Wandering in Three Pines - speculation and facts about the Jurchen state. The Jurchens built two types of dwellings: half-dugouts and above-ground houses.

In view of preparations for the film (if there is one) and interest in Far Eastern history in general, I decided to closely and seriously study the topic of the Jurchen state and study the information that we really know about them.
People who do not live near the Tartar Strait probably know little about who the Jurchens are (I will write further Jurchens - and it is easier to write and, in principle, does not contradict the Chinese transcription). I think this will become clear if we only say that Genghis Khan called his empire (again, if you believe history) “Golden Horde” precisely in imitation of the Jurzens, who called their empire Jin, which means “Golden”.

And in general there are very, very many prerequisites Not consider the Zhurzhens as Chinese. More precisely, no one considers them as such, but the Chinese officially, as we will see later, consider them their ancestors, which has a lot of contradictions (at least territorial and linguistic).
So, the first to attack was the book of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “The History of the Golden Empire,” 1998, which is a translation of the Chinese history of the Jurgens, made about 150 years ago and published in Russian only recently.

And literally from the very first pages, before even reaching the text itself, academic quackery, coupled with fierce indignation, strikes the eye, why do historians do this and no one calls them traitors after that?

Charlatanism consists of presenting the names of people, kings, territories, literary sources without Russian translations. Firstly, it makes it terribly difficult to read, and most importantly, memorize. After a couple of pages of Chinese names and titles, a complete mess forms in your head, you don’t see the connection at all, and it becomes simply impossible to analyze something. And this is from me, a person who studied Chinese for a year and a half...

1. Academic quackery.

An example for those who know English... For example, somewhere in European chronicles you come across the following mention:

"knight Butt-head lost in a knight's battle to knight Smartman".

“The knight Dumbhead lost to the knight Savvy in the tournament.”

2. Indignation and accusation of betrayal.

Where did this “Istria of the Golden Empire” come from? Let's quote the book (the translations in italics in brackets will be mine, where I can, quickly and not necessarily correctly, but it will be easier to read):

“...soon after the defeat of the Liao state by the Jurchens (1125) and their seizure of the Song territories in the northern reaches of the Shanxi provinces (western sands) and Hebei (northern river), the leaders of the new empire in eastern Asia created a special organization Guoshiyuan ( State Historical Yard)- Institute of State History, whose activities were clearly focused on collecting documents for writing “shi lu” - the official history of the reign of the emperors.

Does this remind you of anything? And this reminds me reshaping history after the conquest of a certain state, total control, censorship, alteration of historical literature under the patronage of the state. Imagine that Hitler conquered France and carefully began to collect French history in order to pass it on to his descendants in its original form. Can you imagine this? I think any mention of the “Reich Chancellery of French History” would evoke thoughts of total censorship and reshaping and burning out the original French history for posterity. However, Novosibirsk historians somehow do not notice this...
In other words, even from the Jurgens themselves we already have a certain willful substratum of history, based on the will of the Jurgens themselves. But then there’s more... in the 13th century, Zhurzhenya is defeated by Genghis Khan, and...

“...Unfinished by Guoshiyuan historiographers (State Historical Court) became around the middle of the 14th century. task of a special commission created at the court of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.”

Firstly, it is a grave mistake to call the Mongol dynasty by a Chinese name(which is done by historians everywhere) only because most likely the name of this dynasty was taken from Chinese sources. Yes, it was most likely written this way (in Chinese!), but it was pronounced in Mongolian, I give 100%, completely differently.

Secondly, as you can see, again the conquerors are restoring the history of the conquered. In what direction do you think they will tip the scales in the telling of this new story and is it even possible to trust it anymore? Who knows what they hid and what they came up with themselves?... But what comes next is even more interesting...

This new commission - " about half (of the people) were Chinese!The question arises, why are the Chinese needed here at all, if some Zhurzhchens are still alive? (I don’t need fairy tales about the complete extermination of the people! People who considered themselves descendants of the Jurgens appeared on the historical arena another 200-300 years after this supposedly total extermination), and the Mongols also conquered the Jurgens - which means they should be on the commission Mongols.

