Kitans (Khitans, Qidan)

This paper is the first in what aims to be a series of papers toward a new decipherment and linguis- tic reconstruction of the Kitan Assembled Script Eulogy for Empress Xuanyi of 1101 A.D. In my treatment of this inscription, I have attempted to juxtapose the Kitan text and its very roughly cor- responding Chinese text as much as possible, to allow for greater accuracy in decipherment and re- construction. This methodology has allowed me to identify several words with previously unnoticed Mongolic cognates.

Before the tenth century, the dress of elite women in and around China often reflected "Han" Chinese fashions and preferences. In funerary paintings and relief sculptures of Sogdian and Xianbei couples from the sixth century, for example, women wear "Han" Chinese-style clothing. Even in the Tang dynasty (ca. 618-907), when exchange with Central Asia via overland Silk Road trade impacted the styles and patterning of elite dress and men incorporated clear Central Asian attributes into their dress, elite women in the Tang sphere wore recognizably Tang fashions. Chinese-style dress in these centuries clearly conveyed cultural import and, likely, political power, especially after the founding of the Tang dynasty. However, the straightforward borrowing of Tang women's dress shifted in the Khitan Liao dynasty (ca. 907-1125). The Liao, in contrast to other states that shared a border with China in previous centuries, saw themselves as political equals to the Song dynasty (ca. 960-1278) court in the south. The Liao court was interested in Song customs and culture and incorporated artistic motifs and practices from the Song court. However, the Liao courtly idiom was never fully subsumed into the greater world of the Song-rather, the Liao used facets of Song courtly culture for their own ends. One way this is manifested is through the dual administrative system, a bureaucratic organization that, among other things, regulated and distinguished between who was permitted to wear Khitan and non-Khitan dress. In this paper, I will examine the material evidence from funerary contexts for how the dress of elite Liao women both engaged with the dress of the Song, while also maintaining a certain amount of cultural autonomy. Through their dress, elite Liao women signaled clear messages about their status, identity, and difference to their Song counterparts.

The historiographical record of the Liao dynasty (907-1125) is limited due to the contingencies of manuscript survival, and so excavated epitaphs have come to be a vital primary source for study of Liao history. This thesis analyses the epitaphs of the Liao as a whole and considers the contingent social factors behind their production.

This is done over four thematic chapters that roughly map onto four periods in the Liao where the themes are most apparent: geography, culture and the tenth century; territorial reforms, the expansion of the imperial examinations and the early-to-mid eleventh century; genealogy, the Kitan aristocracy and the mid-to-late eleventh century; and court politics, historiography and the late Liao (1085-1125).

Taken together these themes explain the increased production of epitaphs over the course of the dynasty and in different regions of the empire. I argue that epitaphs were not a cultural signifier of ethnic categories but a medium through which people not only commemorated the dead, but also signalled their status to others. It is this function of epitaphs as texts that could influence others perceptions that explains the growing demand for them against the backdrop of the changing social structures.

This dissertation reconsiders the political and ethno-cultural frontiers of North China, taking as a case study a group that thrived in the Eastern Intermediate Zone (Hebei-Liaoning-Rehe border zone) known as the Qai or Tatabï in Turkic sources, as the Kumak Qai (Kùmò Xī 庫莫奚), and later, just Qai (Xī 奚) in Chinese sources, and now Tatayar in Kitan sources. The dissertation argues against the existence of a strict borderline between southern sedentary agrarian polities and northern nomadic pastoral polities by documenting the development of early polities in the region, highlighting the transition from “Big Man” polities based on the strength of individual personas to the development of hereditary houses in the model of steppe and Chinese hereditary empires from the second century BCE to the tenth century CE. The story of state formation in the region is told through the combination of historical ecological data from the region (modern-day Ningcheng county, Inner Mongolia), traditional Chinese historical accounts (termed “pseudo-ethnographies”), and the incorporation of newly accessible Kitan language sources. The historical politics and ecology of the region are complex, and the Qai were not horse-riding herders as some of the pseudo-ethnographies suggest; they made use of the environment through the cultivation of crops, the raising of livestock, hunting by foot mountain forests, and other ways. Under the Kitan Liao (907-1125), Qai identity was preserved, reemerging with the establishment of the short-lived Great Qai State in 1123, but the Qai Princes of the Liao and their staff, appointed by the Kitan, did not represent Qai interests. New developments in the Kitan language sources reveal the Qai autonym, Tatayar, and the title of the Qai leaders, qaghan, confirming that the Qai were an historical community with hereditary titles in use prior to the Liao. Geographical boundaries do not necessarily define ecological boundaries. The cycle of polity formation shifting between “Big Man” polities and hereditary monarchies ending with the rise of the house of Yêrud (Yélǜ 耶律) of Liao demonstrates that foreign influence catalyzed state formation, yet ethnicity did not determine political loyalties.

