The Influence of Jurchen Rule on Chinese Political Institutions

Author(s): Jing-shen Tao

Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Nov., 1970), pp. 121-130
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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The Influence of Jurchen Rule on
Chinese Political Institutions
JING-SHEN TAO

S INCE the Sung dynasty there was a continuous trend toward the establishment of
a highly centralized despotism, which matured in the Ming and Ch'ing pe-
riods.' This paper is a preliminary attempt to assess the influence of the Chin pe-
riod (III5-I234) on the Chinesepoliticalsystem,with emphasison the bearingof
alien rule on this institutional evolution.
Long before the rise of the Liao and Chin dynasties, there had existed a number
of alien dynasties of infiltration in North China during the period of disruption
(220-581 A.D.), or what Prof. Tamura Jitsuzo calls the period of barbarianmigration,
in comparison with the barbarian invasions in Europe.2 Some of these dynasties,
such as the T'o-pa Northern Wei and the Northern Chou, left important traces on
the fu-ping militia institution, the chiin-t'ien (equal-field) system, and T'ang bu-
reaucracy.3During and after the tenth century, the increasing barbarian infiltration
led to the formation of first the Liao state, and later its successor,the Chin. The two
together mark the rise of conquest dynasties, climaxed by the establishment of the
Yuan and Ch'ing empires.
In terms of cultural change, there are two patterns under conditions of conquest.
The Ch'i-tan nomads of the Liao, on the one hand, display a cultural pattern under
which there only occurred limited acculturation and there generally existed a dual
political and social system-Chinese institutions were employed to administer the
Chinese majority, and tribal organizations were retained for the conquerors them-
selves. Bearing resemblance to the T'o-pa Wei, the Jurchen agriculturists of the
Chin, on the other hand, set up another pattern of Sino-barbariansynthesis under
which the conquerors gave up a large part of their indigenous way of life. It should
be noted, however, that although the Chin came to be assimilated by the Chinese
tradition, it also tried to preserve some of its own heritages, and its success in
China owed much to the adoption and modification of Liao dualistic practices.
Similarly the Yuan and Ch'ing inherited from both the Liao and Chin institu-

Jing-shen Tao is Associate Research Fellow at
Academia Sinica and Associate Professor of History
at National Taiwan University. The abridged ver-
sion of this paper was originally presented at the
2Ist Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian
Studies in March I969.
1 For a general treatment of the trend, see F. W.
Mote, "The Growth of Chinese Despotism," Oriens
Extremus, Vol. 8, No. I (I96I) I-4I.
2 Karl A. Wittfogel and Feng Chia-sheng in their
Historyof ChineseSociety:Liao (907-1125) (Phil-
adelphia, I949) pp. I5-I6 assert that the dynasties
during the period of disruption are dynasties of
infiltration rather than conquest. Tamura Jitsuz6
points out that these dynasties of infiltrationare the
results of great waves of barbarianmigration sim-
ilar to the barbarian invasions in Europe. See his
pamphlet, "Yuboku minzoku to n6k5 minzoku
tono rekishi teki kankei" (The Historical Relations
between the Nomads and Agriculturists), issued by
Ky6to University in I968, pp. 2-5.
3 See Ch'en Yin-k'o, Suz-t'ang chih-tu yuan-yuan
lAieh-lunkao (Draft Essay on the Origins of Sui-
T'ang Institutions), reprinted by Academia Sinica,
n.d.

121

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122 JING-SHEN TAO
tional and cultural features, with important modifications and varying emphases.
All the dynasties of conquest encountered two fundamental problems: that of
enhancement of the tribal chieftain's authority in order to marshal effectively the
manpower and resourcesfor conquests, and, after the conquest of part or the whole of
China, that of the establishment of a Sino-barbarianstate in which alien rule was
consolidated. The Jurchen solutions to these problems, which were closely related,
seem to have required measures of centralized control, which they partly inherited
from their tribal experience, and partly adopted from the Liao and Sung. In gen-
eral the Mongols, and especially the Manchus, provided similar solutions.

