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Videos about China's Resistance War:
The Battle of Shanghai & Nanking;
Bombing of Chungking;
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(in English)
Videos about China's Resistance War: China's Dunkirk Retreat (in English); 42 Video Series (in Chinese)
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Sinitic Civilization-Book 1 
Sinitic Civilization-Book 2 
Tribute of Yu 
Heavenly Questions 
Zhou King Muwang's Travels 
The Legends of Mountains & Seas 
The Bamboo Annals - Book 1 
The Scourge-of-God-Tetralogy: From the Khitans to the Jurchens & Mongols: A History of Barbarians in Triangle Wars and Quartet Conflicts (available at iUniverse; Google; Amazon; B&N) |
The most reliable source for the name of China will be that of 'Cathay', a word to have derived from Kitai, namely the Khitans of Mongolia who had expelled Kirghiz Turks from Mongolia in A.D. 924 and founded the Liao Dynasty (A.D. 916-1124) in northern China/Manchuria. the Khitans, after being defeated by the Jurchens, went to set up Qarakhitai or Western Liao in Turkistan/Central Asia. Karakhitai ended when Kuchlug was killed by Genghis Khan in A.D. 1218. For Westerners, China is Cathay, and that's best illustratated in the saying "every fifty years, a cycle in Cathay'. The word 'china' or 'China' deserves another look as to its origin. The name of China has nothing to do with chinaware. As to the chinaware, that will point to the inventions from Soong/Ming Dynasties, not the ancient pottery. The chinas of Soong/Ming Dynasties are famous for their blue and white patterns and the hardness of the product as a result of high temperature manufacturing process. Some scholars pointed out that the Huns used to call Han Chinese by 'Qin Ren', i.e., Qin people. Some records in Chinese Turkistan did point to the continued usage of 'Qin Ren' well after Qin's demise. While I read about citation of a similar name in Sanskrit, i.e., Cina or Cin, some scholar had speculated that the name 'Chin' could be a mutation of 'Jing' the alias for the Chu State in Southern China during the Zhou Dynasty. This may sound a bit extrapolated. However, it is believable in light of the fact that Han emissary Zhang Qian mentioned he saw in the Oxus and Fengana Valley the silk and clothing produced in Sichuan Province which merchants said were shipped over from India. Han Emperor Wudi once launched 4 search teams through the mountains of Southwest China looking for a path to India. Recent excavations showed that Indian's Buddhism had spread to southern China during the Warring States time period. Buddhist states had been spreading across Southeast Asia before Chinese poked their nose in this area. China's history records showed that the people living in southern Vietnam and Cambodia two thousand years carried curly hair, a feature much to do with Dravidians of India. In between the name of Qin and Cathay, there was another name for China, i.e., Tabgac or Tuoba, that was inscribed on some stone monument by the Turks during Tang Dynasty. The Last Confucian of China, Mr Liang Suming, claimed that he was a Mongolian in descent. When Mr Liang Soming published an article "An Exploration Into Yuan Dynasty" in 1918 and hence was appointed lecturer of philosophy in Peking University, people would not know that Liang, a youth of 25 from Guiling, today’s Guangxi Province in Southern China, would be a Mongolian in heritage. The Mongols held on to their stronghold in today's Guangxi-Yunnan areas much longer after they lost China. Recent DNA tests conducted against the remains of the Khitan tombs, however, pointed to the possibility that those Mongols in today's Yunnan-Guangxi areas were more Khitan than Mongol, and in fact those people had historically claimed that they were the descendants of the Khitans who were dispatched to southern China by the Mongols in the 14th century. (The DNA tests, interestingly, also linked the Dawo'er or Dagur people in today's Manchuria as the closest kin of the ancient Khitans.) New History of the Tang Dynasty mentioned that the Khitans were descendants of the Kebi'neng Xianbei. (Alternatively, Old History Of Five Dynasties said that the Khitans were an alternative race of the Huns.) In the section Sixteen Nations, we mentioned that the Yuwen Xianbei, after fleeing to the north of Song-mo (pine desert in the Jehol mountains, i.e., today's sandy river basin along the Laha-he River or the origin of the Western Liao River), later split into two tribal groups of Kuzhen-xi and the Khitans. Song-mo (pine desert) was alternatively interpreted to be about the hazy span of pine trees in the wavy hilly area enclosed by tall mountains like Khing'an to the north and Yan-shan to the southwest. The cause for the split was to do with Tuoba Emperor Taizu's campaign against Kumo-Xi in A.D. 388, with the history annals Wei Shu claiming that the Tuoba defeated four Kumo-Xi tribes and wrestled over 100,000 cattle and other livestocks, with comments to the effect