China

The Khitan

To the north at the time of the Wudai rose the seminomadic but largely pastoral Khitan, who were related to the eastern Mongols. The word Khitan (or Khitai) is the source of Cathay, the name for northern China in medieval Europe (as reported by Marco Polo), and of Kitai, the Russian name for China. The Khitan founded the Liao dynasty (907–1125) by expanding from the border of Mongolia into both southern Manchuria and the 16 prefectures south of the Great Wall. This area below the line of the Great Wall was to remain out of Chinese political control for more than 400 years. Its control by a non-Chinese state posed a dangerous security problem for the Bei (Northern) Song. More importantly in the long run, this region acted for centuries as a centre for the mutual exchange of culture between the Chinese and the northern peoples.

The Liao made Yanjing (present-day Beijing) their southern capital, thus starting that city’s history as a capital, and claimed to be the legitimate successors to the Tang. They incorporated their own tribes under respective chieftains and, with other subdued tribes in the area, formed a confederation, which they then transformed into a hereditary monarchy. Leadership always remained in the hands of the ruling tribe, the Yelü, who for the sake of stability shifted to the Chinese clan system of orderly succession.

The Liao economy was based on horse and sheep raising and on agriculture. Millet was the main crop, and salt, controlled by government monopoly, was an important source of revenue. Other commodities included iron produced by smelters. The Liao employed an effective dual system of administration to guard against the danger of being absorbed by Sinicization. They had one administration for their own people that enforced tribal laws, maintained traditional rites, and largely retained the steppe style of food and clothing. The Liao deliberately avoided the use of Chinese and added to their particular branch of the Mongolian language two types of writing—a smaller one that was alphabetical and a larger one related to Chinese characters. A second administration governed the farming region using the old Tang system, with Tang official titles, an examination system, Chinese-style tax regulations, and the Chinese language. The laws of the second administration enforced the established way of life, including such practices as ancestral worship among the Chinese subjects. The status of Chinese subjects varied: some were free subjects who might move upward into the civil service, while others might be held in bondage and slavery.

Though honouring the Confucian philosophy, the Liao rulers patronized Chinese Buddhism. Their achievements were generally military and administrative rather than cultural, but they did provide a model for their successors, the Jin, who in turn influenced the Mongols and, through them, succeeding Chinese dynasties.