The Jianzhou Jurchens () were one of the three major groups of Jurchens as identified by the Ming dynasty. Although the geographic location of the Jianzhou Jurchens changed throughout history, during the 14th century they were located south of the Wild Jurchens and the Haixi Jurchens, and inhabited modern-day Liaoning and Jilin provinces in China. The Jianzhou Jurchens were known to possess an abundant supply of natural resources. They also possessed industrial secrets, particularly in processing ginseng and the dyeing of cloth. They were powerful due to their proximity to Ming trading towns such as Fushun, Kaiyuan, and Tieling in Liaodong, and to Manpojin camp near Korea. Origins According to Pamela Crossley, a historian specializing in Manchu history, the origin of the name Jianzhou is contested. Xu Zhongsha thought it was derived from the region of Parhae, from the Songari and Hun Rivers. Japanese scholars disagree and state that the name was created from the migrating Jurchens, near the present border with Korea. After the fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, pockets of Yuan loyalists retreated to the northeast. In 1375, a former Yuan official Naghachu residing in Liaoyang province invaded Liaodong with the hope of restoring the Yuan dynasty. After he was defeated in 1387, the Ming began reorganizing the Jurchens in Liaodong to protect the Ming border region from further incursions. Various Jurchen groups had migrated south and three tribes settled themselves around the Tumen River near the modern border of China, Russia, and North Korea. The Jianzhou Jurchen originate partially from the Huligai who were classified by the Liao dynasty as a separate ethnicity from the Jurchen people who founded the Jin dynasty and were classified as separate from Jurchens during the Yuan dynasty. Their home was in the lower reaches of the Songhua River and Mudanjiang. The Huligai later moved west and became a major component of the Jianzhou Jurchens led by Mentemu during the Ming dynasty, and the Jianzhou Jurchens later became Manchus. The Jurchens during the Ming dynasty lived in Jilin. According to the records of Ming Dynasty officials, the Jianzhou Jurchen was descended from Mohe people who established Balhae Kingdom. The Taowen, Huligai, and Wodolian Jurchen tribes lived in the area of Heilongjiang in Yilan during the Yuan dynasty when it was part of Liaoyang province and governed as a circuit. These tribes became the Jianzhou Jurchens in the Ming dynasty. In