that Kumo_xi was an alternative stock of the Yuwen Xianbei who fled to Songmo after being defeated by Murong Yuanzhen and that the Khitans were a different stock but of the same family as Kumo-Xi. Back in A.D. 338, Murong Huang destroyed the Duan-shi Xianbei; and in February 344, Murong Huang defeated Yuwen Gui at Changli, further driving the Yuwen Xianbei remnants to north of the desert in A.D. 345, with Yuwen chanyu Yidougui dying to the north of the deserts. So to say that the Tanshihuai Xianbei engendered the Yuwen clan, and the Yuwen clan, after a defeat, fled to the north where they were to become the ancestors of the Khitans. As a result of the Kumo-Xi and Khitans' harassing the border area, Murong Sheng (r. A.D. 398-401) and Murong Xi (r. 401-407) repeatedly swept the Songmo area. In A.D. 405, Murong Xi, with empress Fu-huanghou, pushed to Jingbei to attack the Khitans but in face of a strong Khitan army, changed direction and abandoned heavy equipment to attack Korguryo, ending in a debacle of army and horse frozen or labored to death in a 3000-li march. The Kumo-Xi and Khitans sought pacification with successor Northern Yan emperor Feng Ba (r. 409-430) and received the conferrals as King Guishan-wang, with a trading fair established at Yingqiu. According to Wei Shu, there were over one dozen tribal states next to the Tungusic Wuji tribe of Manchuria, with such tribal state names as Da-molu-guo, Fuzhong-guo, Moduohui-guo, Kulou-guo, Suhe-guo, Jufufu-guo, Pilier-guo, Badahe-guo, Yuyuling-guo, Kufuzhen-guo, Lulou-guo and Yuzhenhou-guo, among which would evolve the later eight Khitan tribes carrying similar names of Hedahe, Fuyuyu, Yuling, Pijie, and Li -- with Jufufu-guo and Yuyuling-guo of Wei Shu being taken as corruption or typo into Fufuyu and Yuling of Liao Shi. Tuoba Wei in A.D. 436 expanded the rule to the Liao-hai (Liao sea), i.e., the expanse of hilly and sandy areas of pines, and launched the Helong garrison. New History of the Tang Dynasty said that by the time of Tuoba's Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-534), the ancestors of the Khitans adopted the name 'Khitan' for themselves. The Khitans lived around the Liao River in today's Manchuria. To the east of the Khitans will be Koguryo, to the west the Xi Nomads, to the north Mohe (Malgal) and Shiwei Tribes, and to the south Yingzhou Prefecture of Tuoba Wei Dynasty. Historian Lü Simian had a thorough dissertation on the Xianbei or Tungusic people, including the tracing of the Khitans and Kuzhen-xi [i.e., Xi] people. The Shi-wei statelets would be where we are to trace the Mongols for their origin. Wuji (Malgal) would be where the Jurchens came from.
The Dong-hu Barbarians: Xianbei-Wuhuan Donghu had existed in northern border all the time. Ancient records pointed to three names, Beirong, Shanrong and Wuzhong, for the same group of people, i.e., the Donghu. The Xianbei-Wuhuan, who were said to be of the Tungus stock, were driven to Xianbei and Wuhuan Mountains after they accused the first Hunnic king Mote (Modu) of patricide. In early Han Dynasty, Hunnic Chanyu Mote defeated the Donghu, and Donghu fled to Xianbei-shan and Wuhuan-shan Mountains in the east. (An alternative school of thought stated that the Xianbei people were comprised of the Chinese coolie who fled from Qin Emperor Shihuangdi's order to build the Great Wall at the northern borders. The logic behind this assertion was probably erroneous, which was to claim that the Xianbei, who cut their hair, must be those hair-cut Chinese convicts who fled the coolie labor building the Great Wall.) The Xianbei were later relocated to today's Liaoning Province by Han Emperor Wudi for sake of segregation from the Huns. Hence, they were called the Donghu or Eastern Hu nomads, inheriting an old tribal name that long existed in the Zhou times. The Xianbei and Wuhuan people, who were called Dong-hu (east of the Huns) for their position to the Huns, were said to have fled to Manchuria after being defeated by the Huns. After the defeat, the Xianbei were subordinate to the Huns. While the Xianbei was located relatively to the north, the Wuhuan people, whom Xu Hou Han Shu alternatively claimed to have derived from a chieftain's last name "wu" and first name "huang", dwelled next to the Chinese. In 45, Ji Tong, "tai shou" for Liaodong, defeated the Xianbei. In A.D. 48, the new Hunnic Empire, which revived as a result of Wang Mang's usurpation of Western Han Dynasty, dissolved due to internal fights. In Chinese records, two groups of the Huns would be known again: the Southern Huns under Huhanye's grandson and the Northern Huns. In 85 and 88, the Xianbei attacked the Huns. Around A.D. 89, General Dou Xian, under the order of his empress sister, led a huge army comprising of mercenaries such as the Xianbei from today's Beijing area and the Southern Hunnic allies, departed Shuofang-jun to attack the Northern Huns, and had a decisive battle against the Northern Huns at the Jiluoshan Mountain. In A.D. 91, General Dou Xian mounted