Wanyan Sheng

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Wanyan Sheng, Jurchen name Wuqimai, was born in 1075, the first year of Taikang under Liao, into the Wanyan clan. He was the fourth son of Emperor Shizu Wanyan Helibo and Empress Yijian of the Nalan clan and a full younger brother of Emperor Taizu Wanyan Aguda. In childhood he was adopted by Emperor Muzong Wanyan Yingge. The History of Jin records that Emperor Taizong, personal name Sheng and originally Wuqimai, was the fourth son of Shizu, born to Empress Yijian and a full younger brother of Taizu, and that he had first been adopted by Muzong.

Wuqimai was tall and extraordinarily strong, said to be capable of grappling with bears and stabbing tigers. He followed Aguda in the early Jurchen resistance to Liao and possessed considerable prestige within the tribal confederation. In 1115, after the first successes against Liao, Wuqimai joined Sagai, Cibushi, and other commanders in urging Aguda to assume the imperial title and establish Jin. Aguda initially refused and only agreed after Aliheman, Pujianu, Zonghan, and others argued that great achievements had already been made and that without a royal title the allegiance of the realm could not be secured. In the first month of 1115, Aguda ascended the throne as Emperor Taizu. In the seventh month, he appointed his younger brother Wuqimai Anban Bojilie, highest among the Bojilie and designated heir.

Assisting Government and Serving as Regent

As Anban Bojilie, Wuqimai sometimes followed Emperor Taizu on campaign and at other times remained in the rear. In 1121, after Guolun Hulu Bojilie Sagai died, Emperor Taizu issued an edict formally ordering Wuqimai to assist in state government. The edict emphasized that, as Taizu's full younger brother, he was as one body with the emperor and was therefore entrusted as deputy in governing the state. Wuqimai was to investigate military violations and deal with them appropriately, while other matters were to follow the established customs of the dynasty. The following year, when Taizu personally campaigned against Liao, Wuqimai remained in the capital as regent.

During this regency, Prince Yun Wanyan Ang violated military law and caused losses and according to law should have been executed. At the time, however, Yanjing had submitted from Liao and Song had agreed to deliver annual payments, creating an atmosphere of state celebration. Xibushi urged Wuqimai to cover strict justice with familial mercy and spare a brother of the ruling clan, offering to take responsibility if Taizu objected. Wuqimai accepted the proposal, had Ang beaten, and spared his life. The source presents the incident as an example both of his willingness to bend law for kinship and of relations among the Jin princes.

Accession and Early Government

In the sixth month of 1123 Emperor Taizu became seriously ill and summoned Wuqimai to the imperial camp. Taizu died in the eighth month. In the ninth month Guolun Bojilie Wanyan Gao, Prince Yun Wanyan Ang, Zongjun, Zonggan, other imperial relatives, and the senior officials repeatedly urged Wuqimai to take the throne. He refused several times. Zonggan and the other princes finally draped him in the imperial red robe and placed the seal in his clothing, whereupon he accepted the throne and adopted the era name Tianhui.

After accession, he appointed his younger brother Wanyan Gao Anban Bojilie as heir, gave Taizu's eldest concubine-born son Wanyan Zonggan responsibility for state affairs, and entrusted military affairs to Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang. At first Taizong continued many of Taizu's institutions. Before his death, Taizu had ordered military and political affairs in newly acquired Yanjing to be handled by a Bureau of Military Affairs inherited from Liao. Because surrendered Liao officials such as Zuo Qigong, who had been intended to manage the Guangning bureau, were killed by Zhang Jue, the institution came under Liu Yanzong. Liu first assisted Wanyan Zonghan, then Zongwang, and concurrently commanded Han troops. The Bureau of Military Affairs effectively became an administrative arm of frontline Jin commanders, dealing with county government and official appointments.

Destruction of Liao and Northern Song

In 1125, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao was captured while fleeing by a force led by Wanyan Loushi and was reduced to Prince of Haibin. Liao thereby ended. Western Xia submitted to Jin, removing major pressure on Jin's western and northwestern frontiers. In the tenth month, Taizong appointed Anban Bojilie Wanyan Gao to concurrently command as Grand Marshal and sent Jin forces south against Song in two routes. The western army under Left Deputy Marshal Zonghan advanced from Yunzhong, present-day Datong, against Taiyuan; the eastern army under Right Deputy Marshal Zongwang advanced from Pingzhou toward Yanshan Prefecture, present-day Beijing.

