TaizuWade-Giles romanization T’ai-tsuPinyin Taizu (temple name, or miao-hao), personal name (hsing-ming) A-ku-taxingming) Aguda, also called Wan-yen Wanyan Min  ( born 1069 , Manchuria , China—died [now Northeast China]—died 1123 , China )  temple name (miaohao) of the leader of the nomadic Juchen (Chinese: Nüzhen, or Ruzhen) tribes who occupied north and east Manchuria. He founded the ChinJin, or Juchen, dynasty (1115–1234) and conquered all of North China. The Juchen were originally vassals of the Mongol-speaking Khitan tribes who had occupied part of North China and had taken the dynastic name of Liao (907–1125). Dissatisfied with this relationship, A-ku-ta’s Aguda’s father had been preparing a revolt when he died in 1100.

In 1112, when the last emperor of the Liao visited the Juchen homeland and ordered the tribal chiefs to dance for him, A-ku-ta Aguda refused to comply. He threw off his allegiance to the Liao and in 1115 declared himself emperor. The Sung rulers of the Bei (960–1279Northern) Song dynasty (960–1127), hoping to gain back Chinese territory occupied by the Liao, made an alliance with A-ku-taAguda. Aided by this union, A-ku-ta Aguda overran the entire Liao empire within a few years. When the Sung objected to their share of the spoils, A-ku-ta’s However, Aguda’s troops continued south, occupying Kaifeng, the Sung Bei Song capital, and forcing the dynasty to reestablish itself farther south south of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), in what is usually referred to as the Nan (Southern Sung ) Song (1127–1279).

The Juchen were beset by internal dissensions after A-ku-ta’s Aguda’s death and eventually contented themselves with control of the north for the next 108 years, while the Sung Song ruled in the south. A-ku-taAguda, who had adopted the Chinese personal name Wan-yen Wanyan Min, was given the posthumous title of T’ai-tsu temple name Taizu (“Grand Progenitor”) posthumously.