another deadly campaign against the Northern Huns. Geng Kui defeated and expelled chanyu of the Northern Huns. The Northern Huns hence began a migration that would lead to the chain reaction to the West. The remnant Northern Huns selected a brother of chanyu, rightside Guli king Yu-chu-jian, as the new leader. In 92, Wang Fu and Ren Shang attacked and defeated Yu-chu-jian. In 94, the Northern Huns rebelled and made a Southern Hun chieftain, Feng-hou, as the Northern Hun chanyu. Eastern Han Dynasty army, together with the Xianbei and Wuhuan, with a total army of 40,000, attacked Feng-hou, chasing him out of the Southern Hun territory. In 107, Feng-hou moved to control Chinese Turkestan by taking advantage of the Chinese abandoning the governor-office in the western territories. The Xianbei, who expanded to the Western Corridor area in the wake of the Hunnic decline, defeated Feng-hou in 118 and took over the Hun remnants. After the Hunnic decline in late first century AD, the Xianbei moved back towards the west. The Xianbei mixed up with the Huns. The Hunnic Xia Dynasty, established by Helian Bobo, was said to be of a mingle nature, called 'Tie Fu'. The Tie Fu Huns were born of Xianbei mother and Hunnic Father. There appeared a Xianbei chieftain called Tanshihuai (reign A.D. 156-181) who established a Xianbei alliance by absorbing dozens of thousands of Huns. The Tanshihuai alliance disintegrated after the death of Tanshihuai. Another chieftain called Kebi'neng emerged. By the time of Three Kingdoms Period (A.D. 220-280), the Wuhuan nomads had taken control of today's Hebei Province and Peking areas. Warlord Yuan Shao campaigned against the Wuhuans and controlled three prefectures of Wuhuan nomads. After Ts'ao Ts'ao defeated Yuan Shao, Yuan's two sons (Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi) fled to seek asylum with the Wuhuans. Ts'ao Ts'ao campaigned against the Wuhuan via a surprise strategy (by marching 800 li distance without detection), killed chieftain Datu (with same last character as Hunnic Chanyu Motu), and took over the control of southern Manchuria. Xianbei rose in the aftermath of Wuhuan decline, and Kebi'neng Xianbei grew in strength. The demise of Han Dynasty saw the Xianbei and Wuhuan taking over the old territories from the Huns in the northern borders as well as invading into the Korea Peninsula. Chen Shou commented that Ke'bineng Xianbei had at one time covered the territories from the Liao River of Manchuria in the east to Yunzhong/Wuyuan in the west. The Xianbei had prospered after Cao Cao conquered their kinsmen, i.e., the Wuhuan. Wuhuan was absorbed by both Cao Cao and Xianbei, and its name disappeared thereafter, only to re-emerge in the 10th century war with the Khitans. In autumn A.D. 152, Tanshihuai began to intrude into the Eastern Han territories. In A.D. 166, the Han court proposed an intermarriage with Tanshihuai. Tanshihuai declined the intermarriage proposal. Tanshihuai zoned the northern territories in the same way as the Huns, and conferred the title of da-ren onto Tuoba, Murong and Yuwen Xianbei for attacking China. At the time of Han Emperor Lingdi, in A.D. 177, a Chinese expedition force of 30,000, commanded by Xia Yu ("hu Wuhuan xiaowei"), Tian Yan and Zang Min ("xiongnu zhong-langjiang"), was routed by Tanshihuai's three tribal groups. The lost battle was waged against the advice of Cai Yong [whose daughter Cai Wenji was later looted by the Southern Huns during the turmoil years of the Red Turbans], with a dissertation to the effect that the border disturbance was a skin disease in comparison with the internal troubles of China which were the rotten wounds on the back of the human body -- a similar comment to Chiang Kai-shek's judgment on the Japanese invasion and the communist rebellion in the 20th century China. Cai Jiong, stating that the Xianbei, having developed into a 100,000 strong army in the aftermath of the Huns' demise and escape to the faraway land, was not an enemy who could be defeated easily. In the winter, the Xianbei attacked Liao-xi. In A.D. 178, the Xianbei attacked Jiuquan on the Western Corridor. Altogether Tanshihuai launched five major incursions into northern China. Later historian Fan Ye further pointed out how the Xianbei chieftains Tanshihuai and Tadu (Tate, Tadun) ravaged the northern belt during Han Emperor Lingdi and Xiandi's reigns. The Tanshihuai alliance disintegrated after the death of Tanshihuai. (The later Khitans were said to be descendants of the Tanshihuai Xianbei.) Another Xianbei chieftain called Kebi'neng emerged. Wang Xiong, a general under Ts'ao Ts'ao, broke this new Xianbei alliance by sending an assassin (Han Long) to have Kebi'neng killed. Warlord Yuan Shao campaigned against the Wuhuan and controlled three prefectures of Wuhuan nomads. After Ts'ao Ts'ao defeated Yuan Shao, Yuan's two sons, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, fled to seek refuge with the Wuhuans. Ts'ao Ts'ao campaigned against the Wuhuan, killed chieftain Tadu (with