A small point which has given rise to some confusion, may fitly be mentioned here.  The tribe of Tartars hitherto spoken of as Nue-chens, and henceforth known in history as the “Golden Dynasty,” in 1035 changed the word chen for chih, and were called Nue-chih Tartars.  They did this because at that date the word chen was part of the personal name of the reigning Kitan Emperor, and therefore taboo.  The necessity for such change would of course cease with their emancipation from Kitan rule, and the old name would be revived; it will accordingly be continued in the following pages.

The victories of Akuteng over the Kitans were most welcome to the Chinese Emperor, who saw his late oppressors humbled to the dust by the victorious Nue-chens; and in 1120 a treaty of alliance was signed by the two powers against the common enemy.  The upshot of this move was that the Kitans were severely defeated in all directions, and their chief cities fell into the hands of the Nue-chens, who finally succeeded, in 1122, in taking Peking by assault, the Kitan Emperor having already sought safety in flight.  When, however, the time came for an equitable settlement of territory between China and the victorious Nue-chens, the Chinese Emperor discovered that the Nue-chens, inasmuch as they had done most of the fighting, were determined to have the lion’s share of the reward; in fact, the yoke imposed by the latter proved if anything more burdensome than that of the dreaded Kitans.  More territory was taken by the Nue-chens, and even larger levies of money were exacted, while the same old farce of worthless tribute was carried on as before.

In 1123, Akuteng died, and was canonised as the first Emperor of the Chin, or Golden Dynasty.  He was succeeded by a brother; and two years later, the last Emperor of the Kitans was captured and relegated to private life, thus bringing the dynasty to an end.

The new Emperor of the Nue-chens spent the rest of his life in one long struggle with China.  In 1126, the Sung capital, the modern K`ai-feng Fu in Honan, was twice besieged:  on the first occasion for thirty-three days, when a heavy ransom was exacted and some territory was ceded; on the second occasion for forty days, when it fell, and was given up to pillage.  In 1127, the feeble Chinese Emperor was seized and carried off, and by 1129 the whole of China north of the Yang-tsze was in the hands of the Nue-chens.  The younger brother of the banished Emperor was proclaimed by the Chinese at Nanking, and managed to set up what is known as the southern Sung dynasty; but the Nue-chens gave him no rest, driving him first out of Nanking, and then out of Hangchow, where he had once more established a capital.  Ultimately, there was peace of a more or less permanent character, chiefly due to the genius of a notable Chinese general of the day; and the Nue-chens had to accept the Yang-tsze as the dividing line between the two powers.