Guo Yaoshi, Northern Song's defender of Yanshan, surrendered. In the first month of 1126, Guo guided Jin troops rapidly across the Yellow River and the different forces surrounded Bianjing, present-day Kaifeng. Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji abdicated to his son Zhao Huan, Emperor Qinzong, and fled south. After Qinzong's accession, Jin defeated Song relief forces. Frightened, Qinzong agreed to cede Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian and increase annual payments, after which Jin temporarily withdrew.

In the eighth month of the same year, Zonghan and Zongwang again invaded. In the ninth month Zonghan captured Taiyuan, while Zongwang took Jingxing and Zhending. In the eleventh month Zongwang crossed the Yellow River and again besieged Bianjing. In the intercalary eleventh month Zonghan arrived, and within days Jin captured the city. Zonghan sent envoys inside and required the two Song emperors to come to the Jin camp to negotiate peace and territorial cessions. Qinzong was forced to visit the Jin camp at Qingcheng. Jin demanded ten million ingots of gold, twenty million ingots of silver, twenty million bolts of silk, seven thousand horses, and territory north of the Yellow River. In the second month of 1127, Taizong ordered both Song emperors reduced to commoner status. In the third month, former Song chancellor Zhang Bangchang was installed as emperor of Chu. When Jin withdrew, it carried Zhao Ji, Zhao Huan, and members of the imperial family north as captives. Northern Song thereby ended.

War with Southern Song and Puppet Governments

After Northern Song fell, war with Southern Song continued year after year. In winter 1127, Zonghan arranged separate campaigns in Henan, while Right Deputy Marshal Zongfu led troops into Shandong. Taizong also ordered pursuit of Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou at Yangzhou. In 1128 Zonghan sent Wanyan Loushi to attack Shaanxi. In the second month Jin troops reached Yangzhou, forcing Gaozong to cross the Yangzi hurriedly toward Guazhou; in the fifth month he fled to Jiankang, present-day Nanjing. As Jin pressure increased, Gaozong moved to Zhenjiang, then Hangzhou. In the eleventh month, Wanyan Zongbi crossed the river and entered Jiankang. Gaozong fled successively to Hangzhou, Yuezhou, and Mingzhou and then took to the sea at Dinghai. Zongbi pursued him three hundred li offshore without catching him and returned.

In the third month of 1130, Zongbi fought Han Shizhong at Zhenjiang and was initially unable to cross the river. He withdrew toward Jiankang, fought Han again on the river, and used favorable wind to set fires; Han was defeated and Zongbi crossed and camped at Liuhe County. Jin then shifted the main theater toward Shaanxi, where it decisively defeated the Southern Song commander Zhang Jun at Fuping and occupied the five Shaanxi circuits. In 1131 Zongbi attacked Heshangyuan, southwest of Baoji, but was defeated by Wu Jie and Wu Lin and was himself wounded by an arrow, in what the source calls Jin's greatest defeat in the Song-Jin wars. In 1133 he finally took Heshangyuan but was defeated again by Wu Jie at Xianren Pass and thereafter did not again try to penetrate Sichuan. Wanyan Sheng later sent Zongfu and Wanyan Chang as left and right deputy marshals to combine forces with puppet Qi and cross the Huai River. Southern Song was alarmed, but Taizong was by then seriously ill and the Jin armies withdrew.

For former Northern Song territory south of the Yellow River, Taizong used puppet regimes governed by Han Chinese. In the ninth month of 1130, Liu Yu was installed as emperor of Great Qi, with Daming Prefecture as his capital and a formal relation of filial submission to Jin. Earlier, in 1127, former Song chancellor Zhang Bangchang had been installed as emperor of Chu but soon abdicated. Jin campaigns and plundering generated strong resistance in the Central Plains, including movements around Wumashan and the Eight-Character Army. Taizong repeatedly adjusted policy while suppressing many such forces.

Institutional Development and the Succession Question

During his reign Taizong developed Jin's governmental institutions. In the former Liao Yanyun region he established the Bureau of Military Affairs and the Department of State Affairs, using institutions under the Marshal's Office to manage appointments and taxation in Han areas. In 1126 a formal official system was established, with offices and courts beneath the Department of State Affairs. The imperial examination system was applied in newly occupied Liao and Song territory to recruit Han officials. An edict stated that many county and prefectural posts in Hebei and Hedong were vacant and that examinations should therefore be opened to settle the newly acquired population; northern and southern candidates were to be examined according to their respective fields of study.