same last character as Hunnic Chanyu Motu/Mote), and took over the control of southern Manchuria. Han Prime Minister Cao Cao's Campaign against the Wuhuan Several Wuhuan chieftains, including Qiuliju (Liaoxi Wuhuan da-ren, with 5000 households), Nanlou (Shanggu Wuhuan da-ren, with 9000 households), Supuyan (Liaodong Wuhuan da-ren, with thousands of households) and Wuyan (You-beiping Wuhuan da-ren, with 800 households), were controlled by a Han Chinese rebel governor called Zhang Chun from the Zhongshan [i.e., today's Dingxian of Hebei] Prefecture. Han Emperor Lingdi (r. 168-189) assigned Liu Yu as governor-general of Youzhou (Beijing). Liu Yu hired some nomads to have Zhang Chun killed. After the death of Chieftain Louban, an adopted son called Tadu took over the Chieftain post. Tadu assisted Yuan Shao in the wars on rival Gongsun Zan. At one time during the Three Kingdoms time period, Yuan Shao had pacified three Wuhuan prefectures and heavily recruited them as mercenary cavalry troops. Yuan Shao privately conferred the title of 'Chanyu' on the Wuhuan Chieftains in the name of the Han court. When the son of Wuhuan Chieftain Qiuliju grew up, he would compete with Tadu for power. A Chinese by the name of Yan Rou (who enjoyed trust among the Wuhuan-Xianbei for his spending childhood years in the barbarian land) killed the Chinese colonel (xiaowei) in charge of Wuhuan and usurped the post. Yuan Shao retained Yan Rou as the 'Wuhuan Colonel'. In A.D. 200, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu. In 202, Cao Cao further defeated Yuan Shao's two sons, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang. The two Yuan brothers took over 100,000 people of Jizhou and Youzhou to Liao-xi for shelter with the Wuhuan. In 204, the Wei army defeated and killed Yuan Tan. Wei took over the Shandong coastline from Gongsun Du's garrison army. In 207, at the advice of counselor Guo Jia, Cao Cao launched a punitive campaign against the Wuhuan. Exiting the Lulongsai Pass and trekking deep into the mountains, Cao Cao's army penetrated to Liucheng (today's Chaoyang), i.e., Wuhuan's home base in today's southern Manchuria, and at the Battle of Bailangshan (white wolf mountain), defeated Wuhuan Chieftain Tadu who offered asylum to two sons of Yuan Shao. Wei General Zhang Liao killed Tadu in a surprise charge downhill. (Cao Cao won over Yan Rou when he campaigned against the Wuhuan in A.D. 206.) Wuhuan Chieftains were all decapitated by the Gongsun family when they fled to Liaodong (east Liaoning Province) for asylum. Yuan Shang fled to Pingzhou (Liaoyang) for asylum with Gongsun Kang. Over 10,000 Wuhuan households under Yan Rou relocated to China under the order of Cao Cao. The Wuhuan people would then serve Cao Cao as the mercenary cavalry. Yan Zhi & Wang Xiong Pacifying the Xianbei Xianbei took over the vacuum left by the Wuhuan, with Murong Xianbei chieftain Mohuba relocating southward to Liao-xi and Yuwen Xianbei to the new homeland that came to be known as the Songmo Pine Desert area. Meanwhile, Tuoba Xianbei, in the west, migrated to the Yellow River sheath area under chieftain Tuoba Jiefen in A.D. 213. Two Xianbei tribal groups came into play, the Lesser Xianbei under Ke'bineng (in the Dai-jun and Shanggu area) Two Xianbei tribal groups came into play, the Lesser Xianbei under Ke'bineng (in Dai-jun and Shanggu area) and the Greater Xianbei under Budugeng (in Yunzhong and Yanmen area) and his brother Fuluohan. Ke'bineng heavily employed Chinese defectors and utilized the Chinese weaponry and language. Ke'bineng had at one time assisted Cao Cao in cracking down on Tian Ying's Rebellion, but he also rebelled against Cao Cao and the Cao Wei Dynasty rule several times. Cao Cao once sent Marquis Yanling to defeat Ke'bineng and cause him flee outside of Chinese border. In A.D. 219, Ke'bineng sent an emissary, with tributes of horses, to last Han Emperor Xiandi who was under Cao Cao's protection. After the usurpation of Han Dynasty, Cao Wei Emperor Wendi conferred Ke'bineng the title of King of Fuyi (attached loyalty). Beginning from A.D. 221, several times, Ke'bineng repatriated the Cao Wei Chinese groups back to the Chinese territories. Ke'bineng rebelled against the Cao Wei Chinese again because Tian Yu interfered in Ke'bineng wars with both the Eastern Xianbei under Suli and with a Xianbei Chieftain under Budugeng. Ke'bineng complained about this to General Xianyu Fu, mentioning the fact that his brother was killed by Budugeng. Ke'bineng said he was recommended for the ruler's post by Yan Rou; he was grateful to the Chinese; and he did not want to rebel against the Chinese simply because Tian Yu was giving him troubles. Ke'bineng boasted of over 100,000 cavalry. A Wuhuan Chieftain at the Dai Prefecture, by the name of Nengchendi, surrendered to Budugeng but also asked for protection from Ke'bineng. When the two Xianbei Chieftains converged upon the Dai prefecture land for controlling the Wuhuan tribe, Ke'bineng killed Fuluohan and took over the Xianbei