Then everything seems to be beautiful - “The text of the history of the Jurchens, including 135 chapters, included, in particular, the “Basic Annals”, “Ben Ji” (again without translation!), sections on geography, rituals, army, economics, administrative apparatus, as well as biographies (73 chapters), which contain biographies of outstanding figures of the Golden Empire.”However, it is somehow not indicated what language this tome was translated into...

And then the Manchus appeared on the historical scene in the 17th century. And then it just gets funny. The commission for translating the history of the Zhurzhens into the Manchu language included:

1. editors(what was edited is now impossible to find out), 2. interpreters of the meaning of Chinese books(that is, the texts were so vague that not only translators, but even interpreters were needed!), 3. as well as scribes(what mistakes copyists sometimes make, I think you know, they learned at school. But in Chinese or Manchu, if you didn’t put a comma, you might end up with a completely different hieroglyph). 4. Translators (I think everyone has also heard about the difficulties of translation and sometimes ridiculous mistakes)…There is also the following entry:“I put the materials in order and crossed out the unnecessary - Hukyu;”That is, just like modern historians: “The contemporary was wrong! Delete!"

Now imagine what kind of mess they got, multiply this by the worldview of the Chinese of that time, completely immersed in myths, simply unreasonable tales about the neighbors around them (look for it, read somewhere, laugh) and then you will understand that there is most likely little of real history what's left. Geographical references are most likely incorrect, historical figures have been replaced and most likely turned upside down. Is it possible to talk about the strict scientific nature of such a story?

However, this pseudohistory For some reason, Novosibirsk historians have every right to declare the following words:

Let me remind you that the Manchus consider themselves descendants of the Jurzens, and the north of China is now the essence of Manchuria. And what can the Chinese do after this but shout: “Here! Basin of the Amur and Ussuri rivers; Sikhote-Alin and Primorye - these were our territories! The Russians themselves admit it! And the consent of the Russian Academy of Sciences is at the beginning of the book!”

And this is not just one mention. And this text has also been translated into English, Korean, CHINESE! But who gave them the right, based on sources thousands of years ago, compiled in essentially an enemy state to us (we had at least two military clashes with China, and I think that in China almost all of Siberia is marked on the maps as Chinese territory you've known for a long time) is it so easy to say this?

Yes, even if this were true three times, the Russian Academy of Sciences should not have subscribed to such words or deleted them from monographs. Let history loners talk about it, let them discuss it on their historical forums, but you can’t bring it out publicly like that. It would be a state secret...

I want to understand all this by studying the subject with a solid A+. And the prerequisites that the Zhurzhens were not exactly what current official historians represent them, and even the Chinese themselves represent, already exist, thanks to the work of single historians...

Manchus, Jurjeni, Donghu. “Great ambitions most often harm the final goal.” I will begin the history of the Manchu people from afar. The Manchus are a people belonging to the Tungus-Manchu group of peoples of the large Atlay language family. Approximately 22 thousand years ago, the Altai group of tribes emerged from a very large people inhabiting East Asia. These were the Turanians - the descendants of the Atlanteans (second wave), who moved to the territory of Eurasia from the territory of the submerged continent of Atlantis. 17500 BC - by this time the separation of the proto-Tungus (Tungus-Manchdurian group of peoples) from the general Altai group of peoples began. These tribes inhabited a vast territory from the valley of the Angara River to the lower reaches of the Amur and Primorsky Krai, the entire Amur valley and the territory west of the Lena River. 1100 BC - on the territory of modern Northeast China, a large tribal association called “Donghu” was formed. These were the ancient southern Tungus-Manchu tribes (although some researchers believe that this association partially included the ancient Mongol tribes, which is possible because the ancient Manchus and ancient Mongols were neighbors). This association often attacked its southern neighbors, China, and received tribute from the Chinese. 150 BC - the Donghu association was defeated by another association - the Xiongnu (this association included only the ancient Mongol tribes). Since that time, the southern Tungus-Manchu tribes have temporarily disappeared from the historical arena. To the north of China, various Mongol tribal unions and associations dominate - the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Rourans, Khitans). 550 - a new union of Tungus-Manchu tribes called “Mokhe” (mukri) was formed on the northern bank of the lower Amur. From that time on, the Mohe had a great influence on relations between China and Korea, since they lived to the north of these countries and could field up to 150 thousand armed warriors with horses. 668 - defeat of the Mohe union, the remaining tribes became part of a new union of tribes - the Jurchens. 698 - the first Tungus-Manchu state of Bohai was created on the territory of Manchuria, Primorye and northern Korea. 926 - the state of Bohai fell under the onslaught of the Khitans. The bulk of the Jurchens left North Korea for Manchuria. 1115 - the Jurchen state was created (Jin dynasty). The Jurchen cavalry defeated the Khitans. 1125 – the Khitans are finally defeated by the Jurchens. Two Jurchen armies launched an attack on China (Song Empire). Northern China was conquered by the Jurchens. 1151 - the capital of the Jurchen state (Jin) was moved to Beijing. 1233 - the Mongols captured (subjugated) the state of Jin. 1616 - a new dynasty of Manchu rulers (Qing) was founded, which captured all of China, which they controlled until 1912. The Manchu Empire was the largest state in the world in the 17th to 19th centuries. 1912 - The Qing Empire was liquidated as a result of the Xinhai Revolution in China. The Manchus became a very small minority in China.