I. The InitialPeriodof DualisticRule andPoliticalStruggles

The Jurchen were a people of Tungusic origin, who had lived in Manchuria
since time immemorial, and had practiced farming, hunting, and fishing as their
way of life. They founded permanent settlements in the forest zone in eastern
Manchuria, indicated by remains of their towns, villages, and fortresses. After the
tenth century their power gradually grew as they relied upon the breeding of the
horse to organize predatory raids and invasions of the Liao and Koryo.4 By iII5
they had enlarged their domain and established a periphery state between Liao and
Koryo. Within a period of twelve years (III5-II26) this formidable group of war-
riors not only conquered the Liao and the Northern Sung, but also subdued Koryo
and the Hsi Hsia kingdom in West China.
The Jurchen rulers generally followed the Liao example of dualistic rule during
the initial phase of conquest. They retained tribal organization to administer their
own subjects, and adopted Chinese institutions to control the conquered majority. In
the early twelfth century the leaders of the basic tribal socio-political units were the
meng-an (the head of a thousand men) and the mou-k'e (the head of a hundred to
three hundred men), who in case of war became military officers,leading the tribes-
men to the battleground, and acting as local officials in the newly acquired land. In
addition to the reconstitution of these units into an efficient military system in III4,
Wan-yen A-ku-ta (io68-iI23), the founder of the state, organized a hierarchy of
higher officials, called the po-chi-lieh, above the meng-an and mou-k'e. Under Wan-
yen Wu-ch'i-mai (reign: II23-II35), A-ku-ta's brother and successor, political sin-
icization began with the introduction of some Chinese institutions in II26. It did not,
however, result in significant changes in the Jurchen central government in Man-
churia, for the major Chinese institution, the Chancellery (shu-mi yuan), was set
up in North China under the Jurchen generals, regulating Chinese affairs.5The re-
forms of II34-II35, initiated by Wu-ch'i-mai and Tan (reign: II35-II49), were noted
for the borrowing of the Chinese three council system and the abolition of the tribal
officials such as the po-chi-lieh. The purpose of these reforms was mainly for

4 See Jing-shen Tao, "The Horse and the Rise
of the Chin Dynasty," Papers of the Michigan
Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, LIII (I968)
I 83-I 89.
5 The situation is evident in the career of Han
Chi-hsien, who assumed the position of Chanceller
in II128. Han, however, always stayed in North
China, never having the chance to have an audi-
ence with Wu-ch'i-mai in Manchuria until II34,
when he was appointed Right Prime Minister of
the newly reformed central government. The case
of Han also indicates the powerful position held by
the generals in North China, who, in fact, com-
pleted A-ku-ta's unfinished task of conquest. See
Chin Shih (Dynastic History of the Chin. Po-na
ed.; hereaftercited as CS), 78.8ab.

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JURCHEN RULE 123
achieving a centralized government to cope with the problem of decentralization.'
Among the three councils, however, authority was monopolized by the Presidential
Council (shang-shu sheng), which was the administrative branch, while the func-
tion of the other two, the Secretarial Council (chung-shu sheng) and the Court
Council (men-hsia sheng), was obscure and unimportant.7 Furthermore, old tribal
practices bearing some "democratic"tendencies gradually disappeared,whereas some
of the methods in tribal politics tinged with barbarismwere introduced into the new
political system.
The fading of the primitive "democratic"practices is indicative in the emergence
of an unequal relationship between the tribal ruler and his subjects. It is recorded
that A-ku-ta never required the officials to perform the kowtow ceremony at his
court in the early years of his reign, and Wu-ch'i-mai had taken bath with his
tribesmen in the same river.8 In addition, there was a tribal council in which im-
portant policies were discussed and determined collectively2 It seems that a few
important decisions were still made in this manner during the reigns of Wu-ch'i-mai
and Tan. One example is the debate at Tan's court on the policy concerning the
territory south of the Yellow River when the Liu Yiu puppet regime was abolished in
II37.10 It is interesting to note that such debate did not ease any tension among the
leaders and only provoked violent political struggles. The adoption of Chinese values
and symbols centering upon the exaltation of the emperor and other political changes
created a gap between the ruler and his officials, not to mention that between him
and his subjects.The political struggles entailed the brutalization of the political proc-
ess, not a combination of the political compromises and conflicts of the T'ang-Sung
periods and Jurchen"democratic"elements.
In general, the reigns of Tan and Liang (reign: II49-II6I) witness two develop-
ments. First, there was the brutal elimination of tribal influence on politics which was
largely represented by the warlords and by the rise of an incipient feudalism in
North China. Second, together with and especially after the destruction of the war-
lords and feudal forces, Chinese institutions, values and customs were borrowed on
a large scale. In fact, during the struggles between the central government and the
regional forces, men in the government continuously drew experiences and methods
from the Chinese, along with coercion and suppression, to deal with the recalcitrant
generals and imperial clansmen. Consequently when Chinese institutions were in-
troduced, most tribal practices had to go, except the military organization, on which
the new state was founded. But a centralized control was also devised in this respect."
It is a recurrent theme in medieval Chinese history that there were conflicts be-
tween bureaucratsand aristocrats.These conflicts occurred in the T'o-pa Wei and the
Northern Chou, and it was largely because of the need for diminishing the hered-
itary privilegs of the aristocracy that the examination system was implemented in