people led by Fuluohan's son, Xie-guini. Hence, two Xianbei tribes warred with each other. Cao Wei Emperor Wendi (Cao Pi) conferred Tian Yu the post of 'Wuhuan Colonel' with extra authority over the Xianbei people. Tian Yu set his office at Changping (near Beijing). Ke'bineng defeated all Xianbei tribes including the Wuhuan, extending the territory from Yunzhong & Wuyuan [north of today's Shanxi border] all the way to Manchuria. Ke'bineng defeated two Chinese generals, Tian Yu and Bi Gui. The other Chieftain, Budugeng, who was of the Tanshihuai line, relocated to Taiyuan and Yanmen with his over 10,000 households. Budugeng further sent a messenger to his niece Xie-guini and caused Xie-guini defect from Ke'bineng. By A.D. 224, Budugeng sought vassalage with Cao Wei Emperor Wendi. In A.D. 228, Tian Yu's emissary (Xia She) to Xianbei was killed by Ke'bineng's son-in-law. Hence, Tian Yu dispatched Pudou (Western Xianbei Chieftain ) and Xie-guini to attacking Ke'bineng in retaliation. When Ke'bineng encircled Tian Yu with 30,000 cavalry at Macheng (Mayi, where Han Emperor Liu Bang was encircled by the Huns over 400 years ago), Governor-General of Shanggu [near today's Kalgan area], Yan Zhi (Yan Rou's brother), went to see Ke'bineng at the emperor's order and persuaded Ke'bineng into striking a ceasefire. Later, the new governor-general of Youzhou, Wang Xiong, who was likened to Western Han Dynasty general Han Xin and Eastern Han Dynasty General Wu Han, was conferred the post of Wuhuan Captain. Ke'bineng, several times, expressed loyalty to Wang Xiong. In A.D. 231, Ke'bineng, together with Dingling [i.e., the future Tiele tribe] Chieftains, came to Youzhou to submit horses to Wang Xiong as tributes. In A.D. 233, Ke'bineng won back Budugeng by means of an inter-marriage. Budugeng ordered Xie-guini to go back and serve under Ke'bineng, pillaging the Chinese prefecture of Bingzhou [i.e., today's eastern Shanxi]. General Qin Lang counter-attacked, and Xie-guini surrendered and was conferred the title of King of Guiyi (i.e., returning loyalty) and assigned the land of Bingzhou. [There was serious dispute about the facts in the statement about Qing Lang's feats.] Later, Budugeng was killed by Ke'bineng. Ke'bineng ordered his son go to Loufan to fight the wars against General Su Shang and Dong Bi (both under Governor ["ci shi"] Bi Gui of Bingzhou) and killed the two. Cao Wei Dynasty's Campaign against the Gongsun Family in Manchuria After Cao-Wei's substitution of the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-8 A.D., 25-220 A.D.), chieftain Tuoba Jiefen's successor, i.e., Tuoba Pigu, relocated west ro Liangzhou at the Western Corridor, where they came to be known as Tufa Xianbei. During the Qinglong Era, about 235 A.D., Cao Wei Emperor Mingdi (Cao Rui) took the advice of Wang Xiong ["ci shi" for Youzhou], who had Ke'bineng assassinated by some swordsman called Haan Long. The brother of Ke'bineng was selected as the new Chieftain. With Ke'bineng killed, the Xianbei alliance kind of collapsed, and the Cao Wei Chinese court extended control into the whole territory of today's Inner Mongolia and Southern Manchuria. Among the Eastern Xianbei, there would exist Chieftains like Suli, Mijia and Jueji in Liaoxi (western Liaoning Prov), Youbeiping (northwest of Beijing) and Yuyang. Jueji's son was conferred the title of King Qinhan (befriending Han), and Suli's brother, Chengluegui, succeeded the King title, too. In A.D. 236, Sushen-shi, who had not submitted tributes to China since early Zhou Dynasty, came to Wei China on a pilgrimage. After pacifying Wuhuan-Xianbei as well as the Sushen-shi people at the Japan Sea, Wei China, in A.D. 237 and 238, launched a third campaign against the Gongsun Family and wrestled control of southern Manchuria and northern-central Korea. As we are to further elaborate below, Cao Wei Dynasty, to clear the threat from the north in order to concentrate on fighting against the Shu-Han and Sun-Wu dynasties to the north, made further long-distance excursion into Manchuria to defeat the Gongsun Family after routing the Wuhuan. In A.D. 238, Murong Xianbei chieftain Mohuba followed tai-wei Sima Yi in the Manchuria campaign against Gongsun Yuan, over which Murong Mohuba was conferred the title of King Shuaiyi-wang (king who led the righteous). By exterminating the Gongsun Family who ruled southern Manchuria and northern and central Koreas for almost half a century and deporting 40,000 households of Sinitic Chinese or over 300,000 people back to North China from Manchuria in A.D. 238, Sima Yi effectually yielded the area to the Tungusic people (i.e., the Xianbei, who were the C-gene people dwelling in East Asia since 30,000 years ago) and the Fuyu people (possibly still an O2-gene people who descended from the ancient Mo people and could be related to He-bo or Count of the Yellow River, including Koguryo & Paekche). Among the Xianbei who were to take the place of the Wuhuan to dominate the area would be the clans of Duan, Murong and Yuwen. 
