The Jin Dynasty, also known as the Jurchen dynasty, was founded by the Wanyan clan of the Jurchen, the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later. The name is sometimes written as Jinn to differentiate it from an earlier Jin Dynasty of China whose name is spelled identically in the Roman alphabet.
Founded in 1115 in northern Manchuria, it successively annihilated in 1125 the Liao Dynasty which had held sway over Manchuria and the northern frontier of China for several centuries. On January 9, 1127 Jin forces ransacked Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, capturing both Emperor Qinzong, and his father, Emperor Huizong, who had abdicated in panic in the face of Jin forces. Following the fall of Kaifeng, Song forces under the leadership of the succeeding Southern Song Dynasty continued to fight for over a decade with Jin forces, eventually signing a peace treaty in 1141, and ceding all of North China to the Jin in 1142 in return for peace.
After taking over North China, the Jin Dynasty became increasingly Sinicized, moving its capital from Huining Fu in northern Manchuria (south of present-day Harbin) to Zhongdu (now Beijing). Starting from the early 13th century the Jin Dynasty began to feel the pressure of Mongols from the north. In 1214 the Jin Dynasty moved its capital to Kaifeng (the old Song capital) to evade the Mongols; but under the forces of the Mongol Empire led by Ögedei Khan, third son of Genghis Khan, as well as their allies in the Southern Song Dynasty, the dynasty crumbled in 1234.
In 1616, Manchus under the leadership of Nurhaci established the Later Jin Dynasty, taking its name from this dynasty. Later Jin was renamed the Qing Dynasty in 1636, and went on to conquer China proper and become the last dynasty of Imperial China.