6 For details see Mikami Tsugio, "Kinsho ni 9 Ibid., 3.7.

okeru sansho seido, Part I" (The Three Depart-
ment System for Central Government in the Early
Chin Dynasty), Rekishi to Bunka, V (I96I) I5I.
7 Ibid., I 29-I 5 2.
8Hsii Meng-hsin, San-ch'ao pei-meng hui-pien
(Compendium on the Northern Alliance under the
Three Reigns: Iioi-iI6I. Taipei: Wen-hai ed.;
hereaftercited as SCPM) 3.3; I66.5.
10 CS, 78, "Biographyof Ta-lan."
11 In the early years the highest authority in
military affairs was held by generals such as Nien-
han and Wa-li-pu. Later the Chancellerytook over
their power. Cf. CS, 44. The Chancellery, unlike
that of the Northern Sung, was controlled by the
Presidential Council. See CS, II4.8b.

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124 JING-SHEN TAO
T'ang times.12Like what had happened before, it seems that in the new Jurchen
state the rulers were divided into two groups. Supported by formal Liao and Sung
officials and newly recruited bureaucrats, a group of administrators remained loyal
to the emperor and advocated institutional reforms. The other group of generals and
aristocratswanted to have a weak government so that their own authority in their
respective domains could be maintained. The bureaucrats under Tan and Liang
reconstituted the government in order to establish a centralized bureaucracy pat-
terned after that of China. One of the most important leaders of this group was
Wan-yen Wa-pen. Not a military man, Wa-pen was distinctly different from the
other leaders in the early Chin, who were mostly either formidable warriors or bril-
liant strategists. Wa-pen seldom left the capital in Manchuria, and his family was
under strong Chinese and P'o-hai influence. He hired Chinese teachers for his sons
and also Tan, who was raised in his house.13As a result of this educational back-
ground, Tan reportedly could compose Chinese poems, loved Chinese classics, and
"lost all the Jurchen manners and attitude." Looking like a young Chinese scholar,
he even regarded the old founders of the dynasty as "ignorant barbarians."'4Natur-
ally Wa-pen was the most influential man during Tan's reign.
Another protagonist of Chinese culture was Wan-yen Hsi-yin, originally a sha-
man. Hsi-yin was so fascinated by Chinese classics that he collected a library when
the Jurchen captured Pien-ching, the capital of the Northern Sung. He treated
Chinese scholars kindly, and always tried to learn from them. Like Wa-pen, Hsi-yin
also employed several Chinese teachers to teach his sons and grandsons.'5 Conse-
quently the classical education of his children was good enough for them to write
Chinese poems and exchange them with the famous Chinese scholar Hung Hao
when Hung was detained in Manchuria.'6 One of Hsi-yin's sons was among the
first Jurchen to have a Chinese wife. Yii-wen Hsii-chung, a teacher hired by Hsi-yin,
was a prominent scholar, on whose advice Hsi-yin introduced many Chinese institu-
tions in the early Chin.'7
In regard to adopting Chinese institutions, some Jurchen administrators showed
a dynamism characteristic of first-generation conquerors and nation-builders. Men
like Wan-yen Hsi-yin and Wan-yen Tsung-hsien favored Chinese political organiza-
tion and proposed a selective borrowing of old as well as new Chinese elements.
Tsung-hsien thought it unnecessary to imitate Liao dualistic institutions and prob-
ably this was the consensus among the administrators, for the Jurchen did go be-
yond the Liao experience and assumed direct control of North China.18 This flex-
ible attitude perhaps contributed to the establishment of a bureaucracycomprised of
not only Sung and Liao elements but also some T'ang institutions.