The Duan, Murong and Yuwen Clans, and the Tuoba Xianbei The later Xianbei of the 4-5th centuries could be classified into three groups: the Eastern Xianbei, the Western Xianbei, and Tuoba Xianbei. Before that, the Xianbei could be divided into Greater Xianbei under Budugeng, Lesser Xianbei under Kebineng, and Manchurian Xianbei. The Eastern Xianbei, with major tribes of Murong, Yuwen, & Duan, established many short-lived successive states in North China and along the northeastern Chinese frontier, i.e., various Yan Statelets. Among Western Xianbei, Qifu clan would set up Western Qin (A.D. 385-431), and Tufa clan would set up Southern Liang (A.D. 397-414). Some of the Xianbei mixed up with the Huns. The Hunnic Xia Dynasty (A.D. 407-431), established by Helian Bobo, was said to be of a mingle nature, called 'Tie Fu'. The Tie Fu Huns were born of Xianbei mother and Hunnic Father. Ultimately, the Tuoba (T'o-pa in Wade-Giles) Xianbei, who migrated to modern China's Shanxi Province from Upper Khingan Ridge, united northern China. The Successors Of Xianbei-Wuhuan-Tuoba After the Xianbei-Wuhuan-Tuoba disappeared into China's melting pot during the 16 Nations (A.D. 304-420), the newcomers from the northern hemisphere, together with the remaining Tungunzic peoples, would be occupying the eastern part of Mongolia and today's Manchuria. In A.D. 443, the barbarians who took over Tuoba's old territories, upper Heilongjiang River and northern Xing'an Ridge, came to see Tuoba Wei Emperor (Tuoba Tao) and told him that they found Tuoba ancestor's stone house, called 'Ga Xian Dong'. Tuoba Tao sent a minister called Li Chang to the stone house which was carved out of a natural cavern. In 1980s, this cavern was discovered as well as the inscriptions left by Li Chang. The peoples who dwelled in the old Xianbei-Wuhuan-Tuoba territories would be the later Shiwei Tribes (ancestors of Mengwu Shiwei or Genghis Mongols), the Khitans, the Xi nomads, and the Malgal people etc. However, this speculation could be unfounded as the Shiwei tribes were apparently given the new names of the Da-da barbarians, with different pictograph transliteration of Da-da1, Da-da3, Da-dan4 and Ta-tan, etc., originally meant for a group of adversaries living to the east of the Turks in the 5th century A.D., seen in the Turks' steles, such as Otuz-Tatar (san-shi-xing [thirty surnames] Da-da[2]) on the Kultigin Stele (A.D. 732), and Toquz-Tatar (jiu-xing [nine surnames] Da-da[2]) on the Bilge Qaghan Stele (A.D. 734). The barbarians were classified under nine Da-da or Da-dan[4] tribes in Liao Shi (history of the Liao dynasty). Zhou Liangxiao, citing a map with the marking of a Menggu-shan (Meng2gu3-shan) mountain in Qi-dan Guo Zhi, believed that the word Mongol (meng2gu3) derived from the Khitan 'Meng2-gu si' [barbarian management] sub-ministry, that was located in the Khitan Shang-jing (upper capital) city of Linhuang, with a Longmei-gong (dragon's brow) palace built in the shape of three mountains of Tianti (heavenly ladder), Mengguo (Meng country) and Bielu per Liao Shi. That is, Mengguo was a mountain, not a country, inverse to the case of Kunlun, i.e., the land where the immortals lived during the Han dynasty, being a tribe in Yu Gong (Lord Yu's tributes) in the late Zhou dynasty time period. The Khitans (Qi Dan or Qidan) first appeared on the stage. Cai Dongfan mentioned that the Khitans claimed descent from the ancient Chinese lord called Shennong-shi (see pre-history) -- which was a Han dynasty fable. Because they occupied the old territories of Donghu, they were called descendants of the Donghu. New History of the Tang Dynasty mentioned that the Khitans were the descendants of the Kebi'neng Xianbei, a sub-group of Eastern Hu. Ouyang Xiu of the Soong Dynasty, in his book New History of the Tang Dynasty , said that the Khitans were an alternative race of the Eastern Hu nomads. (Alternatively, Old History Of Five Dynasties said that the Khitans were an alternative race of the Huns.) New History of the Tang Dynasty said that by the time of Tuoba's Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-534), the ancestors of the Khitans adopted the name 'Khitan' for themselves. At the time of Tuoba Wei Emperor Xianwen-di (Tuoba Hong, r. 465-471, killed by Dowager-Empress Feng-taihou in A.D. 476), the Khitans sent chieftain mofu-Hehechen to the Wei court for a pilgrimage, with the chieftain listed at the end of the column of foreign rulers and chieftains. According to Li Xihou, author of 'Biography of Yeh-lü A-pao-chi', the Khitan tribal name was known in the 4th century. A Khitan Chieftain paid tribute to Tuoba Wei Emperor Tuoba Hong (r. A.D. 466-470), but the Khitan emissary was on the lower end of the list of guests. In A.D. 479, the Ruruans and Koguryo colluded ton divide the land of Didouyu (Didougan or Didou in Bei Shi), taken by Kurakichi Kurakichi to be Xi[2], over which Khitan chieftain Mofuhe-wuyu led 3000 carts, or over 10,000 people, with all belongings and cattle, to the east of Bailang-shui (white wolf; today's Daling-he River of Liaoning) River for asylum with Tuoba