Life

Wanyan Xiyin's original Jurchen name is transcribed in Chinese sources as "Gushen", "Wushi" or "Hushe". He was from the Wanyan tribe, the ruling clan of the Jin dynasty, but was not in the direct imperial family line. His father was Huandu (歡都), a cousin of Aguda (Emperor Taizu), the founder of the Jin dynasty. Along with Nianhan (Wanyan Zonghan), Wanyan Xiyin was one of the chief advisers to Aguda. He helped Aguda in unifying the various Jurchen tribes under the Wanyan tribe's leadership, and overthrowing the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. After Aguda's death, Wanyan Xiyin continued to serve as a civil minister in the imperial court of Wuqimai (Emperor Taizong), Aguda's younger brother and successor. However, he fell into disgrace during the reign of Emperor Xizong, Emperor Taizong's successor, and was eventually forced to commit suicide in 1140.

According to contemporary Chinese sources, Wanyan Xiyin "was crafted and talented. It was he who personally devised laws and the script for the Jurchen, and thus shaped them into one state (guo; 國). The people of the state called him shan-man (珊蠻); shan-man in Jurchen refers to a shaman. This is because he understood changing conditions like a good. From Nianhan down, nobody was able to be his equal."

As the translator of this text, Herbert Franke, notes, this may be the earliest known Chinese document in which the term shaman (珊蠻) is attested; it corresponds to the Manchu saman ("shaman, sorcerer").

Wanyan Xiyin was fascinated by Chinese classics, and collected a large library when Jurchens seized and looted the capital of the Northern Song dynasty, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng), in the Jin–Song Wars. He invited several Han Chinese scholars, led by Yuwen Xuzhong (宇文虛中; a Song envoy detained by the Jurchens), to advise him and to teach his sons and grandsons. Hong Hao (洪皓) – another Song envoy similarly detained by the Jurchens – though that it was under Yuwen Xuzhong's influence that a variety of Han Chinese cultural practices entered the Jin dynasty, such as the forms of government organisations, the scale of official ranks, salaries, and hereditary privileges, as well as the rules for assigning posthumous names to emperors and the taboo against using characters that appear in emperors' names.

The instruction offered by Yuwen Xuzhong and other Han Chinese scholars must have been successful, as Wanyan Xiyin's sons were able to write Chinese poems for Hong Hao. The degree of their sinicisation was high enough for one of them to become one of the first Jurchens to have a Han Chinese wife.

The tombs of Wanyan Xiyin and his family members are said to be located near present-day Shulan, Jilin Province. Since 1961, they have been listed on the provincial register of the protected historical sites.

Jurchen script

On Aguda's orders, in 1119 or 1120, Wanyan Xiyin created the Jurchen script, known as the "large-character script", for use in the administration of the new Jurchen (Jin) Empire. He based it on Chinese characters and the Khitan script.

女真大字

完顏阿骨打的從姪。他受命仿照漢文楷字，並基于契丹文字，配合女真口語，創製女真文字，于天輔三年(1119年)頒行，史稱女真大字。

戰功

從金太祖完顏阿骨打征戰，後從完顏宗翰襲遼天祚帝。收降遼西京（今山西大同）。

金太宗天會三年（1125年），金第一次伐宋，時任元帥右監軍，自西京攻太原。天會五年（1127年），金第二次伐宋，與諸將擄宋徽、欽二帝及后妃還，北宋亡。後從完顏宗翰追宋康王趙構于揚州。天會十三年（1135年），金太宗死，立金熙宗，任尚書左丞相兼侍中。熙宗天眷二年（1139年），封陳王，與完顏宗幹共誅完顏宗磐、完顏宗雋。第二年，以「心在無君」等罪名與子同賜死。

評價

熙宗皇統三年（1143年），追贈邢國公。海陵王天德三年（1151年），追封豫王。海陵王正隆二年（1157年），降封金源郡王。金世宗大定十五年（1175年），謚「貞憲」。

家族

妻妾

• 正妃：烏古論曷羅哂，金穆宗之妻貞惠皇后烏古論氏的姪女。

• 次妃：李舜英（1110年－？），原為北宋和王趙栻之妻，靖康之變被俘，歸完顏希尹為妾。

• 妾：忽土特滿。

• 妾：王貓兒，原為宋徽宗妃嬪，封南陽郡夫人，靖康之變被俘，歸完顏希尹為妾。

• 妾：劉百古，原為宋徽宗妃嬪，封益國夫人，靖康之變被俘，歸完顏希尹為妾。

• 妾：章好郎，原為宋徽宗妃嬪，封夫人，靖康之變被俘，歸完顏希尹為妾。

• 妾：孫星奴，原為宋徽宗妃嬪，封夫人，靖康之變被俘，歸完顏希尹為妾。

• 妾：趙福金，原為宋徽宗之女，封茂德帝姬，靖康之變被俘，被完顏宗望強迫和親，完顏宗望死後歸完顏希尹為妾。

子孫

• 子：完顏把荅（ - 1140年），同修國史，和父親同時被處死。

• 子：完顏漫帶（ - 1140年），符寶郎，和父親同時被處死。

• 子：完顏撻撻（ - 1140年），明威將軍，殺完顏宗磐並姦淫其妻後受責受驚而死。

• 孫：完顏守道、完顏守貞、完顏守能。