Jin dynasty (266–420)


The Jin dynasty or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the or the , was a Chinese dynasty traditionally dated from 266 to 420 AD. It was founded by Sima Yan, son of Sima Zhao, who was made the King of Jin and posthumously declared one of the founders of the dynasty, along with Sima Zhao's older brother Sima Shi and father Sima Yi. It followed the Three Kingdoms period, which ended with the conquest of Eastern Wu, culminating in the reunification of China.
There are two main divisions in the history of the dynasty. The was established as a successor state to Cao Wei after Sima Yan usurped the throne and had its capital at Luoyang and later Chang'an ; Western Jin reunited China in 280 but fairly shortly thereafter fell into a succession crisis, the War of the Eight Princes and suffered from the invasions instigated by the Five Barbarians, who began to establish various new self-proclaimed states along the Yellow River valley in 304 and successfully occupied northern China after the Disaster of Yongjia in 311. These states then immediately began fighting each other, inaugurating the chaotic and bloody Sixteen Kingdoms era. After the fall of Chang'an in 316, the Western Jin dynasty collapsed, forcing survivors of the Jin monarch under Sima Rui to flee south of the Yangtze River to Jiankang and establish the . The Eastern Jin dynasty, though under constant threats from the north, remained relatively stable for the next century, but was eventually usurped by general Liu Yu in 420 and replaced with the Liu Song. The Western and Eastern Jin dynasties together make up the second of the Six Dynasties.

History

Background

Under the Wei, who dominated the northern parts of China during the Three Kingdoms period, the Sima clan—with its most accomplished individual being Sima Yi—rose to prominence, particularly after the 249 coup d'état; historically known as the Incident at the Gaoping Tombs. After Sima Yi's death, his eldest son, Sima Shi, kept a tight grip on the political scene, and after his own death, his younger brother, Sima Zhao, assisted his clans' interests by further suppressing rebellions and dissent, as well as recovering all of Shu and capturing Liu Shan in 263. His ambitions for the throne remain proverbial in Chinese, but he died in 265 before he could rise higher than a King of Jin, a title named for the Zhou-era marchland and duchy around Shaanxi's Jin River.

Founding

The Jin dynasty was founded in 266 by Sima Yan, posthumously known as Emperor Wu. He forced Cao Huan's abdication but permitted him to live in honor as the Prince of Chenliu and buried him with imperial ceremony. The Jin dynasty conquered Eastern Wu in 280 and united the country. The period of unity was short-lived as the state was soon weakened by corruption, political turmoil, and internal conflicts. Sima Yan's son Zhong, posthumously known as Emperor Hui, was developmentally disabled.

Decline

Conflict over his succession in 290 expanded into the devastating War of the Eight Princes. The weakened dynasty was then engulfed by the Uprising of the Five Barbarians and lost control of northern China. Large numbers of Chinese fled south from the Central Plains; among other effects, these refugees and colonizers gave Quanzhou's Jin River its name as they settled its valley in Fujian. The Jin capital Luoyang was captured by Xiongnu King Liu Cong in 311. Sima Chi, posthumously known as Emperor Huai, was captured and later executed. His successor Sima Ye, posthumously known as Emperor Min, was captured at Chang'an in 316 and also later executed.