Wei. After the split of the Tuoba Wei dynasty, the Ruruans took control of the Khitans and supported Eastern Tuoba Wei against the western Wei. The Turks rebelled against the Ruruans in A.D. 546-553, and in A.D. 552, launched its own statelet. The Ruruans, after setback in the hands of the Turks and Gaoche tribes in A.D. 550-551, resorted to Northern Qi, i.e., Eastern Tuoba Wei's successor, for support. In A.D. 553, the Khitans rebelled against the Ruruans and killed Ruruan Khan Tiefa, with Northern Qi Emperor Gao Yang sending Tiefa's father back to today's Mongolia as a new Ruruan khan. Gao Yang campaigned against and defeated the Khitans at the Yangshi-shui River, i.e., the Mangniu-he tributary to the upperstream Daling-he River, and captured over 100,000 Khitans for settlement in northern China. Two years after the Ruruan debacle, the Turks took the place of the Ruruans as the new master for the Khitan and Ku-Xi tribes. According to historian Lü Simian's analysis of Ying-wei Zhi (section on border garrisons) of Liao Shi, Khitan ancestor Qishou's eight Khitan tribes dwindled to 100,000 households and sought protection with the Tuoba Wei dynasty under the attacks of the Ruruans and Gao-li (Koryo) -- which should be Koguryo; after disintegration of Tuoba Wei, Northern Qi at one time robbed 100,000 households of the Khitans; under the attacks of the Turks, just 10,000 households of the Khitans escaped to Gao-li (Koryo), i.e., Koguryo, for protection; and at the time of demise of the Khitan Dahe-shi rule, there were five Khitan tribes left. The Turks' attack of the Khitans led to ecodus of 10,000 households to Koguryo. According to Ren Aijun's Liao-chao Shi Gao (historic manuscripts on the Liao dynasty), at the time the Sui dynasty was founded, the Khitans were dispersed in three places under the control of the Turks, Koguryo and Sui China. In A.D. 584, numerous Khitan chieftains (i.e., mofu) came to the Sui court for pilgrimage. It would be in A.D. 585 that the Khitans in the original homeland sought for the Sui dynasty's protection, and in A.D. 586 the Khitan Chufu tribe defected from Koguryo with about 10,000 households. In this year, the Khitans had internal civil wars according to the Khitan section in Sui Shu. Later in the last years of the Kaihuang Era (581-600), over 4000 Khitan households also defected from the Turks for Sui Emperor Wendi's protection. In the late Sui dynasty, the Khitans reorganized into ten tribes, which was said to be start of the Dahe-shi rule. In A.D. 605, Sui allied with the Turks to attack the Khitan tribes at the border, captured 40,000 Khitans and killed the men according to Sui Ji of Zi-zhi Tong Jian. The Khitans lived around the Liao River in today's Manchuria. To the east of the Khitans will be Koguryo, to the west the Xi people (an alternative race of the Huns; however, records stated that the Xi and Khitans were of the same family), to the north Wuji or Mohe (Malgal) and Shiwei Tribes, and to the south Yingzhou Prefecture of Tuoba Wei. Ancient Chinese records speculated that the Xi (or Kuzhen-xi) and the Khitans could be of same family. Xi, and Xi[2], were separately listed here in Liao Shi for the reason that Xi was different from Xi[2] of Sui Shu while Xi[2] and another western branch of Xi-Xi[2] were themselves given different groupings in the earlier Tang chronicle Tong Dian, with Jiu Tang Shu claiming that Xi[2] was an alternative stock of the Huns and Tong Dian claiming that White Xi[2} was part of the Fifteen Tiele Tribes that were subject to the Turks. Xi[2] was said by Xin Tang Shu to have fled east to the Aozhi-shui (Hei-he or Black River of the Liao dynasty, today's Chaganmulun, a tributary to Xi-lamulun) River and Lengxingshan Mountain for escaping from the Xueyantuo Tiele Tribe. This should be White Xi[2]'s relocation of the Tang dynasty since Tong Dian pointed out that Xi[2] first relocated to north of the Huang-shui (Xi-lamulun) River in the Sui dynasty. New History of the Tang Dynasty said the Khitans possessed eight tribes and they were subject to the Turks. The eight tribes carried the names of Daji, Hebian, Duhuo, Fenwen, Tubian, Ruixi, Zhuijin and Fu, with the three names of Daji, Hebian and Duhuo not traceable to the origina names from the Tuoba Wei dyansty. Liao Shi gave the relatiely newer names of Diela (Die-la), Yishi, Pin, Chu-te, Wu-kui, Tulünu, Niela and Tuju. Alternatively speaking, the Khitan Dahe-shi tribe had eight branches (zu) called by Danlijie-di, Yi-shihuo-di, Shihuo-di, Nawei-di, Pinmo-di, Neihuiji-di, Jijie-di, and Xiwa-di per forgert Wu-dai Shi, or with the first tribe called by Lijie-di per forgert Qi-dan Guo Zhi and suffixed by 'di' (with ancient pronunciation of 'tei' seen in Japanese, that meant a mansion) with control of altogether forty-one shilie (counties). The Eastern Turks assigned Khan Tuli in charge of Khitan and Wuji tribes. The Khitan Chieftain was conferred the title of 'Sijin' by the Turks. Around A.D. 620s, the Khitan Chieftain came to see Tang's first Emperor, Tang Gaozu, together with a Wuji Chieftain. the Khitans rebelled against