This section is taken from, published with the participation of FENU, TIDOiT and the team of authors represented by S.V. Plokhikh, Z.A. Kovalev.

Jurchen. Beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. in the history of the peoples of the Far East was marked by the entry into the political arena of the Tungus-speaking Jurchens. Since the 10th century, the Jurchens have been the name given to the tribes living in the territory of northern Manchuria and in the Bohai lands deserted after the conquest. Until the mid-9th century, the Jurchen tribes lived interspersed with the remaining Bohai population. In the second half of the 11th century, the process of unification of these tribes around the Jurchen Wanyan tribe intensified. The reason for the unification was not only population growth and economic development, but also the need to fight the Khitans.

The fall of the foreign yoke and the proclamation of the Golden Empire of the Jurchens (Jin in Chinese) occurred in 1115 during the reign of the leader Aguda, who assumed the title of emperor.

Over the next 10 years, the Jurchens finally defeated the Khitans and seized their lands. Then, as a result of many years of war, the whole of northern China was conquered and taxed. At its height, the Jurchen Empire occupied all of Manchuria, the southern part of the Russian Far East, parts of northern China and northern Korea. State and social system. Social structuremultinational state was complex. At its head was the emperor and his numerous relatives. They were the largest owners, they held the highest government posts. Next came the Jurchen aristocracy. Its representatives possessed significant wealth and served as the support of the state. Below were the tribal leaders. Simple Jurchens formed the backbone of the army - farmers, cattle breeders, hunters, and artisans.

The social structure of the multinational Jurchen state was complex. It should be noted that during its heyday, 87% of the country's population were Chinese, only 10% were Jurchens and only 3% were other peoples. The country was divided into 19 provinces, which were headed by a kind of governor general. As in the Bohai state, the Jurchens had 5 capitals and many other cities, including in Primorye. A distinctive feature of the Jurchen administration system, due to the multi-ethnic composition of the country, was a separate system of administration for the Jurchens and for the administration of the Chinese.

However, with the strengthening of internal connections in the 30s. In the 12th century, this dual administrative system was transformed into a multi-level state apparatus common to all the peoples of the empire. It was based on six ministries: public works, justice, finance, ceremonies, and military affairs. It is worth noting that all senior positions in the government were occupied by Jurchens. However, most of the officials were Chinese.

In addition, the Jurchens had a large, well-trained and armed army. Additionally, to maintain order in the conquered territories, special military settlements were created from the Jurchens. Economy of the Jurchens. Speaking about the Jurchen economy, it should be noted that the Jurchen tribes themselves did not have a single economic structure. The main type of economy among the Jurchens was agriculture. They grew millet, wheat, and legumes.

The land was plowed with oxen, using an iron plow with a ploughshare, and they also used hoes and shovels, and used mortars and hand mills. The Jurchens of Primorye were engaged in cattle breeding - they raised cattle and horses. Hunting was not of great importance in their economy. It is important to note that the Jurchens inherited much of the material culture they created from the Bohais. They became the owners of enormous technical and economic potential. For example, the production and processing of non-ferrous metals reached a large scale during the existence of the Jurchen Empire.

