Khanpu's Heirs

Abstract

The article discusses the genealogy of the Jurchen emperors currently available in the official history of Jurchen “Jin Shi”. Outstanding Soviet orientalist M. V. Vorobiev after considering the genealogical tree of the Jurchen emperors’ ancestors suggested the list of the first leaders of the Wanyan clan had been falsified. The purpose of this falsification would have been to make the list longer and therefore ensure the clan was considered to be more ancient than it was. M. V. Vorobiev's biggest reasons for these claims were caused by doubts of the existence of Khanpu’s son (Ulu) and grandson (Bahai) recorded in the list. The main argument for this assumption was the lack of information about any acts of these leaders, as well as the absence of their names in the list of Jurchen leaders in the Korean chronicle of “Goryeosa”. The information contained in “Jin Shi” and other medieval sources report that Khanpu was over 60 years old when he became part of the Wanyan family, subsequently living in and heading the family for a long time afterwards. With an average life expectancy of Khanpu descendants of 50-55 years, and the leaders themselves having been married at about 16-17 years of age, Khanpu’s son and grandson waited impatiently for their turn to rule. This is most likely evidenced by the posthumous titles of Ulu and Bahai. Due to this, the annals contain no information about their affairs regarding strengthening the role of Wanyan among Jurchens. The time of the rule of other descendants of Khanpu however clearly fit into the average life expectancy rule. On the basis of this analysis it is concluded that the genealogy of the Jurchen emperors is not falsified and reflects the real state of affairs in the early Jurchen society between the late X - first half of XI centuries AD.