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1 results

  • 1 - The Liao

  • Edited by Herbert Franke, Denis C. Twitchett, Princeton University, New Jersey
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of China
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    25 November 1994, pp 43-153

  • Summary

    The founding of the Liao dynasty at the beginning of the tenth century opened a second period of extensive foreign dominance in China. The name of the Khitan, the founders of the Liao dynasty, became a synonym for China. In 906 or 907 when the last Yao-lien khaghan, Hen-te-chin or Ch'in-te, was deposed because of his ineffectual leadership, the leaders of the eight tribes elected in his place the commander in chief of the confederation's forces, A-pao-chi, the chieftain of the I-la tribe. The basic annals of the Liao shih tell us that A-pao-chi "ascended the imperial throne" and founded a dynasty of his own in 907. For the Liao, their state was an invaluable buffer zone and a strategic stronghold from which any attempt by the Sung to strike into the occupied prefectures of northern Ho-pei could easily be outflanked. The reign of Sheng-tsung was the crucial period in the development of the Liao.