This article examines how dynasties applied the Five Elements theory in their respective legitimation discourses throughout the history of imperial China. Drawing on both documentary and visual sources, I reveal that the Liao, Jin, and Yuan rulers constructed different dynastic lineages that challenged the “orthodox” dynastic succession pattern formulated by Han Chinese dynasties. In particular, I will show that the Yuan tacitly invoked Metal as its dynastic element and white as its imperial color. I argue that the Yuan choice of dynastic element essentially claimed succession to the Jurchen Jin, another non-Han conquest dynasty, rather than to the Song as scholars have previously assumed. However, these constructions were later negated by the Ming dynasty, which restored a purely Han Chinese dynastic lineage that excluded the Liao, Jin, and Yuan. These ideological conflicts, which were ultimately grounded in ethnic tensions between Han and non-Han peoples, eventually led to the disappearance of the Five Element theory in the Qing political rhetoric. This article sheds new light on understanding how a dynasty engaged its cultural heritage and ethnic background in its political ideology and how it perceived its own place in the Chinese dynastic lineage.

The purely factious character of the story related by the anonymous notary of King Béla about the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin is a well-established and widely held view in Hungarian medieval studies. In line with this assumption, long generations of eminent medievalist have been engaged in the exploration of whether Anonymous had in fact told a true story of a later period, primarily of his own age, encrypted in his conquest narrative. The present discussion diverts from this perspective. Instead of seeking the springboard of its interpretation of the anonymous notary’s description either among the internal struggles of the eleventh–twelfth-century Hungarian Kingdom or in Byzantium’s aspirations to great power status, the present paper makes an attempt to compare the Gesta’s conquest narrative with the pattern of another conquest, which, although it took place in a faraway region, is accepted as historical in modern historiography. For this reason, the events having taken place in the 1120s in Northern China and present-day Mongolia, namely the Jurchen overthrew of the Khitan Empire of the Liao dynasty (907–1125), are scrutinised. As a paradigm to Árpád’s conquest of the Carpathian Basin, the story of Yelü Dashi, a member of the Khitan ruling family, and his people gathered from among the ranks of his Khitan subjects is offered
here. The present study describes how he fled northwest to the border area of his Empire in order to collect the available resources in 1124, and how, after their westward migrated, they managed to establish a new, flourishing polity in Inner Asia. In view of the need of further in-depth research, the present paper cannot aim to offer a systematic evaluation of the whole set of obvious similarities. Therefore, its main objective
is to point out the major affinities in terms of the paradigms between the conquest narrative of Anonymous’ „fictional Gesta” and the historical twelfth-century Khitan conquest of a new territory.

In this article I am surveying several possible loanwords from Koreanic languages (probably Kogu-ryǒ and/or Bo-hai) into the Khitan language. Apart from explaining the origin of some of the Khitan words that have no Mongolic, other Central Asian, or Chinese etymologies, I will demonstrate that these loanwords can shed light on the decipherment of Khitan characters with unknown readings, and therefore advance the reconstruction and reading of the Khitan language itself.

This article examines the creation, preservation, and destruction of the defensive forest that the Northern Song built in Hebei along the Song–Liao border. Created as a landscape barrier against the Kitan attacks, this forest established the necessary strategic depth between the capital city and the northern frontline of the Song empire to compensate for Kaifeng's geographical vulnerability. While the Song government painstakingly maintained this forest throughout most of the dynasty, Liao troops, Hebei borderland residents, and many Song officials had nonetheless posed incessant challenges to this military forestation project. In 1122/23, at the onset of the war on the Liao to retrieve the Sixteen Prefectures , the Song army removed this borderland forest that blocked their northern expedition. The destruction of this defensive forest, which could have had thwarted attacks from the north, dismantled the strategic depth between Kaifeng and the Hebei borderland and henceforth presaged the fall of Kaifeng to the Jin, the Liao's successor, in a few years. I argue that this strategic depth was not only a physical distance, but also a diplomatic, sociopolitical, and military link that connected the ecology of the Song's northernmost periphery and the fate of the entire empire. Emperor Taizu once ordered the planting of elms and willows in the Waqiao Pass region along the Song–Liao border. He prescribed that this forest should have only one road running through it, and this road should be narrow enough to allow only one mounted soldier to pass at a time. Later during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong (r. 997–1022), this road became the pathway that envoys traveled back and forth every year. As time passed by, the forest grew increasingly dense and luxuriant. The network of closely interlaced thick trees formed blockages and obstructions.

