed leader.

Primary sources

Information concerning Nurhaci can be found in later, propagandistic works such as the Manchu Veritable Records (in Chinese, Mǎnzhōu Shílù 滿洲實錄; in Manchu, Yargiyan kooli). Good contemporary sources are also available. For instance, much material concerning Nurhaci's rise is preserved within Korean sources such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (Joseon Wangjo Sillok 朝鮮王朝實錄), especially the Seonjo Sillok and the Gwanghaegun Ilgi. Indeed, the record of Sin Chung-il's trip to Jianzhou is preserved in the Seonjo Sillok.

The original Manchu-language records from Nurhaci's reign also survive. A revised transcription of these records (with the dots and circles added to the script) was commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor. This has been translated into Japanese, under the title Manbun roto, and Chinese, under the title Manwen Laodang (Chinese:满文老襠). A project is currently under way at Harvard to translate them into English, as The Old Manchu Chronicles.[24]

Family

Ancestors

Siblings

Consorts

Nurhaci had a total of 16 consorts:

  1. Lady Tunggiya (佟佳氏), given name Hahana Jacing (哈哈納扎青), daughter of Tabonbayan (塔木巴晏). She married Nurhaci in 1577 as his first wife and initial consort. After the founding of the Qing dynasty, she was posthumously honored as First Consort (元妃; Yuan Fei). Lady Tunggiya bore Nurhaci three children:
    1. Princess Dongguo
    2. Cuyen, Crown Prince
    3. Daišan, Prince Li
  2. Lady Fuca (富察氏), given name Gundai (袞代). She was Nurhaci's second consort. After the founding of the Qing dynasty, she was posthumously honored as Successor Consort (繼妃; Ji Fei). Lady Fuca bore Nurhaci three children:
    1. Manggūltai
    2. Mangguji, Princess Hada
    3. Degelei, Beile
  3. Lady Yehenara (葉赫那拉氏) (given name Monggo Jer-Jer (孟古哲哲)) (1575–1603), daughter of Prince Yangginu of the Yehenara (葉赫部貝勒楊吉砮). She married Nurhaci in October 1588 at the age of 13. On 16 May 1636, she was posthumously honored as Empress Xiaocigao (孝慈高皇后). Lady Yehenara bore Nurhaci one child:
    1. Hong Taiji
  4. Lady Ulanara (烏喇那拉氏) (given name Abahai (阿巴亥)) (1590–1626), daughter of Prince Mantai of the Ulanara (烏拉貝勒滿泰) (died 1596). She married Nurhaci in 1602 at the age of 12. In 1603 she was created Grand Consort (大妃). She was posthumously honored as Empress Xiaoliewu (孝烈武皇后). Lady Ulanara bore Nurhaci three children:
    1. Ajige, Prince Ying
    2. Dorgon, Prince Rui
    3. Dodo, Prince Yu
  5. Lady Borjigit (博爾濟吉特氏), posthumously honored as Dowager Consort Shou Kang (壽康太妃).

Four of Nurhaci's consorts held the rank of Side Chamber Consort (側妃; Ze Fei):

  1. Lady Irgen Gioro (伊爾根覺羅氏), bore Nurhaci two children:
    1. Princess Nunje
    2. Abatai
  2. Lady Yehenara (葉赫那拉氏), younger sister of Empress Xiaocigao. She bore Nurhaci one child:
    1. Nurhaci's eighth daughter
  3. two unnamed consorts

Five of Nurhaci's consorts held the rank of Ordinary Consort (庶妃; Shu Fei):

