page_title: Jurchen people
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Jurchen people / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: A stone tortoise in the central park of Ussuriysk. It was found by early Russian settlers in 1868, and is believed to have been a gravestone of a circa-12th century Jurchen leader. Русский: Каменная черепаха в уссурийском городском парке. Обнаружена русскими поселенцами в 1868 г. вместе с другой подобной черпахой, ныне находящейся в хабаровском музее. По мнению археологов, стояла над чжурчжэньским захоронением около XII века.
context_page_description: The Jurchen is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples who lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manchuria, before the 18th century. They are largely continuous with the Manchus of later history. Of obscure origins, different Jurchen groups lived as hunter-gatherers, pastoralist nomads, or sedentary agriculturists. Generally lacking a central authority, and having little communication with each other, many Jurchen groups fell under the influence of neighbouring dynasties, their chiefs paying tribute and holding nominal posts as effectively hereditary commanders of border guards.
  Chinese officials of the Ming dynasty classified them into three groups, reflecting relative proximity to China:
  Jianzhou Jurchens, some of whom were mixed with Korean and Chinese populations, lived in the proximity of the Mudan river, the Changbai mountains, and Liaodong. They were noted as able to sew clothes similar to the Chinese, and lived by hunting and fishing, sedentary agriculture, and trading in pearls and ginseng.
context_section_description: Jurchen culture shared many similarities with the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of Siberian-Manchurian tundra and coastal peoples. Like the Khitans and Mongols, they took pride in feats of strength, horsemanship, archery, and hunting. Both Mongols and Jurchens used the title Khan for the leaders of a political entity, whether "emperor" or "chief". A particularly powerful chief was called beile ("prince, nobleman"), corresponding with the Mongolian beki and Turkish beg or bey. Also like the Mongols and the Turks, the Jurchens did not observe primogeniture. According to tradition, any capable son or nephew could be chosen to become leader.
  Unlike the Mongols, the Jurchens were a sedentary and agrarian society. They farmed grain and millet as their primary cereal crops, grew flax and raised oxen, pigs, sheep, and horses. "At the most", the Jurchen could only be described as "semi-nomadic" while the majority of them were sedentary.
  Jurchen similarities and differences with the Mongols were emphasized to various degrees by Nurhaci out of political expediency. Nurhaci once 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 on any real shared culture, but rather on pragmatic reasons of "mutual opportunism". 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".
  During the Ming dynasty, the Jurchens lived in sub-clans (mukun or hala mukun) of ancient clans (hala). Not all clan members were blood related, and division and integration of different clans was common. Jurchen households (boo) lived as families (booigon) consisting of five to seven blood-related family members and a number of slaves. Households formed squads (tatan) to engage in tasks related to hunting and food gathering and formed companies (niru) for larger activities, such as war.
caption: Stone tortoise from the grave of a 12th-century Jurchen leader in today's Ussuriysk
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