Eastern Jin

The remnants of the Jin court fled to the south-east, reestablishing their government at Jiankang. Sima Rui, the prince of Langya, was enthroned in 318, posthumously becoming known as Emperor Yuan. The rival northern states, who denied the legitimacy of his succession, sometimes referred to his state as "Langya".
At first, the southerners were resistant to the new ruler from the north. The circumstances obliged the Emperors of Eastern Jin to depend on both local and northern aristocrat clans. This was also the pinnacle of menfa politics : Several powerful immigrant elite clans controlled national affairs, such as Wang clans of Langya and Taiyuan, Xie clan of Chenliu, Huan clan of Qiao Commandery, and Yu clan of Yingchuan, while the emperors' authority were limited. There was a prevalent remark that "Wang Dao and the emperor Sima Rui, they dominate the nation together" among the people. It is said that when Emperor Yuan was holding court, he even invited Dao to sit by himself accepting jointly the congratulations from ministers, but Dao declined it.
The local aristocrat clans were at odds with the immigrants. As such, tensions increased; they loomed large in Jin's domestic politics. Two of the most prominent local clans: Zhou clan of Yixing and Shen clan of Wuxing's ruin was a bitter blow from which they never quite recovered. Moreover, there was a conflict among the immigrant clans' interests; it was a faction that led to a virtual balance which somewhat benefited the emperor's ruling.
Although there was a stated goal of recovering the "lost northern lands", paranoia within the royal family and a constant string of disruptions to the throne caused the loss of support among many officials. Military crises—including the rebellions of the generals Wang Dun and Su Jun, but also lesser fangzhen revolts—plagued the Eastern Jin throughout its 104 years of existence.
Special "commanderies of immigrants" and "white registers" were created for the massive amounts of Han Chinese from the north who moved to the south during the Eastern Jin dynasty. The southern Chinese aristocracy was formed from the offspring of these migrants. Celestial Masters and the nobility of northern China subdued the nobility of southern China during the Eastern Jin and Western Jin in Jiangnan in particular. Southern China overtook the north in population after the depopulation of the north and the migration of northern Chinese to southern China. Different waves of migration of aristocratic Chinese from northern China to the south at different times resulted in distinct groups of lineages.
The Eastern Jin recovered its unity in the face of the 383 invasion by the Former Qin. The short-lived cooperation among Huan Chong and Prime Minister Xie An helped provide a major victory at the Fei River. A large amount of Former Qin territory was then taken or retaken.

Demise

Later, Huan Xuan, Huan Wen's son, usurped the throne and founded the dynasty of Huan Chu. He, in turn, was toppled by Liu Yu, who instated Sima Dezong, posthumously known as Emperor An. Meanwhile, as civilian administration suffered, there were further revolts led by Sun En and Lu Xun; Western Shu became an independent kingdom under Qiao Zong. Liu Yu had Sima Dezong strangled and replaced by his brother Sima Dewen, posthumously known as Emperor Gong, in 419. Sima Dewen abdicated in 420 in favor of Liu Yu, who declared himself the ruler of the Song; Sima was asphyxiated with a blanket the following year. In the north, Northern Liang, the last of the Sixteen Kingdoms, was conquered by the Northern Wei in 439, ushering in the Northern dynasties period.
The Xianbei Northern Wei accepted the Jin refugees Sima Fei and Sima Chuzhi. They both married Xianbei princesses. Sima Fei's wife was named Huayang, who was a daughter of Emperor Xiaowen; Sima Chuzhi's son was Sima Jinlong, who married a Northern Liang princess who was a daughter of Xiongnu King Juqu Mujian. More than fifty percent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to southern Han Chinese men from the imperial families and aristocrats from southern China of the Southern dynasties who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei. Much later, Sima Guang, who served as prime minister to the Song, claimed descent from the Jin dynasty.

Government and demography

Menfa politics

Qiaoren and baiji

The uprising of the five barbarians led to one in eight northerners migrating to the south. These immigrants were called "qiaoren ", accounting for one sixth of the then people living in the south. Considering most property of these refugees had been lost or exhausted as they arrived, they were privileged to be free from diao, a special poll tax that was paid via the silk or cotton cloth in ancient China, and other services. Their registers which were bound in white papers were called baiji. The ordinary ones which were bound in yellow papers were called huangji in comparison.
When the situation settled down, the preferential treatment not only was a heavy burden for the nation, but also aroused dissatisfaction from the natives. Hence, tu duan was an increasingly important issue for the Eastern Jin.

