Nurgachi

Much of his story is covered by the Veritable Records. In 1582 his father Taksi and grandfather Giocangga were killed in an attack on ?? city when they went to the aid of Atai, the leader there. In 1583 Nurhaci began to unify the Jurchen bands, and when he was 25, he attacked Nikan Wailan to avenge the deaths of his father and grandfather, starting out with only thirteen suits of armor. In 1599 he borrowed the Mongolian alphabet to write the Manchu language. In the West, one pop culture reference to him is found in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in which a small blue vial contains the "essence of Nurgaci."

Nurhaci was the organizer of the Eight Banners, which would eventually form the elite that would dominate the Qing empire. In his later life, Nurhaci declared himself a khan. He constructed a palace at Mukden (modern-day Shenyang in Liaoning province).

In 1616 he founded the Later Jin Dynasty (amaga aisin gurun in the Manchu language) or just Jin Dynasty (aisin gurun). Jin was renamed Qing by his son Hong Taiji after his death but Nurhaci is usually referred to as the founder of Qing Dynasty. In 1618 he commissioned a document entitled the Seven Great Vexations and began to rebel against the Ming empire.

Nurhaci led many successful engagements against the Ming empire, the Koreans, the Mongols, and other Jurchen clans, greatly enlarging the territory under his control. In the first serious military defeat of his life, Nurhaci was beaten by the Ming general Yuan Chonghuan at Ningyuan. Nurhaci was wounded in the battle; he did not recover, and he died on September 30 1626.

Nurhaci is buried in Shenyang, China. He was succeed by his eighth son Hong Taiji.

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