For about half of its recorded history, parts or all of imperial China were ruled by non-Han peoples, mainly from Manchuria or Mongolia. The dynasties they founded (mainly the Liao, Jin, Xia, Yuan, and Qing) contributed greatly to the shaping of late imperial and modern China's boundaries and ethnic composition. Yet until recently these non-Han dynasties were treated as the stepchildren of Chinese history, and were studied mainly through the prism of Sinicization, namely when and how they embraced the allegedly superior Chinese culture. The chapter reviews the reasons for the marginalization of these dynasties and the historiographical turns—in terms of both sources and historical frameworks—that, especially since the 1990s, led to their study in their own Inner Asian terms. Highlighting the 'New Qing History' that led this change, the chapter discusses the common political culture of the Inner Asian dynasties and reviews directions of current and future research.

Крадин Николай Николаевич: биобиблиографический
указатель. К 60-летию со дня рождения / Cоставитель Н.А. Клюев. Владивосток: ИИАЭ ДВО РАН, 2022. – 140 c.
Биобиблиографический указатель посвящен научной, научно-педагогической и организаторской деятельности члена-корреспондента РАН Крадина Николая Николаевича. Он включает биографический очерк юбиляра, написанный им самим, перечень всех опубликованных и отредактированных Н.Н.Крадиным научных работ, список учеников, рецензии на его работы и литературу о Н.Н.Крадине. Издание адресовано специалистам в области истории, археологии, антропологии и востоковедения, аспирантам и студентам.

The history of Khitans and the Liao (907—1125) dynasty founded by them is of unknown, but considerable interest for the wide range of specialists in history of medieval Inner Asia. In the days of Liao, the urban development, handicrafts, commerce and agriculture receive a large development. The population of the Liao Empire has created a highly developed culture, many elements of which had a wide distribution among the neighboring countries and people.

This presentation provides an overview of the relations between the Roman/Byzantine Empire and the Steppes within the framework of the general dynamics in the Eurasian steppe region in the 10th to 11th centuries CE, including the migrations of Magyars, Pechenegs and Seljuks and their interactions with Constantinople.

Video of the presentation: https://youtu.be/d3AONz1nu9Q

In the 10th century, the nomadic Khitan, with their Liao dynasty, became the most dominant power in East Asia, posing enormous threats to the Chinese Song dynasty in the south. Based on an analysis of the traditional Chinese world view, this paper examines the two opposing views of the Song Chinese about their Khitan neighbours in the north. The Song Chinese acknowledged the military prowess of the Khitan and thus advocated flexible diplomatic policies based on realistic observation and careful assessment, demonstrated by the diplomatic parity set by the Treaty of Chanyuan in 1005. In the meantime, many held firm belief in their cultural superiority over the " barbarians " , which derived from the tradition of a cultural sino-centrism. The Song looked for Confucian sources to justify their concession by turning their attention to the cultivation of virtue and were confident that they were the centre of culture and civilisation.

This paper compares the Byzantine and Chinese diplomacy towards their nomadic neighbors during the Komnenos Dynasty of Byzantine Empire and the Song Dynasty of China which roughly correspond to a similar time span on the two edges of Asia. Both empires were in many ways displaying similar attitudes and ideologies concerning their age-long nomadic rivals. However, during this period the Song dynasty displayed a different approach compared to the previous dynasties and the Byzantine Empire. The diplomacy of the Song Dynasty with its Khitan, Jurchen and Tangut neighbors differed from the previous dynasties. The Komnenos dynasty on the other hand, had a more flexible diplomacy with its Turkick nomadic neighbors which allowed it to survive longer. This study compares the two differing approaches of these dynasties to their nomadic neighbors taking into account the different political and military situations they faced. The reasons for the rigidity of Song policy vis-a-vis the flexibility of Byzantine policy is compared under the light of the ideological and religious challenges faced by these two empires and their nomadic neighbors.