12 Cf. Edwin G. Pulleyblank, The Background
of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan (London: Oxford
UniversityPress, I955) pp. 47-48.
13 SCPM, I66.3-5; Hung Hao, Sung-mo chi-wen
(Travel Records of the Cypress and Desert Area,
Liao-hai ts'ung-shu ed.) I.2b.
14 Yii-wen Mao-ch'ao, Ta-chin-kuo chih (His-
tory of the Great Chin Kingdom. In Ssu-ch'ao
pieh-shih, Sao-yeh shan-fang ed.) I2.3b-4a.
15 See Hsi-yin's epigraph in Hsii Ping-ch'ang,
"Chiao chin wan-yen hsi-yin sheng-tao-pei shu-
hou" (After Editing the Epigraph of Wan-yen Hsi-
yin of the Chin), Shih-hsueh Chi-k'an, I (1936)
I 4.
l6rSee Hung Hao, P'o-yang chi (San-shui-t'ang
ed.) i.6ab, 8a, iob, I2b, I3b, I4ab, and Isa for
poems written by Hung for Hsi-yin's sons.
17 Ibid., i.iia; 4I.oa.
18 CS., 70.3b.

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JURCHEN RULE 125
Among the warlords favoring a strong regionalism, the most important was
Wan-yen Nien-han, who had taken part in putting Tan on the throne. Another was
Ta-lan, who with Nien-han sponsored the Liu Yii puppet regime in North China,
and later convinced the administrators in the aforementioned debate that most ter-
ritory in North China should be returned to the Southern Sung when the inept
puppet regime was abolished. Furthermore they were responsible for launching a
Jurchenizing movement in the early Chin, in which the Chinese were forced to
adopt Jurchen hair style, clothing, and customs.19 The descendants of Wu-ch'i-mai,
such as P'u-lu-hu, were also against centralized control. All these warlords eventually
lost their powerful positions, even their lives, in the struggle with the emperor and
his bureaucrats.20Wan-yen Tan, however, only enjoyed a temporary triumph, for he
finally was murderedby his cousin Liang.
The brutalization of the political process also extended to high-ranking Chinese
officials. Alongside the execution of a few Chinese advisers of the ousted military
leaders, a few others were deliberately framed and eliminated.2' While these cases
and the death of Chang Chiun, a Chinese Han-lin Academician, at the hands of the
semi-insane emperor Tan could be interpreted as terror inflicted by an individual ty-
rant rather than organized violence, these incidents provide a sharp contrast with the
fact that no high-ranking officialshad ever been punished in the same manner dur-
ing the Northern Sung dynasty. Furthermore, the Jurchen rulers ruthlessly pun-
ished Chinese officialsinvolved in factional struggles. In one case alone eight officials
were executed and thirty-four banished.22 Such intimidation naturally resulted in
the total silence of Chinese officialson state affairs.

2. The InteractionbetweenCentralizationand Sinicization

With the decline of the warlords and aristocratsand the rise of the emperor and
his bureaucrats, the dualistic institutions were gradually changed into centralized
ones, and the government continuously broadened its scope to rule both Jurchen
and Chinese subjects in the state. Having abolished the Chinese puppet regime in
II37, the Jurchenfinally were readyto assumedirectrule of North China in II40.
As an important measure for direct control, the Chancellery was replaced by a Mo-
bile Presidential Council (hsing-t'ai shang-shu sheng), headed by a few Jurchen
administrators loyal to the central government. The major business of the Mobile
Presidential Council was the management of Chinese affairs, such as the recruit-
ment of Chinese bureaucrats through the civil service examinations. It marks an
important step in the expansion of government power in North China, for the coun-
cil, as its name indicates, was a branch of the Presidential Council in the central
government, instead of an instrument under the recalcitrant generals in earlier

19 Tiao-fa lu (Records of Consoling the People
and Punishing the Rebels. Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an 3rd
ser. ed.) 2.6.
20 Nien-han was deprived of his military power
in North China, while his adviser Kao Ch'ing-i
was executed. P'u-lu-hu and O-lu-kuan allegedly
plotted against Tan, but Tan forestalled in action
and killed them. Ta-lan was executed in II39 and
his scheme for peace with the Southern Sung was
dropped. Finally even Hsi-yin could not manage to
escape from the fate of being eliminated.
21 Cf. Toyama Gunji, "Sansei o chfishin toseru
kinsh6 sokan no katsuyaku" (Chin General Tsung-
han's Activities Centering upon Shansi), Toyo5shi
Kenkyui,Vol. i, No. 6 (I936) 509-532.
22For some details of the case of T'ien Chiueh
see CS,89.5a-7a.