  1. Lady Joogiya (兆佳氏), bore Nurhaci one child:
    1. Abai, Duke of Zhen
  2. Lady Niuhuru (鈕祜祿氏), bore Nurhaci two children:
    1. Tangguldai, Duke of Fu
    2. Tabai, Duke of Fu
  3. Lady Giyamuhut Gioro (嘉穆瑚覺羅氏) (given name Zhen'ge (真哥)), bore Nurhaci five children:
    1. Babutai, Duke of Zhen
    2. Mukushen
    3. Babuhai
    4. Nurhaci's fifth daughter
    5. Nurhaci's sixth daughter
  4. Lady Silin Gioro (西林覺羅), bore Nurhaci one child:
    1. Laimbu, Duke of Fu
  5. Lady Irgen Gioro (伊爾根覺羅氏), bore Nurhaci one child:
    1. Nurhaci's seventh daughter

Sons

Daughters

In popular culture

In the beginning of the 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones trades the remains of Nurhaci (contained in a small, ornate jade urn) for a diamond owned by the Chinese mobster Lao Che.

Science

The genus Nurhachius, a pterodactyloid pterosaur, is named after Nurhaci.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nurhaci.

Notes

  1. ↑ Narangoa 2014, p. 24.
  2. ↑ Perdue 2009, p. 127.
  3. ↑ Peterson 2002, p. 31.
  4. ↑ Frederic E. Wakeman (1985). The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China. University of California Press. pp. 45–. ISBN 978-0-520-04804-1.
  5. ↑ Gertraude Roth Li (2010). Manchu: A Textbook for Reading Documents. Natl Foreign Lg Resource Ctr. pp. 285–. ISBN 978-0-9800459-5-6.
  6. ↑ Jonathan D. Spence; John E. Wills, Jr. (1 January 1979). From Ming to Ch'ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-century China. Yale University Press. pp. 35–. ISBN 978-0-300-02672-6.
  7. ↑ Mark C. Elliott (2001). The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press. pp. 54–. ISBN 978-0-8047-4684-7.
  8. ↑ http://www.dartmouth.edu/~qing/WEB/NURHACI.html
  9. ↑ Frederic E. Wakeman (1985). The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China. University of California Press. pp. 47–. ISBN 978-0-520-04804-1.
  10. ↑ Anne Walthall (2008). Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History. University of California Press. pp. 148–. ISBN 978-0-520-25444-2.
  11. ↑ Frederic Wakeman (1 January 1977). Fall of Imperial China. Simon and Schuster. pp. 79–. ISBN 978-0-02-933680-9.
  12. ↑ Kenneth M. Swope (23 January 2014). The Military Collapse of China's Ming Dynasty, 1618-44. Routledge. pp. 13–. ISBN 978-1-134-46209-4.
  13. ↑ Frederic E. Wakeman (1985). The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China. University of California Press. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-0-520-04804-1.
  14. ↑ Mark C. Elliott (2001). The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-0-8047-4684-7.
  15. ↑ Pamela Kyle Crossley (15 February 2000). A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology. University of California Press. pp. 101–. ISBN 978-0-520-92884-8.
  16. ↑ Arthur W. Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1943), p. 597
  17. ↑ Roth Li 2002, p. 52.
  18. ↑ Wakeman 1985, p. 157.
  19. ↑ Wakeman 1985, p. 158.
  20. ↑ Roth Li 2002, p. 51.
  21. ↑ Roth Li 2002, p. 52, note 127, citing Fuchs 1935.
  22. ↑ Wakeman 1985, pp. 158–60.
  23. ↑ Wakeman 1985, p. 160.
  24. ↑ The Old Manchu Chronicles, Harvard University.

Bibliography

Nurhaci
Born: 1558 Died: 30 September 1626
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Taksi		 Chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens
1583–1616 		Succeeded by
Hong Taiji
Preceded by
none
(Dynasty established)		 Khan of Later Jin
1616–1626
Xia → Shang → Zhou → Qin → Han → 3 Kingdoms → Jìn / 16 Kingdoms → S. Dynasties / N. Dynasties → Sui → Tang → 5 Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms - Liao / Song / W. Xia / Jīn → Yuan → Ming → Qing → ROC / PRC
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