Michal Biran. The Qara Khitai Empire in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World. 2005, 2008 XVI + 279pp, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
This excpert includes ch.4: China
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Qara-Khitai-Eurasian-History/dp/0521066026/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=

В книге представлены материалы из китайских источников X — XIV вв., касающиеся истории тюркских и монгольских племен, известных на протяжении IX — XIII веков для китайских современников как «татары». Для настоящего издания на русский язык переведены тексты (в подавляющем большинстве впервые) из важнейших китайских источников: в основной части —  из династийных историй «Ляо ши» и «Цзинь ши», а также из неофициальных заметок южносунского историка и писателя Ли Синь-чуаня, содержащие ценные сведения о «татарах», «монголах» и других тюркских и монгольских племенах и народностях в период с X по начало XIII в.; в дополнительных же материалах — приведены переводы выдержек из династийных историй «Цзю У-дай ши (Старая история Пяти династий)» и «Синь У-дай ши (Новая история Пяти династий)», а также из гигантского свода исторических сведений Сыма Гуана «Цзы-чжи тунцзянь (Всеобщее зерцало, правлению помогающее)» (все они написаны в период Северной Сун — с конца X до  80-х годов XI в.), в которых есть сведения о «татарах», начиная с 842 г. (первого упоминания их в китайских источниках) и до начала XI в. Ценнейшие сведения о «татарах» и «монголах» и их отношениях с чжурчжэньской империей Цзинь в XII — XIII вв., отсутствующие в династийных историях «Цзинь ши» и «Юань ши», содержатся в переведенных для настоящего издания фрагментах неофициальной истории Цзинь —  «Да Цзинь гочжи (История государства [династии] Великая Цзинь)» (датируется XII — XIII вв.). Последние особенно важны, поскольку закрывают пробелы в наших знаниях о предыстории возникновения государства Чингисхана, а также освещают политическую историю соседивших с Цзинь «татар» и «монголов» за весь XII в. Ценные и интересные сведения указанных источников оказываются полезными еще и для разрешения ряда вопросов этногенеза татар, монголов и кипчаков/половцев. Этим вопросам посвящена вводная статья.
Тираж 200 экз.

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ

Храпачевский Р.П. «Татарские» племенные конфедерации и монгольские племена в дочингисову эпоху по китайским источникам

МАТЕРИАЛЫ КИТАЙСКИХ ИСТОЧНИКОВ IX-XIV ВВ.

ЧАСТЬ ПЕРВАЯ.
Записки о «монголо-татарах»

Ли Синь-чуань «Цзянь-янь илай чао-е цзацзи (Различные официальные и неофициальные записи о [событиях] произошедших с периода правления Цзянь-янь)»

Сборник второй. Глава 19  «Охрана границ», раздел второй (избранные главки)
1. «Клятвенные посещения пограничных застав татарами ([О] государстве монголов  — главное и дополни-тельное)»
2. «Перемещение чжурчжэней на юг ([О] пяти поколе-ниях восьми государей государства Цзинь — главное и дополнительное)»
3. «Си Ся стучится у ворот (Шестнадцать рассказов [о государстве] Си Ся — главное и дополнительное)»

Дополнительные материалы
I. Извлечения из сочинения Пэн Да-я, Сюй Тин «Хэй-да шилюэ (Краткие известия о черных татарах)»
II. Извлечения из «Юань ши (Официальная история династии Юань)»
КОММЕНТАРИЙ

ЧАСТЬ ВТОРАЯ.
Извлечения из источников по истории Ляо и Пяти династий

«Ляо ши (Официальная история династии Ляо)»
1. Извлечения из раздела «Основные записи»
2. Извлечения из раздела «Трактаты»
3. Извлечения из раздела «Таблицы»
4. Извлечения из раздела «Жизнеописания знаменитых»

Дополнительные материалы
I. Извлечения из свода Сыма Гуана «Цзы-чжи тунцзянь (Всеобщее зерцало, правлению помогающее)»
II. Извлечения из династийной истории «Цзю У-дай ши (Старая история Пяти династий)»
III. Извлечения из династийной истории «Синь У-дай ши (Новая история Пяти династий)»
КОММЕНТАРИЙ

ЧАСТЬ ТРЕТЬЯ.
Извлечения из источников по истории династии Цзинь

«Цзинь ши (Официальная история династии Цзинь)»

1. Извлечения из раздела «Основные записи»
2. Извлечения из раздела «Трактаты»
3. Извлечения из раздела «Жизнеописания знаменитых»

Дополнительные материалы
I. Извлечения из сочинения «Да Цзинь гочжи (История государства [династии] Великая Цзинь)»
II. Извлечения из сочинения Ли Синь-чуаня «Цзянь-янь илай си-нянь яо-лу (Важные записи в хронологическом порядке по годам [событий] произошедших с [периода] Цзянь-янь)»
КОММЕНТАРИЙ

ПРИЛОЖЕНИЯ
I.  Карты
II. Указатели
Указатель имен
Указатель географических названий
Указатель этнонимов

БИБЛИОГРАФИЯ
Список библиографических сокращений
Список источников и литературы

ГЛОССАРИЙ