Militarily, Jin established a Marshal's Office with a Grand Marshal, left and right deputy marshals, supervisors, and other commanders. Economically, it developed tax institutions, including a cattle-head tax, relocated large numbers of Jurchen households into Han areas, moved captured Han and Khitan people to the Jurchen homeland, encouraged agriculture, reduced corvée, prohibited officials and imperial relatives from privately compelling commoners into service, and forbade the purchase of impoverished people as slaves. Taizong also promoted Jurchen cultural education, established schools for Jurchen writing, and ordered Wanyan Yelu to teach Jurchen script in the Supreme Capital.

In 1130 the designated heir, Anban Bojilie Wanyan Gao, died. Taizong left the succession vacant for some time and initially wished to pass the throne to one of his own sons. In 1132, however, Left Deputy Marshal Zonghan, Right Deputy Marshal Zongfu, Left Supervisor Wanyan Xiyin, and Wanyan Zonggan jointly proposed that Taizu's legitimate grandson Wanyan Dan be made heir. After repeated requests, Taizong reluctantly appointed Dan Anban Bojilie. In the first month of 1135 Taizong died of illness at Mingde Palace in the Supreme Capital at the age of sixty-one, after a thirteen-year reign. He received the temple name Taizong and posthumous title Emperor Wenlie. In 1145 his posthumous title was expanded to Emperor Tiyuan Yingyun Shide Zhaogong Zhehui Rensheng Wenlie. He was first buried at Heling; in 1144 the tomb was renamed Gongling, and in 1155 he was reburied at Dafangshan under the same tomb name.

Family, the Anban Bojilie, and the Regency

The History of Jin records that "the Taizong emperor, posthumously Ti Yuan Ying Yun Shi De Zhao Gong Zhe Hui Ren Sheng Wen Lie, was named Sheng, originally Wugimai, fourth son of Shizu, his mother the empress Yijian, née Nalan, and younger brother of Taizu by the same mother. He was born in the first year of Taikang of Liao and was at first the adopted son of Muzong." In the first year of Shouguo (1115), after the ministers offered the honorific title and Taizu took the throne, in the seventh month his brother Wugimai was made anban bojilie and the chancellor Sagai guolun bojilie; in the tenth month of that year Wugimai was formally given the office of anban bojilie, and thereafter "when Taizu went on campaign he always stayed to hold the capital." Earlier, Agalimeng, Pujianu, Zonghan and others had urged Taizu to take the title, saying that "now that the great work is done, if you do not assume the title you cannot bind the empire's hearts," and Taizu had answered that he would think of it. In 1121 he issued an edict: "You are my younger brother by the same mother, one body in right; and so I use you to second me in the government of our state. In all military matters that go wrong, examine the facts and deal with them as is fitting. As for other business, great or small, follow the old institutions of our house." To confer the government on a brother while every ordinary matter followed ancestral custom was to set the tone of his own reign.

As regent he also took responsibility for disciplining the imperial kin. In 1123, holding the capital with Xibushi, he had to try the prince of Yun, Ang, who "broke discipline and lost his men, and by law should die"; and since the Liao had surrendered Yanjing, the Song had agreed to an annual payment, and "great celebrations followed one another in the state," Xibushi said that "brothers of one bone and flesh may cover right with kindness, and it is better to bend the law to preserve him... if the emperor should reproach you, say it was I," and the emperor agreed, caned Ang and reported it. The history says that "whenever Taizu campaigned against Liao he ordered Xibushi and Taizong to hold the capital, and though they had no frontier merit their reliance was equal to Sagai's." In the sixth month of 1123, when Taizu fell ill at Yuanyang lake, he summoned him to the camp; in the ninth month Taizu was buried west of the palace city, and when the guolun bojilie Gao, the prince of Yun Ang, Zongjun, Zonggan and the clansmen and officials asked him to take the throne he refused, and refused again when they pressed; whereupon Zonggan and his brothers "put the red robe on his body and the seal in his bosom," and on the bingchen day he took the throne, on the jiwei day sacrificed to heaven and earth, and on the bingyin day proclaimed a general amnesty, changing the seventh year of Tianfu into the first of Tianhui; he then issued grain from Chunzhou to relieve the surrendered who had been moved to the supreme capital, and ordered the meng'an to pay grain "to the households in want within the interior."