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126 JING-SHEN TAO
years.23It is worth noting that although Wan-yen Liang abolished the council in
II50, it was revived in the last years of the dynasty, and was adopted by the Mon-
gols. In fact it was the predecessor of the Yuan provincial system, which developed
into the modern provinces. The term hsing-e'ai chung-shu sheng (Mobile Secre-
tarial Council) in the early Yuan period is the forerunner of the modern hsing-
sheng, and is similar in its function to the hsing-t'aishang-shu sheng of early Chin.24
In national policies Wan-yen Liang not only followed the measures initiated by
his predecessors,but also greatly accelerated the pace toward the building of a cen-
tralized state. In the processhe adopted a great deal of Chinese ideas and institutions,
but not without making some alterations and modifications. As usurper and cham-
pion of the Chinese culture, Liang had his reasons to increase centralized control
and to curb the power of the Jurchen aristocracy.Admiration of the Chinese culture,
on the one hand, stimulated his ambition to set up a genuine and legitimate Chi-
nese dynasty; fear of the conservative Jurchen aristocrats and hereditary elements
such as the meng-an and mou-k'e, on the other hand, compelled him to use force to
suppress opposition. The result was the enforced transformationof the Jurchen tribal
organization into a sinicized political system, with much more centralized authority
in the central government than that of the Northern Sung.
In order to build a legitimate Chinese dynasty, Liang followed the policy of Wu-
ch'i-mai and Tan to borrow Chinese ritual-symbolic practices at the imperial court,
and to construct ancestral as well as Confucian temples. He stopped the Jurcheniz-
ing movement and moved most of the Jurchen population from Manchuria to
North China. He rebuilt Yen-ching as his new capital, which with its magnificent
buildings was described by visitors as more elaborate and ornate than Pien-ching.25
Perhaps because of the foundations laid by the Jurchen at Yen-ching, the city became
not only the capital of the Mongols, who thus had China Proper as the center of the
huge Mongol empire, but also that of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, the early Re-
public, and Communist China.
Liang radically reformed the bureaucracyin II50 when he abolished the Mobile
Presidential Council, and in iI56 when he did away with the Secretarial Council
and the Court Council.26The II50 measure ended the period of dualistic administra-
tion and the II56 reform marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the
Chinese political system. The Secretarial Council was the originator of policies and
the Court Council a check on the authority of the emperor in Sui and T'ang times.
Although in the Northern Sung the power of the administrative council grew con-
siderably, the very existence of three councils ensured a relatively enlightened
despotism. But Liang as an alien ruler was not restricted by Chinese tradition and
could disregard whatever checks and balances existed in the Chinese political heri-
23 It was called a "Mobile" council because its bile Presidential Council in the Chin Dynasty),
site was not fixed at a single place and it exercised Taihaku teikoku daigaku bunsei gakubu shigaku
a flexible rule of first the area north of the Yellow ka kenkylinembo,No. I(I934) I5I-I62; Aoki
River, and then the whole of North China. Cf. Tomitar6, "Gensho gyoja k6" (Studies of the Prov-
Mikami Tsugio, "Kinsho ni kodai shoshosho yo ince in Early Yuan), Shigaku Zasshi, Vol. 5I, Nos.
kore o meguru seiji jo no sho mondai" (On Hsing- 4-5 (5940) 480-50I and 6I4-645.
t'ai shang-shu-sheng of Chin Dynasty and Its Po- 25Fan Ch'eng-ta, Shih-hu chui-shih shih-chi
litical Problems), Rekishi to Bunka, IV (I959) (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an ed.), I2.II; Chou Lin-chih,
61-72. Hai-ling chi (Hai-ling tszung-k'e ed.), Appendix,
24 For
detailed discussions see Aoyama Kosuke, p. 2.
"Kincho kodai shoshosh k6 ' (Studies of the Mo- 26 CS, 5.6a and I4ab; 55.Ib-2a.

