• DOI:10.1163/156853291X00046
• Corpus ID: 162236445

"Ta Chin" (Great Golden): the Origin and Changing Interpretations of the Jurchen State Name

@article{Chan1991TaC,
  title={"Ta Chin" (Great Golden): the Origin and Changing Interpretations of the Jurchen State Name},
  author={Hok-lam Chan},
  journal={T'oung Pao},
  year={1991},
  volume={77},
  pages={253-299}
}

• H. Chan
• Published 1991
• History
• T'oung Pao

The proclamation of the name or title of a ruling regime, a state or an empire has been regarded as a serious and sacrosanct event in the political history of human civilization. Such an action established a powerful symbol of identity and thereby the legitimacy of the organized state, and the choice was often rooted in the sociopolitical and religious-cultural heritage of the ruling class, if not also of the predominant social group of that polity. In China's millennial history, which saw the maintenance of a continuous political tradition marked by the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires until the revolution in the twentieth century, the designation of a state or dynastic name was the most important and sacred task of the founder of the new reign. This tradition, which began with the semilegendary sage-kings of high antiquity, was followed not only by the rulers of the indigenous Han people, but also by the nonHan seminomadic conquerors who came to rule over part, or all of the Chinese empire. It had important political and ideological