Liao dynasty: A Visual History

The Liao dynasty was founded by the Khitan chieftain Abaoji, who took the imperial title in 916 and whose people dominated the north-east steppe and, from 938, the Sixteen Prefectures around Beijing. Ruling nomads and Chinese under a dual administration, the Liao defeated Song invasions and extracted annual payments under the Treaty of Chanyuan (1005). The Jurchen, once Liao subjects, destroyed the dynasty in 1125; a prince fled west and founded the Qara Khitai in Central Asia.

When it existed: the era ribbon

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Liao territory

Timeline of the Liao dynasty

1. 907
   Abaoji becomes khan
2. 916
   Liao dynasty proclaimed
3. 926
   Balhae conquered
4. 938
   Sixteen Prefectures acquired
5. 947
   Kaifeng briefly occupied
6. 1005
   Treaty of Chanyuan
7. 1114
   Jurchen revolt
8. 1125
   Tianzuo capturedLiao ends; Qara Khitai founded in the west.

Abaoji

The Khitan were a Mongolic-speaking people of the Liao river region. Abaoji, elected khan in 907, made the office hereditary, conquered the Balhae kingdom in 926, created two Khitan scripts and built a Chinese-style capital. His son Deguang helped a Chinese rebel found the Later Jin dynasty and was rewarded with the Sixteen Prefectures, including modern Beijing, in 938; in 947 he briefly occupied Kaifeng.

Dual administration

The Liao governed the steppe tribes through a Northern Administration and their Chinese subjects through a Southern one modelled on the Tang. The emperors moved between seasonal camps and hunted with falcons; the empresses of the Xiao clan wielded great power. Empress Dowager Chengtian led the army that forced the Song to sign the Treaty of Chanyuan in 1005, guaranteeing 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk a year.

Fall to the Jurchen

Emperor Tianzuo's misrule and demands for tribute provoked the Jurchen chief Aguda to rebel in 1114. Jurchen victories, Song intervention from the south and Liao defections finished the dynasty; Tianzuo was captured in 1125. Yelu Dashi led survivors west, defeated the Seljuks at Qatwan in 1141 and founded the Western Liao or Qara Khitai.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Northern Song dynasty (960 to 1127)
• Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (1115 to 1234)
• Qara Khitai (Western Liao) (1124 to 1218)
• Western Xia (1038 to 1227)
• Uyghur Khaganate (744 to 840)
• Tang dynasty (618 to 907)
• Mongol Empire (1206 to 1368)

Wars of the same era and region

• Fang La rebellion (1120 to 1121)
• Song-Dai Viet War (1075 to 1077)

8 surprising things about the Liao dynasty

1. The Russian word for China, Kitai, and the old English 'Cathay' both come from the Khitan.
2. The Liao had five capitals and the court moved between them and hunting camps through the year.
3. The Khitan large and small scripts remain only partly deciphered.
4. Liao emperors' funerals involved gilded death masks and wire body suits, found in tombs.
5. The Liao pagoda at Yingxian, built in 1056, is the oldest and tallest wooden pagoda in China.
6. The Song's annual payments to the Liao were about 1 to 2 percent of Song revenue, cheaper than war.
7. Khitan women had far more freedom than Chinese women, and Liao empresses commanded armies.
8. The Qara Khitai founded by Liao refugees ruled Central Asia for 90 years and were Buddhist rulers of a mostly Muslim population.

Sources

• Liao dynasty Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Liao dynasty Wikipedia
• Liao Dynasty World History Encyclopedia
• Denis Twitchett and Herbert Franke (eds), The Cambridge History of China, vol. 6 (1994) Cambridge University Press

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