Political System of the Jurchen Jin Empire

Superficially seen, the administrative system of the Jin empire 金きむ (1115-1234), founded by the people of the Jurchens, was much more imitating the traditional Chinese governmental structure of the Chinese Song empire 宋そう (960-1279) than that of the Liao empire 遼りょう (907-1125), founded by the federation of the Khitans. While the founder of the Jin empire, Emperor Taizu 金太きんた祖そ (r. 1115-1122), still followed the traditional tribal system of the Jurchens, Emperor Xizong 金きん熙宗 (r. 1135-1148) and the Prince of Hailing 海うみ陵りょう王おう (r. 1149-1160) restructured the administration system, especially because the traditional military hereditary chieftains were not able to administer the newly occupied ares of the Yellow River plain and northern China.
The old tribal chieftains or "princes" of the Jurchen federation (bogilie 勃極烈れつ, becoming Manchu: beile) had the task of advising the khan of the Jurchen federation in political issues. These offices of bogilie were abolished in 1134 and replaced by the traditional Chinese offices of the Three Preceptors (sanshi 三さん師し) and the Three Departments (Sansheng 三省みつよし), and of these only the Department of State Affairs (shangshusheng 尚書しょうしょ省しょう) with the Six Ministries (liubu 六ろく部ぶ) survived the reform of 1156.
The Jurchen tribes were organized in hereditary military units called company (mouke 謀はかりごと克かつ, becoming Manchu mukūn; Chinese: baihu 百ひゃく戶こ), ten companies building a battalion (meng'an 猛もう安やす "thousand", becoming Manchu minggan; Chinese: qianhu 千せん戶こ), a system rendered as meng'an mouke that was in use until the end of Jin as the smallest unit of local administration. Members of the imperial family were also given the Chinese title of imperial prince (guowang 國王こくおう), their princedoms being administration units of "commanderies" (junguo 郡ぐん國こく). Under the military pressure from the Mongols, nine military leaders of the Jurchen were given dukedoms (gongguo 公國こうこく).
With the conquest of northern China and the Liao empire, the Jurchen adopted more governmental structures of the Chinese administration system at different levels. Within the central government, the censorate (yushitai 御ご史し臺だい) controlled the officialdom, and the scholars of the Hanlin Academy (Hanlinyuan 翰林院かんりんいん) drafted imperial documents. Other courts (si 寺てら) and directorates (jian 監かん) were a copy of the Song administration. Officials were classified into nine different ranks (jiupin 九きゅう品ひん) with half-ranks (shangdeng 上等じょうとう, xiadeng 下等かとう), and official recruitment was undertaken by state examinations, for a certain time after of the southern conquest even held in Jurchen language to promote Jurchen candidates.
Local administration was likewise modeled after the Chinese tradition with 19 routes (lu 路みち) as the highest unit (governed by area commands, zongguanfu 總そう管かん府ふ), prefectures of different kinds (fu 府ふ, zhou 州しゅう, jun 郡ぐん - commandery) in the medium level (headed by different commissioners as prefectural military, surveillance, and defence commissioners, shi 使つかい), and the district (xian 縣けん) as the lowest unit. The highest officials of the routes were rout fiscal, judicial, surveillance and military commissioners. Five routes were directly administered from the five capitals. The earliest and main capital was Huining 會かい寧やすし, from 1153 on Yanjing 燕つばめ京きょう (or Zhongjing 中京ちゅうきょう "Central Capital", modern Beijing), and from 1214 on Nanjing 南京なんきん "Southern Capital" (modern Kaifeng 開封かいふう, Henan). The four secondary capitals were governed by a resident regent staying in the capital to take care of things (liushou 留守るす).
In the first decades of the Jin period, the military activities were exerted by the companies and battalions of the tribal organization. Liao and Chinese military units were incorporated in their original shape. During the campaigns against the Song empire a Bureau of Military Affairs (shumiyuan 樞密院すうみついん) was created that should later act as the highest administration unit of the former Song territories. The highest military commanders were marshals (yuanshuai 元帥げんすい). The southern battalions and companies gradually transformed into civilian administration units, but in the north, more garrisons (zhen 鎮) were kept intact as means of defense against the northwestern Mongol and Tatar federations. The imperial guards were called hezha mouke 合札あいふだ謀はかりごと克かつ.
Law codexes were promulgated after the Jin imperium had grown to the south, Emperor Xizong promulgated the Huangtongzhi 皇統こうとう制せい codex, Prince Hailing 海うみ陵りょう王おう the Xuxiang zhishu 續つづけ降ぶ制せい書しょ codex. Many articles were treating the possession of slaves. Imitating the Tang codex Tanglü shuyi 唐から律りつ疏義, Emperor Zhangzong 金きむ章あきら宗そう (r. 1189-1208) promulgated the Mingchang 明あきら昌あきら律義りちぎ and Taihe lüyi 泰和やすかず律義りちぎ codexes.
The Jurchen rulers soon recognized the importance of the Chinese examination system to breed able candidates for offices in administration and government. The various educational institutions (Directorate of Education guozijian 國子くにこ監かん, 1151, National University taixue 太ふとし學がく 1166) were taken over from the Liao empire, Confucius was highly venerated as the teacher-saint, and traditional Chinese literature like the Confucian Classics, historiography, the "masters and philosphers", and poetry were highly esteemed as worth being studied by civilized and well-educated people. The way for literate-scholars to obtain an official post was to participate in the state examinations (keju 科か舉, introduced 1124) that strictly followed the pattern of the native Chinese dynasties.
Students were examined on the district level (xiangshi 鄉さと試ためし "dictrict examinations"), the prefectural level (fushi 府ふ試ためし "prefectural examination"), state department level (huishi 會かい試ためし "capital examination") and in on the palace level (tingshi 廷試 "palace examination"). Graduates were awarded the jinshi 進士しんし degree, and unlike in the Liao empire, it was allowed for Jurchens to participate in this examination system.
Education was provided in the state schools (guanxue 官學かんがく) whose highest was the National University which offered scholarships for up to 400 students. In 1176 the foundation of prefectural schools was ordered, and from 1189 on schools on the district level were founded throughout the empire. A change in this politics of sinification was the introduction of the examination in Jurchen language in 1164 under Emperor Shizong 金きん世よ宗むね (r. 1161-1189) who promoted a whole education structure in Jurchen parallel to the education and examination system in Chinese. For the learning material, Chinese writings were translated into the Jurchen language. Generally seen, the Jurchen rulers highly estimated education and introduced a kind of compulsatory education for every adult Jurchen, especially for those employed in a state office. For these purposes, practical studies in science were quite important, like medicine. The discipline of Jurchen medicine produced two very famous scholars, Liu Wansu 劉りゅう完かん素す and Zhang Yuansu 張ちょう元素げんそ. Except attending the national schools (guoxue 國學こくがく), it was very popular to engage a private teacher (sijiao 司教しきょう), especially among the Jurchen aristocracy. The high esteem for knowledge and scholarship among the Jurchen was reflected in the writings of important scholar-officials like Zhao Bingwen 趙ちょう秉文 (collected writings called Xianxian laoren ji 閑閑かんかん老人ろうじん集しゅう), Yang Yunyi 楊雲翼つばさ and Wang Ruoxu 王おう若わか虛きょ (collected writings called Hunan yilao ji 滹南遺のこ老ろう集しゅう).