Liao Dynasty 907-1125 CE
The Liao Dynasty 907-1125 CE was the first of the dynasties of conquest. It was founded by the Grand Kahn Abouji in 907. It was founded as the Khitan Empire, but would later be known as the Liao Dynasty. At the peak of its power, the Liao Dynasty encompassed Mongolia and parts of Manchuria and a small strip of China Proper. They developed a system of dual governments to rule over both Khitan and Han Chinese peoples. The dynasty would last until 1125 when the Khitans were conquered by the Jurchen people.
Beginnings
The Khitan
The Khitan were a proto-mongolian people from the steppe of Manchuria. Like the other peoples on the steppe, the Khitan were a tribal, nomadic people. They practiced agriculture, animal husbandry and hunting. Horses were an important part of life for the Khitan, all men learned to ride and shoot and were potential warriors. The Khitan family unit was a clan, and many different clans formed a tribe. A tribal chief would be selected to lead a tribe based on military acumen. A tribe alone was relatively weak but a confederation of tribes united posed a significant military threat. Decisions were not made by a single leader, rather decisions were made from a meeting of all the tribe leaders in the confederation. (Ebrey 164-167)
The Formation of the Liao Dynasty
References
- De Bary, WM. Theodore, and Irene Bloom, eds. Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol 1, From Earliest Times to 1600. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
- Ebrey, Patricia. Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Lary, Diana. Chinese Migrations: The Movement of People, Goods, and Ideas Over Four Millennia. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
- Twitchett, Denis, and John K. Fairbank, eds. The Cambridge History of China: Volume 5, Part One: The Sung Dynasty and its Precursors, 907-1279. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
- Twitchett, Denis, and John K. Fairbank, eds. The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.