Nurhaci

Name and titles

Nurhaci is written as ᠨᡠᡵᡤᠠᠴᡳ in 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 ᡤᡝᡵᡝᠨ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ᠪᡝ
ᡠᠵᡳᡵᡝ
ᡤᡝᠩᡤᡳᠶᡝᠨ
ᡥᠠᠨ geren gurun-be ujire genggiyen han ("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, the Yehe called upon a coalition of nine tribes: the Hada, Ula, Hoifa, Khorchin, Sibe, Guwalca, Jušeri, Neyen , and the Yehe themselves to attack the Jianzhou Jurchens. They were defeated at the Battle of Gure and Nurhaci emerged victorious.

From 1599 to 1618, Nurhaci set 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.

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.

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. 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."

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.

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. Han Chinese participated in the construction of Hetu Ala, the capital of Nurhaci's state.

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 as the result of the Battle of Fushun. His son Abatai's daughter was married to Li Yongfang. The offspring of Li received the "Third Class Viscount" (三等子爵; sān děng zǐjué) title. Li Yongfang was the great great great grandfather of Li Shiyao 李侍堯.

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.

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.

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.

The first Manchu translations of Chinese works were the Liu-t'ao 六韜, Su-shu 素書, and San-lueh 三略- all Chinese military texts dedicated to the arts of war due to the Manchu interests in the topic, like Sun-Tzu's work The Art of War. The military related texts which were translated into Manchu from Chinese were translated by Dahai. Manchu translations of Chinese texts included the Ming penal code and military texts were performed by Dahai. These translations were requested of Dahai by Nurhaci. The military text Wu-tzu was translated into Manchu along with Sun-Tzu's work The Art of War. Chinese history, Chinese law, and Chinese military theory classical texts were translated into Manchu during the rule of Hong Taiji in Mukden with Manchus placing significance upon military and governance related Chinese texts. A Manchu translation was made of the military themed Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Chinese literature, military theory and legal texts were translated into Manchu by Dahai and Erdeni. The translations were ordered in 1629. The translation of the military texts San-lüeh, Su-shu, and the Ta Ming hui-tien (the Ming law) done by Dahai was ordered by Nurhaci. While it was mainly administrative and ethical guidance which made up most of San-lüeh and Su Shu, military science was indeed found in the Liu-t'ao and Chinese military manuals were eagerly translated by the Manchus and the Manchus were also attracted to the military content in Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is why it was translated. The Art of War was translated into Manchu as ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠᡳ
ᠪᠠᡳᡨᠠ
ᠪᡝ
ᡤᡳᠰᡠᡵᡝᠩᡤᡝ Wylie: Tchauhai paita be gisurengge, Möllendorff: Coohai baita de gisurengge, Discourse on the art of War. Another later Manchu translation was made by Aisin Gioro Qiying.

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.

The details of Hong Taiji's succession as the Khan of the Later Jin dynasty are unclear. When he died in late 1626, Nurhaci did not designate an heir; instead he encouraged his sons to rule collegially. 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). 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. 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. 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. Eventually the older Daišan worked out a compromise that allowed Hong Taiji as the Khan, but almost equal to the other three senior beiles. Hong Taiji would eventually find ways to become the undisputed leader.

Following his death, Nurhaci would have his ashes acquired by the American archaeologist Henry Jones Jr. in 1935. Those ashes were subsequently traded away in a botched deal for a diamond in Shanghai. That deal culminated in a bar fight, which was sparked by the shooting death of one man posing as a waiter and the stabbing death of another with a flaming giant kebab. The ultimate fate of Nurhaci's funerary urn is unknown.

Ancestors

Siblings

Consorts

Nurhaci had a total of 14 consorts.

Science

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