Wanyan Zonghan

Wanyan Zonghan (1080–1136), Jurchen name Nianhan, posthumous name Prince Huanzhong of Qin (秦桓忠王), was a noble and military general of China's Jurchen-led Jin dynasty.

Life Nianhan was the eldest son of Sagai (撒改) and a great-grandson of Wugunai, the chief of the Wanyan tribe. He was a relative of Aguda (Emperor Taizu), the founder of the Jin dynasty, because Aguda was Sagai's cousin and Wugunai's grandson.

Nianhan served as one of Aguda's chief advisers in the Jurchen rebellion against the Khitan-led Liao dynasty in 1114. He participated in the ensuing war between the Jurchens and Khitans that led to the destruction of the Liao dynasty and its replacement by the Jin dynasty. Under Aguda's successor, Wuqimai (Emperor Taizong), Zhanhan played a major role in the wars against the Song dynasty. During the campaign of 1125-1126, he was the "left vice-marshal": the commander the Jurchen Western Army, which invaded Shanxi Province and besieged Taiyuan, while the Eastern Army, led by the "right vice-marshal" Wolibu (斡離不), was besieging Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng).

When the war against the Song dynasty resumed in 1126, Nianhan, who had taken Taiyuan, joined Wolibu at the walls of Bianjing. Together the two armies besieged the Song capital for a month, conquered it on January 9, 1127, captured the Song emperors Huizong and Qinzong, and returned to the Jin capital, Huining Prefecture (present-day Acheng District, Harbin), with their prisoners and loot.

Like other top Jurchen generals, during Emperor Taizong's reign, Nianhan was able to run a portion of the empire as a semi-independent warlord, running his own government in Shanxi Province. However, he lost his military power during Emperor Xizong's drive to centralise the control of the empire in the hands of the central bureaucracy, and in 1135 was transferred to a position in the central government.

Commemoration Mounted statues of Nianhan and Aguda have been erected on the grounds of the Jin Dynasty Shangjing History Museum (金上京历史博物馆) at the site of the old Jin capital, Shangjing, near present-day Acheng District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.