The Jurchens also had pottery at a high level. The craftsmen used the technology of making vessels that was perfect for that time. Thus, when forming, templates were used that gave clear profiles of the elements of form and decor, and surface polishing was used. To apply ornaments to dishes, stamps were used - signets, rolling cylinders. All this allowed the Jurchens to move from individual production to production for a wide market. Leather production also developed, which already included a number of processes and operations. Scientists, comparing modern processes and operations of leather production with the finds of the Jurchen era, find many similarities in them. The Jurchens also had woodworking production, and at a high level. This is evidenced by the findings of a rather specialized instrument in Primorye. For example, at Jurchen sites one often finds various fragments of saw blades intended for both transverse and longitudinal sawing of wood.

It is also known that Jurchen craftsmen were engaged in the manufacture of ammunition, namely gunpowder shells. For example, the first evidence of fire shells is associated with the history of the Jurchens. One of the most interesting finds in this area is a gunpowder shell from the Ananyevskoye settlement. The dimensions of the length of the cast product are “...16-17 cm, the diameter in the middle part is about 9 cm, the wall thickness is 0.5 - 1.1 cm.” The Jurchens lived in above-ground wooden houses with a couch - kanom

Such a home heating system appeared among the population of Primorye and Eastern Manchuria at the turn of the new era and was preserved among the small peoples of the Far East until the beginning of the 20th century. Thus, the simplest in layout, but the most common kan was one-section, and it was built along one of the side walls of the dwelling. In some dwellings there are also small smelting furnaces, stone bearings from a pottery press, stone millstones of hand mills and extensive utility pits with traces of wooden chests built inside them with lockable lids. Grain and other food products were stored in these chests. In addition, the dwelling, as a rule, was adjacent to a small economic yard with various kinds of buildings and structures, which together made up a kind of economic and production complex - like an estate.

Jurchen culture. The Jurchen culture deserves special attention. Already 4 years after the formation of the Golden Empire, the Jurchens created their own syllabic writing, which was more consistent with the norms of their language than Chinese characters. This writing became known as the “big letter” of the Jurchens and contained about 3,000 characters. The presence of its own writing is, as is known, one of the most important indicators of the high socio-economic and cultural level of the people who created it.

Even among simple artisans, the Jurchens had many literate people, as evidenced by numerous finds of various products, including ceramics, marked with the personal marks of the masters in the form of signs of the Jurchen “big letter”, which, in all likelihood, recorded their names. The Jurchens had their own literature and poetry, and various branches of science were widely developed. As is clear from written sources, Jurchen songs, dances and music were famous among the Chinese. The development of decorative and fine arts is evidenced by bronze mirrors, on the back of which bas-relief images of flowers, fish, animals, as well as drawings on everyday and mythological themes are executed with great realism.

More than ten varieties of Jurchen mirrors have been discovered on the territory of Primorye, characterized by a wide variety of subjects and high technique of execution of the drawings on their back side. Of particular interest are bronze sculptures of ancestral spirits.

The cult of ancestors occupied a prominent place in the religious views of the Jurchens, and therefore, when casting a bronze figurine in honor of an ancestor, they sought to give it a portrait likeness. The Jurchens achieved notable success in the field of monumental sculpture and palace and temple architecture. This can be judged by the stone sculptures of people, tigers and rams discovered in the vicinity of the city of Ussuriysk. Most Jurchens, like the Bohais, professed shamanism, and the nobility and bureaucracy - Buddhism. Researchers, analyzing sources, note the presence of elements of animism and magic in the traditional beliefs of the Jurchens, and various cults occupy a special place in these beliefs. The Jurchens spiritualized various natural phenomena, connecting them exclusively with the activities of certain spirits. Both written sources and materials from archaeological excavations speak about the spread of Buddhism among the Jurchens. Thus, the remains of a Buddhist monastery were discovered at the Nikolaevskoye settlement, and bronze figurines of Buddha were found at the Ananyevskoye, Shaiginskoye and Chuguevskoye settlements.

Archaeological sites of the Jurchen era. The Jin province was located on the territory of Primorye Xuping (Subin) with its center in the area of ​​the modern city of Ussuriysk. It included three fortifications fortified with high ramparts. Two of them (South Ussuriyskoye and West Ussuriyskoye) were located on the plain, within the boundaries of the modern city and are currently destroyed. The third (Krasnoyarovskoye settlement), which has the greatest length of city walls, occupies a high spur of a mountain plateau on the right bank of the river. Razdolnaya, three kilometers south of Ussuriysk. On the territory of Ussuriysk, between the two fortifications, there were also the graves of noble Jurchens. Stone statues of commanders and officials, tigers and rams, as well as stone steles dedicated to the dead on pedestals in the form of stone skulls were placed in front of them.