Lodged administrative divisions

The Eastern Jin court established the lodged administrative divisions which served as strongholds of the qiaoren. More effective administration for them was a realistic starting point for that. Consisting of three levels: qiaozhou, qiaojun, and qiaoxian, these lodged administrative divisions were merely nominal without possessing actual domain, or rather, they were local government in exile; what could scarcely be denied was their significance in Jin's legitimacy for the northern territory as somewhat an announcement. Furthermore, it was also an action done to appease the refugees' homesickness, which was evoking their desire to resume what had been lost.
During the rule of Emperor Yuan, Emperor Ming, and Emperor Cheng, the lodged administrative divisions were concentrated in the area south of the Huai River and the Lower Yangtze Plain. At first there was the lodged Langya Commandery within lodged Fei County in Jiankang, but when it began is not exactly known. Then the lodged Huaide County was also established in Jiankang, around 320. According to the Book of Song:
晉永嘉大亂，幽、冀、青、並、兗州及徐州之淮北流民，相率過淮，亦有過江在晉陵郡界者……又徙流民之在淮南者于晉陵諸縣，其徙過江南及留在江北者，並立僑郡縣以司牧之。徐、兗二州或治江北，江北又僑立幽、冀、青、並四州……
The lodged Pei, Qinghe, Xiapi, Dongguang, Pingchang, Jiyin, Puyang, Guangping, Taishan, Jiyang, and Lu commanderies were established when Emperor Ming ruled. The rebellions and invasions occurring in Jianghuai area led to more refugees switching to settle in the south of the Yangtze River, where the lodged Huainan Commandery was established afterwards.
However, carrying these out was more complex than the policy was formulated. Several actual counties were under the jurisdiction of the lodged commanderies.
A few lodged administrative divisions are still retained in China nowadays. For instance, Dangtu County was originally located in the area of Bengbu, however, the lodged Dangtu County was established in where it is now, and the latter replaced the former, inheriting its place name.

Tu duan policy

The tu duan is the abbreviation for yi tu duan. It was a policy to ensure the ancient hukou system working since the Western Jin. These terms were first recorded in the biographies of Wei Guan and Li Chong included in the Book of Jin:
今九域同規，大化方始，臣等以為宜皆蕩除末法，一擬古制，以土斷，定自公卿以下，皆以所居為正，無復懸客遠屬異土者。
然承魏氏凋弊之跡，人物播越，仕無常朝，人無定處，郎吏蓄於軍府，豪右聚於都邑，事體駁錯，與古不同。謂九品既除，宜先開移徙，聽相並就。且明貢舉之法，不濫於境外，則冠帶之倫將不分而自均，即土斷之實行矣。
Hence, it was perhaps initially proposed by these two persons, but was only seriously implemented during the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties.

Society and culture

Material culture

The Jin dynasty is well known for the quality of its greenish celadon porcelain wares, which immediately followed the development of proto-celadon. Jar designs often incorporated animal, as well as Buddhist, figures.
Examples of Yue ware are also known from the Jin dynasty.

Religion

Taoism was polarized in the Jin dynasty. The Jin emperors repressed Taoists harshly, but also tried to exploit it, given the way it had been used near the end of the Han era in the poor peasants' revolts. Amidst the political turmoil of the era, many successful merchants, small landowners, and other moderately comfortable persons found great solace in Taoist teachings and a number of major clans and military officers also took up the faith. Ge Hong emphasized loyalty to the emperor as a Taoist virtue; he even taught that rebels could never be Taoist immortals, which made Taoism more palatable to the imperial hierarchy. As a result, popular Taoist religions were considered heterodoxy while the official schools of the court were supported, but the popular schools like Tianshi Taoism were still secretly held dear and promulgated amongst ordinary people.
Disunity, disintegration, and chaos also made Buddhism more popular, in part due to the focus on addressing suffering. The Jin dynasty marked a critical era for Mahayana in China. Dharmarakṣa’s 286 translation of the Lotus Sutra was the most important one before Kumārajīva’s 5th-century translation. It was said that there were 1,768 Buddhist temples in the Eastern Jin.
Furthermore, Taoism advanced chemistry and medicine in China, whereas the contribution of Mahayana was concentrated in philosophy and literature.

List of emperors and eras

Major events