The Destruction of Liao and Song, and the Tentative Beginnings of Rule in Chinese Lands

Abroad, Jin forced Western Xia "to submit as a vassal, so that the west and northwest gave no more anxiety"; and "using force and surrender alternately," subdued the Xi and the remnants of the Liao, "steadily consolidating the occupied lands" and "thereupon quickening its preparations for war against Song." In the destruction of Song, Wanyan Zonghan sent envoys into the city to summon the two emperors to the camp to discuss peace and the cession of land; Zhao Huan was forced to go to the Jin camp at Qingcheng, and the Jin demanded ten million ingots of gold, twenty million of silver, twenty million bolts of silk and seven thousand horses, "all of which went to Jin," while Song also ceded the two rivers to Jin; in the second month of 1127 Taizong issued an edict reducing the two Song emperors to commoners. In institutions, when Taizu settled Yanjing he "first used Chinese officials as chancellors to reward Zuo Qigong and others, setting up the secretariat and the privy council at Guangning, while the court's own chancellors used Jurchen titles," and in Taizong's first years "nothing was changed"; but after Zhang Dungu was executed the secretariat and privy council were moved to Pingzhou, and when Cai Jing surrendered Yanshan they were moved to Yanjing, "and all appointments, levy and taxation in Chinese lands were carried out under imperial authority, so that men like Shi Li'ai, Liu Yanzong and Han Qixian held the office of chancellor, their duties being much as described." Afterwards, when Xieye and Zonggan directed the state, they "urged Taizong to change the old Jurchen system and use Chinese official institutions," and in 1126 "the official system was first settled, with the secretariat of state and the offices, prefectures and courts below it." In the same year the marshal's office was developed into the supreme military and political organ governing the Central Plain. The use of Chinese officials became systematic: Liu Yanzong first assisted the commander Wanyan Zonghan, then was ordered to assist Zongwang as well and to hold the post of commander of the Chinese troops, "so that the privy council in fact became a subordinate organ of the front-line Jin commanders, helping them manage the government of prefectures and counties and the selection of officials"; in 1128 both Liu Yanzong and Wanyan Zongwang died, and their posts in the Yanjing privy council and the secretariat were taken by Han Qixian and Shi Li'ai. At that time Zongwang established a privy council at Yanjing with Liu Yanzong at its head, and Zonghan one at the western capital, Yunzhong, with Shi Li'ai at its head, "which the Jin called the Eastern Court and the Western Court" — a two-court arrangement that is precisely the transitional form of ruling Chinese lands by Chinese institutions under military command.

The Puppet Qi, Institution-Building, and the Naming of an Heir

Toward the former Northern Song lands south of the Yellow River, Jin "adopted the policy of setting up a puppet regime to rule Chinese by Chinese, establishing the local regime of Liu Yu's false Qi, and in the newly occupied Liao and Song lands held examinations and employed Chinese as officials." In the ninth month of 1130, at the instance of the generals Zonghan, Zongfu and Talan, Jin installed Liu Yu, the surrendered prefect of Jinan, as a son-emperor with the state named Qi — first with its capital at Daming, governing Henan and Shandong, and after the pacification of Shaanxi with that province added, whereupon Liu Yu moved his capital to Bianjing; on the wushen day of the ninth month the ceremonial investiture was held, "making Yu emperor of Great Qi with his capital at Daming, still called the northern capital, with officials from the chancellor down, and an amnesty in his territory," the year xinhai being made the first of Fuchang. Taizong had earlier decreed that "when Song is pacified, a supporting vassal shall be set up to hold the south, like Zhang Bangchang"; and since "in the general opinion both Zhe Keshi and Liu Yu might be set up, and Yu had the will for it," and Talan sought the fief for him, Taizong "used the precedent of Zhang Bangchang's investiture," with the enfeoffed vassal to "see the envoy with the rites of a prince"; and Zonghan and Zongfu decided that "since he is invested as a vassal, he shall style himself a subject and send memorials, and in the court's replies and edicts avoid the throne and not meet envoys as an equal, all other rites following those of the emperor." He also decreed that "the offices of the commanderies and counties of Hebei and Hedong being much vacant, examinations should be opened to take scholars to pacify the new people, the northern and southern presented scholars being examined each in his own field"; and in 1133 that "whereas the military situation is unsettled we once allowed the marshal's office to appoint officials itself, henceforth all appointments shall be made by the court" — taking the power of appointment back from the generals.

