In 403 BC, the Zhou court recognized Jin's three successor states: Han, Zhao, and Wei.

King Cheng of Zhou, the second Zhou king, gave the land called Tang (唐), west of modern Yicheng County in Shanxi, to his younger brother, Tang Shuyu (唐叔虞) with the rank of a marquis.

In 771 BC the Quanrong nomads drove the Zhou out of the Wei River valley and killed the king.

In 739 BC, an official named Panfu (潘父) murdered Marquis Zhao and invited Huan Shu to take the throne.

All three Quwo rulers, Huan Shu (745–731), Zhuang Bo (731–716) and Duke Wu (716–678) made attempts to take over Jin.

Xian broke with Zhou feudalism by killing or exiling his cousins and ruling with appointees of various social backgrounds.

Some of the states conquered were Geng (耿), Huo (霍), old Wei (魏), Yu (虞) and Western Guo.

Duke Wen quickly established himself as an independent ruler by driving the Di barbarians west of the Yellow River.

In 635 BC he supported King Xiang of Zhou against a rival and was rewarded with lands near the royal capital.

Shortly after the battle, he held an interstate conference at Jitu (踐土) with King Xiang of Zhou and the rulers of six other states.

The Chinese proverb "The Friendship of Qin and Jin", meaning an unbreakable bond, dates from this period.

About this time, Jin began to support the southeastern state of Wu as a means of weakening Chu.

Duke Li of Jin (580–573) allied with Qin and Qi to make an east–west front against the threat of Chu from the south.

During the time of Duke Ding of Jin (511–475), the Fan and Zhonghang clans were eliminated by Xiangzi of Zhi.

After a long siege at Taiyuan, Han and Wei switched sides and the three weaker clans annihilated the Zhi.

In 403 BC, during the reign of Duke Lie of Jin (415–389), King Weilie of Zhou recognized Marquis Jing of Han, Marquis Wen of Wei and Marquess Lie of Zhao, as marquises of Han in the south, Wei in the center and Zhao in the north, completing the partition of Jin.

[4] Modern historians such as Yang Kuan, Ch'ien Mu, and Han Zhaoqi generally consider 369 BC the final year of Jin's existence.

Quwo was a cadet branch of Jin's ruling house; Ji clan descended from Shu Yu of Tang.

The Zhou court, which regarded the lineal legitimacy as an extremely important matter, could not agree with such an usurpation.

In 634 BCE, Duke Wen additionally formed three "ranks" (三行) with the purpose of defending against a Beidi invasion.

Other posts in the Jin army were Junsima (軍司馬) and Junwei (軍尉), both of which were subordinated under Junjiang and Junzuo.

[16] and the New Book of Tang traced his patrilineal ancestry to the Zhou dynasty kings via Ji Boqiao (姬伯僑), who was the son of Duke Wu of Jin.

[28] Jin is also represented by the star Kappa Herculis in asterism Right Wall, Heavenly Market enclosure (see Chinese constellation).