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JURCHEN RULE 127
tage. It is also likely that the Jurchen rulers in general did not fully understand the
function of certain complicated institutions and they preferred a more simplified
government.27 The simplified bureaucratic system persisted until the fall of the
dynasty and the three council organization was never restored in later dynasties. It
should be emphatically pointed out, therefore, that the reform of 1156 was the culmi-
nation of attempts to build a centralized despotism. Along with some other measures
treated in the following paragraphs,it left a remarkableimprint on Chinese political
history.
As many usurpers in Chinese history did, immediately after his enthronement
Liang started to rid himself of a number of aristocratswho had the potentiality to
threaten his position. Several princes and their families met the fate of mass execution
with the consequence of extermination of the lineage of the second ruler Wu-ch'i-
mai, so that the predominant prestige of A-ku-ta's descendants, including Liang
himself, could be secured.28Related to this terrorism was the corporal punishment
of important officials,which seemed to be one of his techniques to promote the au-
thority of the emperor. Although corporal punishment of minor officials had existed
in China prior to the Chin period, the flogging of officialswith whips and poles was
much more common among the Ch'i-tan and Jurchen tribes. In the early Chin it
was retained by A-ku-ta. Later it became a common punishment for misbehaved
officials, Chinese as well as Jurchen, and developed into a notorious practice when
Liang enjoyed watching its execution right at his court. Records show that approxi-
mately 5o persons, including prime ministers, high-ranking officials, censors, mili-
tary officers,monks, a cook and a princess, were flogged at his court.29Lou Yiieh, a
Southern Sung envoy to the Chin, observed that neither Chin officials nor scholars
could ever keep away from the punishment of beating. When Lou was en route to
the Chin capital, a local official complained to him: "Although my rank is very high,
I cannot be exempted from beating. What kind of life is this!""3This uncivilized
practice, called t'ing-chang later, was obviously a deliberate means to belittle and
humiliate the hitherto much respected scholar-officialsin Chinese society, and was
followed by the Yuan and Ming rulers.3'
Among the officials beaten at the court of Liang, as shown above, there were a
few censors. This fact signifies that another Chinese institution was degraded and it
retreated into silence.32Such practice was continued by Liang's successors. Each of
27 Cf. Mikami Tsugio, "Kinsho ni okeru sansh6 of the Yuan, Po-na ed.) 50.Ib, 2a, and I3a. Ex-
seido, Part I," I48-I52; Part II, Rekishito Bunka, amples of officialsflogged are in ibid., I9.4b; 24.3b;
VI (i963) 9I-92. 32.22ab, 24b; 34.26b; 35.I3b. It is generally be-
28 Cf. Jing-shen Tao, "Chin sung ch'ien ti chin lieved that the t'ing-chang was first used in the
hai-ling-ti" (On Emperor Hai-ling of the Chin Yuan period. See F. W. Mote, "The Growth of
before His Invasion of the Southern Sung), Yu-shih Chinese Despotism," pp. 27-28. For this practice
Journal, Vol. 3, No. I (I960) 7-I2. in the Ming period see Meng Sheng, Ming-tai shih
29 Jing-shen Tao, Chin hai-ling-ti ti la-sung yui (History of the Ming Dynasty; Taipei, I957) pp.
ts'ai-shih chan-i ti k'ao-shih (A Study of the Chin 8i-82; Charles 0. Hucker, The Traditional Chi-
Emperor Hai-ling's Invasion of the Southern Sung nese State in Ming Times (I368-1644) (Tucson:
and the Battle of Ts'ai-shih, Ii6i. Teipei: National The University of Arizona Press, I96I) p. 48; and
Taiwan University, I963) pp. I5-i8. his The Censorial System of Ming China (Stan-
30 Lou Yiieh, Kung-k'uei chi (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an ford: Stanford University Press, I966) p. 3i8.
ed.) iii.iib. 32 Cf. Mikami Tsugio, "Kin no gyoshidai to sono
31 During the Yuan period there was a distinc- seiji shakai teki yakuwari" (The Political and So-
tion between ch'ih (whipping) and chang (flog- cial Role of the Censorate of the Chin Dynasty),
ging), the latter of which involved beating with Rekishi to Bunka, IX (I967) I-7I.
a bamboo pole. See Yuan Shih (Dynastic History

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128 JING-SHEN TAO
his two successorsflogged at least two censors.33The power of the censors was thus
limited, a fact borne out by the memorial submitted by a censor in I2I6: "Although
our dynasty has censors, they are only sinecurists.... The duty of the censors in-
cludes merely supervising the officials, checking documents, and inspecting trea-
suries."34In other words, the censor's power of remonstration with the emperor
weakened. Their main function seems to have been holding the administrative in-
stitutions and the high officials in check. Possessing the special privilege of having
direct contact with the emperor, the censors acted as if they were the spies sent out
by the emperor.35Even in this respect the censors did not enjoy monopoly, for the
eunuchs also performed the same function during the later Chin period.36Thus the
authority of the emperor was enhanced and one of the most important functions of
the censorial officials, namely the criticisms of policies and remonstration with the
emperor about his abberations,was gradually impeded.37