In addition, on the territory of Primorye there were a large number of other cities (Nikolaevskoye, Chuguevskoye, Steklyanukhinskoye and other settlements). Sometimes the Jurchens settled on the site of the old Bohai cities, while they built on the city walls, built defensive towers on them and strengthened the defenses of the city gates. A unique monument of Jurchen culture in Primorye is the Shaiginskoye settlement. The settlement is located approximately 70 km north of the city of Nakhodka and several km south of the village. Sergeevka, Partizansky district and is located on one of the southern forts of Sikhote-Alin. The southern side of this ogrog drops steeply to the river valley. Ratnaya (formerly the Shaiga river) - the left tributary of the river. Partizanskaya (formerly the Suchan river), and the western one - to the valley of the river. Partisan. The southwestern extremity of the spur is cut through by a deep creek, along the bottom of which flows the Batareiny stream, fed by numerous springs. On the western, northern and eastern sides, this valley is surrounded by a high ridge of hills, along the crest of which runs a defensive rampart made of earth and stone.

The height of the defensive rampart, depending on the steepness of the slope of the hill on the outer side of the fort, and therefore on its accessibility to the besieging enemy, ranges from 0.5 to 5 m. The Shaiginskoye fort had three gates through which passage into and out of the fort was carried out . The main gate was located in the middle part of the northern line of the defensive wall. The outer slope of the hill, facing the river valley. Partisan, quite flat and easily surmountable for both foot soldiers and cavalry, and therefore the rampart in this place reaches its greatest height. In addition, approximately 30 m on both sides of the gate, two towers were built in the rampart, from which it was possible to fire from a bow at the nearest approaches to the gate. The entire territory of the Shaiginsky settlement was divided into quarters by a system of internal ramparts, streets, natural ravines and valleys. The population of each quarter, depending on their professional and production activities, belonged to a certain social class. The discovery at the site of a silver paizi (credential tag) of a thousand officer, the text of which is engraved in the Jurchen language, allows us to conclude that there once were at least 1000 dwellings, that is, household courtyards (to date, excavations have uncovered the remains of 278 dwellings).

This fact, along with other data (the presence of a large number of craft workshops, large warehouse buildings under a tiled roof, an extensive network of streets, quarters, a redoubt where the military commandant’s headquarters was located, several fenced with earthen ramparts, the so-called “internal” or “forbidden” " cities, etc.), indicate that it was a relatively large city with a population of many thousands. All excavated dwellings were above-ground, frame-and-post construction, with a kanal-type heating system. The size of the dwellings and their interior depended entirely on the number of members families and their social status.The largest dwellings had an area of ​​50 or more square meters.

Residents of the Shaiginsky settlement were engaged in various types of crafts and agriculture, growing, judging by numerous finds, wheat, barley, buckwheat, soybeans, millet, chumiza, and kaoliang. Along with this, they were engaged in cattle breeding, horse breeding and pig breeding, as well as hunting, fishing and taiga crafts, including gathering wild plants. In the 12th century, nomadic tribes of the Mongols lived in Central Asia.

By the end of the 12th century, one of the Mongol khans, Genghis Khan, managed to unite all the Mongol tribes into a single empire. At the beginning of the 13th century, at a congress of the Mongol nobility, Genghis Khan was declared the Great Khan of all Mongols. After some time, he begins campaigns of conquest against neighboring countries.

The Jurchen Empire also comes into his sights. Numerous campaigns of the Mongols ended with the fall of the Golden Empire in 1234. During the period when the Golden Empire of the Jurchens was experiencing a deep internal crisis, several territories separated from it. So in 1215, the state of Eastern Xia arose in Primorye, which lasted only 19 years. The Mongol conquest in 1233 brought an end to Eastern Xia. The campaigns of Genghis Khan and his commanders brought death and destruction to many states. China and the countries of Central Asia were defeated, and the territory of the Jurchen Empire turned into an abandoned land.