Within, Taizong had Wanyan Gao, Wanyan Zonggan, Han Fang and others at the centre "discuss ritual and promote schools," gradually building up the institutions of rule; when Zonggan directed the state he "first proposed the ritual system, the rectification of official names, the fixing of dress colours, the promotion of schools, the establishment of selection and the reform of the calendar," and in 1126 "the official system was promulgated at home and abroad." In law the old Jurchen institutions still prevailed, with only a new rule on theft in 1129: "for any theft, if goods are taken, penal servitude for three years; above ten strings, five years with branding and service in the lower army; above thirty strings, servitude for life, the face to be branded when the amount is complete; above fifty strings, death; restitution as under the old system." In taxation the Jurchen homeland kept the ox-head land system: in the good harvest of 1125 he ordered that "each plough-ox shall pay one shi of millet, each meng'an keeping a granary," against famine, and the next year fixed five dou per ox for the Jurchen interior, ordering the local officials "to encourage the work of farming."

The naming of an heir dragged on for years. In 1130 the designated successor, the anban bojilie Wanyan Gao, died, and Taizong long refused to name a new one, "wishing to pass the throne to his own son"; in 1132 the left deputy marshal Zonghan, the right deputy marshal Zongfu and the left supervisor Wanyan Xiyin came to court and, after consulting Zonggan, proposed Wanyan Dan, Taizu's grandson by the principal line. Zonghan told Zonggan that "the place of heir has long been empty; Helan is the late emperor's grandson by the principal line and should be set up; if it is not settled early, it may fall to the wrong man — I have not for a day forgotten it," and "they asked Taizong three times over and more, and he consented"; on the gengwu day of the fourth month the edict declared that "since you are Taizu's grandson by the principal line, you are made anban bojilie; do not think yourself young, nor give yourself to childish play, but reverence your virtue." In the first month of 1135 he died in the Mingde palace at sixty-one, "and on the next day the anban bojilie took the throne before the coffin," receiving the temple name Taizong and burial at the He tomb, afterwards renamed the Gong tomb.

Major Activities

Destruction of Liao and Song

After accession, Taizong continued Taizu's campaigns. In 1125 Jin destroyed Liao and captured Emperor Tianzuo. In the tenth month of that year Jin invaded Song, twice besieged Bianjing, and in 1127 captured Emperors Huizong and Qinzong, bringing Northern Song to an end. These were the central military achievements of his reign and fixed the early territorial extent of Jin. War with Southern Song continued thereafter, with Jin armies pursuing Gaozong and at times advancing deep south of the Yangzi.

Institutional Construction

Taizong created or developed many institutions of the Jin state. Politically, he established the Bureau of Military Affairs and Department of State Affairs in the former Liao and Han regions and adjusted the Bojilie system. Militarily, he organized the Marshal's Office. Economically, he established taxes including the cattle-head tax. Culturally, he founded schools for Jurchen writing. In 1126 a formal system of offices beneath the Department of State Affairs was established, laying foundations for Jin administration.

Puppet Governments and Administration of Han Territory

For former Northern Song territory south of the Yellow River, Taizong pursued a policy of governing Han populations through Han-led puppet regimes. Zhang Bangchang was installed as emperor of Chu in 1127 and Liu Yu as emperor of puppet Qi in 1130. In newly occupied former Liao and Song lands, Jin used imperial examinations and recruited Han literati into office, with separate northern and southern selections.

Succession

After designated heir Wanyan Gao died in 1130, Taizong originally wished to transmit the throne to his own son. Under repeated pressure from Zonghan, Zongfu, Xiyin, and other senior ministers, however, in 1132 he designated Taizu's legitimate grandson Wanyan Dan as Anban Bojilie. This decision altered the older Jurchen practice of succession among brothers, returned the throne to Taizu's line, and had major consequences for subsequent Jin politics.

The Passage from Tribal Custom to an Official System

The real significance of Wanyan Sheng's reign is that he carried Jin from a tribal confederation toward a state with an official system. As anban bojilie he had been given the charge to "second me in the government of our state," and after taking the throne he had Xieye and Zonggan as his ministers, listened to the proposal to "change the old Jurchen system and use Chinese institutions," and in 1126 fixed the system and established the secretariat of state with the offices, prefectures and courts below it; at the same time he administered the Chinese lands of Yanjing and Yunzhong through two privy councils staffed by former Liao and Song officials such as Liu Yanzong, Shi Li'ai and Han Qixian, who handled taxation, appointments and prefectural business; he held examinations in the two rivers and Henan, set up the puppet Qi to rule Chinese by Chinese, and in 1133 took back from the generals the power to appoint officials themselves. His government is therefore transitional in form: the Jurchen bojilie and the meng'an-mouke still stood, a bureaucracy was growing in the Chinese lands, and the privy councils between the two remained subordinate to military command. In law and taxation too he "inherited Taizu's teaching not to change the old ways" while "using Liao and Song law to some extent," the scale of penalties for theft and the millet levy on the ox-head lands being cases in point. As for the succession, though he had wished to pass the throne to his own son, he at last, at the repeated request of his great ministers Zonghan and Zonggan, named Taizu's grandson Wanyan Dan, so that the throne returned to Taizu's line — a decision that planted the seeds of the court politics and clan strife of the Xizong years.