3. The Civil Service Examination System as a Stabilizing Factor

Two essential methods were employed by the Jurchen to consolidate their rule in
China: the use of the meng-an mou-k'e system to exercise military control, and the
implementation of the Chinese civil service examination system to enlist Chinese
cooperation. In the early Chin examinations were held to recruit Chinese officialsfor
the Chancellery to manage Chinese affairs. Later the examination system was de-
vised to enlist Chinese assistance to administer the entire state and even to balance
the power of the Jurchen aristocracy.
During the initial phase of conquest, the Jurchen government discriminated
against the Chinese population south of the Yellow River by allowing them a
smaller quota of chin-shih degrees than that for the people north of the river, in-
cluding non-Jurchen residents in Manchuria, who were trusted by the Jurchen. The
examinations given in the two regions were also different. The northerners took
examinations on poetry and prose, while the subject matter for the southerners was
classics. The regional quotas, however, were abolished by II64. The government
began to recruit as many degree holders as possible after ii83, a fact indicating the
broadening of the base of the government.38In general the Chinese so recruited only
exerted limited influence on the formulation of policies. Usually important positions
in both the central and local governments were taken by the Jurchen. During the
era of Tan and Liang the Jurchen entering into the civil service outnumbered other
peoples: 55.I percent for the Jurchen, 26.4 percent for the Chinese, and I8.5 for
the others. If one considers the number of appointments (a person is counted once
whenever the government appointed him a 'different position), the proportions
are even more striking: 62.7 percent for the Jurchen, I9.I percent for the Chinese,
and I 8.2 percent for the others. Important positions such as the Three Teachers,

33 CS, 8.2a; Ioo.4b.
341Ibid., i o9. 8 b9a.
35 Mikami Tsugio, "Kin no gyoshidai to sono
seiji shakai teki yakuwari," pp. 28-29 and 4I-43.
36 Mikami Tsugio, "Kinch6 ni okeru sh6shosho
no kenkyfi, Part II" (A Study of the Presidential
Council of the Chin Dynasty), Rekishi to Bunka,
VII (1965) 41-44.
37 This development is discernible in the Yuan
and Ming dynasties. See Charles 0. Hucker, The
CensorialSystem of Ming China, pp. 25-28 (Yuan)
and passim.
38 Teng Ssu-yii, Chung-kuo k'ao-shih chih-tu
shih (A History of Chinese Examination System.
Taipei, I966) pp. 189-I93 and 20I-202. In the
early Chin the quota for the chin-shih from the
northern region was 200 while that for the south-
ern region was 150.