Personal Relations

• Father: Wanyan Helibo, Emperor Shizu of Jin
• Mother: Nalan clan, Empress Yijian
• Elder brother: Wanyan Aguda, Emperor Taizu of Jin
• Younger brother: Wanyan Gao, Anban Bojilie and designated heir
• Son: Wanyan Zongpan, Prince of Song
• Son: Wanyan Zonggu, Prince of Bin
• Son: Wanyan Zongben, Prince of Yuan
• Wife: Empress Qinren of the Tangkuo clan
• Wanyan Yingge, Emperor Muzong: adoptive father
• Wanyan Zonggan: nephew, eldest concubine-born son of Taizu, administrator of state affairs
• Wanyan Dan: grand-nephew, legitimate grandson of Taizu and designated heir, later Emperor Xizong
• Wanyan Zonghan: Left Deputy Marshal and senior minister
• Wanyan Zongwang: Right Deputy Marshal and senior minister
• Wanyan Zongfu: Right Deputy Marshal
• Wanyan Xiyin: Left Supervisor
• Wanyan Loushi: general
• Wanyan Zongbi: general
• Liu Yanzong: Han official associated with the Bureau of Military Affairs
• Han Qixian: Han official and Left Director of the Department of State Affairs
• Yelü Yanxi, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao
• Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of Song
• Zhao Huan, Emperor Qinzong of Song
• Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong of Song

Historical Assessment

Jin and Contemporary Assessments

• The History of Jin states that Taizu's founding period had not allowed time for full ritual and institutional development. Under Taizong, with Xieye and Zonggan handling state affairs and Zonghan and Zongwang military affairs, Jin destroyed Liao and attacked Song, then established ritual, institutions, calendar, civil administration, and the overall framework of government. It praises his thirteen-year reign for adding nothing to palace buildings and parks and for ultimately accepting the difficult decision to transmit the throne to Emperor Xizong so that Taizu's lineage would continue in the proper succession.
• The insistence of Zonghan and other senior ministers that Wanyan Dan be named heir shows Taizong's willingness late in life to accept powerful ministerial opinion and also reflects some decline in his personal authority.
• Song writer Zhao Zidi's Yanyun Lu preserves an anecdote that Taizong was beaten in court by ministers for privately using treasury goods. Whether literally true or not, the story reflects traditions about continuing aristocratic limits on the early Jurchen monarch.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Southern Song sources treated Taizong as an enemy ruler and bitterly condemned the destruction of Northern Song and capture of the two emperors. Popular stories that he was a reincarnation of the Song founder seeking revenge reflect the trauma of the Jingkang catastrophe.
• The Yuan-compiled History of Jin nevertheless evaluates him positively and credits his reign with fixing the framework of Jin government.
• The same history praises him for frugality, stating that he made no additions to palaces or imperial parks.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Ming-Qing thinker Wang Fuzhi, discussing the destruction of Northern Song, considered Jin's early power to derive from the martial vigor of the newly rising Jurchen while also criticizing Jin violence.
• Qing historian Zhao Yi, in Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, regarded the official institutions fixed under Taizong as foundational for later Jin development.
• Qing historians generally treated his military conquest of Liao and Northern Song more analytically while also discussing his strategy of governing Han areas through puppet states.

Modern and Contemporary Assessments

• Modern historians commonly regard Taizong as a key figure in Jin's transformation from a tribal confederation into a dynastic state, emphasizing the institutions established during his reign as foundations of the dynasty's century-long rule.
• Scholars note that the destruction of Northern Song changed the course of Chinese history, forced the Song court south, and created a long-standing north-south Jin-Song confrontation.
• Modern research on the succession issue often sees Taizong's hesitation as reflecting a conflict between older Jurchen lateral succession and Central Plains principles of succession through the legitimate line. The eventual choice of Taizu's legitimate grandson is viewed as helping preserve political stability.