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JURCHEN RULE 129
Three Dukes, Chief of the Three Councils, Prime Ministers, etc., were seldom given
to non-Jurchen peoples. Military commanders were almost exclusively Jurchen. Chi-
nese officials, nevertheless, continued to increase their influence throughout the rest
of the dynasty.89
For the Chinese, the chin-shih degree was an important qualification for obtaining
higher positions in both central and local governments. Before ii6i among 4I high-
ranking Chinese officials there were I9 holding the chin-shih. For the rest of the dy-
nasty the number of chin-shih increased to 64 out of 90 Chinese officials. For the
Ch'i-tan, P'o-hai, and other non-Jurchen peoples, the chin-shih degree was not so
important. Of 37 high-ranking non-Jurchen and non-Chinese officials during the
entire dynasty only eight ever held the degree.40
In the early Chin period the Jurchendid not have to take the examinations in order
to obtain government positions. Wan-yen Wu-lu (reign: ii6I-iI89), however,
created the Jurchen chin-shih degree in II73 and encouraged his tribesmen to ac-
quire it.41 The new policy primarily aimed at the training of teachers to teach the
Jurchen language and to translate Chinese books into Jurchen. It perhaps also had
the function of diminishing the power of the aristocracyby promoting the quality of
Jurchen officialsand channeling more Jurchen commoners into the officialdom. The
first appointment for the Jurchen degree holder was generally not higher than that
of his Chinese counterpart.42Wu-lu, therefore, was one of the few alien rulers who
had ever tried to curb the excessive growth of their tribesmen's prestige, privileges,
and power. Unfortunately his successorsmerely wanted to maintain their privileged
position; they were contented with the immediate gains and did not attempt to
eliminate corruption, favoritism, and selfishness among themselves. Only a few
Jurchen were interested in acquiring the chin-shih. Of 208 top-ranking officials, only
26 had this qualification. Apparently the chin-shih degree never became an important
approach toward success. Many entered the government from military service;
others received good jobs through protection; still others started their career with
some unimportant positions which had the advantage of being close to the throne.
A few Jurchen were able to ascend in the officialdomby merely studying the Jurchen
language.43In short, although Wu-lu's attempt to modify the Chinese civil service
examination system by developing a Jurchen system of recruitment parallel to that
of the Chinese eventually failed, both the Mongols and the Manchus introduced sim-
ilar measures in their initial phase of conquest, perhaps imitating the Jurchen prec-
edent.44 Furthermore, both peoples adopted the examination system to establish a
coalition government. While under the Mongols it only exerted limited influence,
it did contributeto the stability of Jurchen and Manchu rule in China.
39 Jing-shen Tao, "Chin-tai ch'u-ch'i nii-chen ti amination degrees equally among the four ethnic
han-hua" (The Sinicization of the Jurchen in the groups. The policy was perhaps an imitation of the
Early Chin Period), Bulletin of the College of Arts, Jurchen example, but Yuan examinations only
National Taiwan University, XVII (I968) 53-54. played a very limited role. See E. A. Kracke, Jr.,
40 Ibid., 54. "Region, Family, and Individual in the Chinese
41 CS, 5I.Iia-i 2a. Examination System," in John K. Fairbank (ed.),
42 Teng Ssu-yii, Chung-kuo k'ao-shih chih-tu Chinese Thought and Institutions (Chicago and
shih, p. 209. London, I957), p. 263. Cf. also Teng Ssu-yii, op.
43 Jing-shen Tao, "Chin-tai ch'u-ch'i niu-chen ti cit., pp. 2II-2I3. In the early years of the Ch'ing
han-hua," 54. period the rulers adopted a similar quota system in
"The Mongols also balanced the several ethnic favor of the Manchus. See ibid., p. 255.
elements in their bureaucracyby dividing the cx-

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130 JING-SHEN TAO
Conclusion
In the presentation above, the influence of Jurchen rule on the formation of a cen-
tralized despotism can be seen in several aspects: the establishment of a prototype
of the provincial system, the abolition of important government councils, the mo-
nopoly of state affairs by a single administrative branch of the government, the de-
gradation of the scholar-officialsby inflicting corporal punishment, and the transfor-
mation of the censorate into an imperial instrument. These changes were mostly
negative, entailing the brutalization of the political process and the simplification of
political institutions. The alien conquerors could not stand the political compromises
and conflicts in the Chinese civilization, and, as represented by the shrewd tyrant
Liang, they seem to have enjoyed organized brutality.
It is interesting to note that in correspondencewith a continuous growth of the
power of the central government in North China, there was a similar trend in the
south toward the strengthening of the monarchy. The Southern Sung tried to mo-
bilize as much manpower and resources as possible to defend itself against Jurchen
invasions and to deal with other disintegrating elements such as economic crises,
widespread banditry, and growing regionalism. This preoccupation with self-defense
and survival, together with some other factors, perhaps entailed the rise of conser-
vatism and centralized control during the Southern Sung.45 Especially interesting is
the parallel in political practices: the three-council system in the south underwent a
similar simplifying reconstitution in which the administrative organ began to mo-
nopolize state power and the emperor played a more important role in decision-
making.46 Perhaps the very existence of two rival states, frequently engaged in a
life-and-death struggle with each other, assisted and promoted the growth of des-
potism in both states. Parallels in the south notwithstanding, a contrast in political
practices which were much more brutal in the north than those in the south shows
clearly the magnitude of barbarian influence. The influence is still more striking
because the successors of the Chin followed the Jurchen way of government, not
that of the Southern Sung. As a successor state of the Northern Sung, the Chin not
only served as an important link in Chinese cultural and political developments, but
also, as the predecessor of the Yuan and the Ch'ing, transferred to these conquest
dynasties its institutions such as the modified examination system characteristic of
alien rule.

45 Cf. James T. C. Liu, "Sung Roots of Chinese
Political Conservatism: the Administrative Prob-
lems," journal of Asian Studies, XXVI, No. 3
(I967) 457-463.
46 See Li Hsin-ch'uan, Chien-yen i-lai hsi-nien
yao-lu (Annual Records of Important Events since
the Chien-yen Era: II27-II62. Kuan-ya ts'ung shu
ed.) 22.I2ab. The other councils were abolished in
II29.

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