the Turks and fled to Tang for asylum. In A.D. 628, Turks pleaded with Tang Emperor Taizong to have the Khitans relocate back to the Turk control, but Tang Taizong declined this request. According to Lü Simian's analysis of Yelü Helu Zhuan (Yelü Helu biography) and Bai-guan Zhi (offcialdom) of Liao Shi, Abaoji's 7th generation grandfather was Yilijin (Irkin/Erkin/Erkan) Nili, also known as Yali, who was supported as a leader after the demise of the Dahe-shi tribe but yielded the Khitan rule to the Yaonian-shi tribe, i.e., Yaonian Zuli as Khan Zuwu (Li Huaixiu). Lü Simian claimed that Yali furthermore re-organized the five remnant Khitan tribes into eight, including two subdivided Dahe clans, two subdivided Yaonian clans and one Shili clan (i.e., later powerful Die-la clan), with the three Yelü clan administrators of Dahe, Yaonian and Shili (which enjoyed the privilege of being a khan) expanded to seven and two Shenmi clan administrators (which enjoyed the privilege of being an in-law uncle[-capacity prime ministers]) to five. However, Bu-zu Xia (section on tribes and clans) in Ying-wei Zhi of Liao Shi implied that Khan Zuwu re-organized Diela (Die-la), Yishi, Wu-kui, Niela, Tuju and Tulübu into two parts while leaving Pin and Chu-te tribe unchanged. Counting seven Yelü clans and two Shenmi clans, total Khitan tribes, or subtribes, or clans reached twenty Yaonian-shi tribes per Ren Aijun, with the chieftains commanding the hereditary tribal tents under the system of "sheng zhang" (raised tents/conferred commandant of a military tent) khans. Here, Dahe, Yaonian and Shili all carried the Yelü surname while the two Shenmi-surnamed maternal clans were called Yishiji and Bali. Yelü Yali (Zuli, Nieli or Nili of the Die-la clan) was said to be an ancestor of Yelü Ahbaoji. Note that Yelü Ahbaoji was from the un-subdivided Die-la clan, that was to become the powerful of all Khitan tribes, which meant that Yelü Ahbaoji could be a descendant of Yali but from what the ancient Chinese defined as a non-elder-son lineage. Yali, other than re-launching eight tribes, set up two governing offices per Liao Shi, that were to delevlop into the southern court and northern court. Lü Simian claimed that the eight Khitan tribes carried different names in Wu-dai Shi than in Tang Shu for the likely reason that the new eight tribes derived from the old five tribes from the Tang dynasty. Tai-zu Ben-ji (Abaoji's biography) claimed that the ancestors were Yali (who killed Li Guozhe in A.D. 735), Kundie, Hailing, Moulisi (Suzu, solemn ancestor), Salade (Yizu, magnificent ancestor, who defeated Huang-Shiwei [yellow head Shiwei]), Yunde (Xuanzu, profundity ancestor -- writen as Yuanzu the first ancestor in Xu Tong Zhi), Saladi (Dezu, virtue ancestor, in whose reign Yaonian-shi's tributes to the Turks [Uygurs in Lü Simian's view] were exempted, and brother Shulan campaigned against Ganjue and Shiwei to the north and Yi[zhou], Ding[zhou], Xi, and Xi[2] {Didougan of the 5-6th centuries per Kurakichi Shiratori} to the south). Saladi (Dezu)'s son was Yelü Abaoji (Taizu, grand ancestor) who replaced Yaonian-shi's rule over the Khitans. The Xi people, according to New History of the Tang Dynasty , were derived from the Tadu or Tadun Wuhuan (one branch of early Eastern Hu nomads). --The conflict in Chinese history here is that the alternative records stated that the Yuwen Xianbei, after fleeing to the north of Song-mo (pine desert in the Jehol mountains, i.e., today's sandy river basin along the Laha-he River or the origin of the Western Liao River), later split into two tribal groups of Kuzhen-xi and the Khitans; and that the Kuzhen-xi people were the same as the Xi people. To reconcile this, this webmaster had to say that the Tadu Wuhan were first absorbed by the Xianbei, and then the Xianbei were to lead to the Yuwen clan and to the Kuzhen-xi subclan. Liao Shi stated that Xi originally had five tribes, named Yaoli, Bode, Aoli, Meizhi and Chuli. Xi merged Xi[2] {Didougan of the 5-6th centuries per Kurakichi Shiratori}. In A.D. 648, Xi chiefain Kedu subimitted to Tang, with the Xi land made into the Raole governor-general office in charge of five prefectures, that was subject to Tang's Yingzhou Dong-yi-duhu-fu office. After Ke-tu-yu killed Khitan Khan Li Shaogu and rebelled against Tang in A.D. 730, Xi left the upperstream Raole-shui (Huang-shui) River and relocated to the Tuhuzhen-shui (Tuohechen-shui, i.e., today's Laha) River in A.D. 730. Yuan Shao successfully took over three Wuhuan prefectures, and Wuhuan acted as mercenaries for Yuan. Wuhuan were then defeated by Ts'ao Ts'ao during the early Three Kingdoms time period. Alternatively, the Xi people were said to be a different race of the Huns, while the name 'Hun' was a categorical designation. By the time of Tuoba Wei Dynasty, Xi renamed themselves Kuzhen-xi, and they bordered the Turks in the west and the Khitans in the northeast. By the time of Sui Dynasty, they changed their name back to Xi. A chieftain called Suzhi followed Tang Emperor Taizong in the Korean campaigns and was conferred the posts of Governor-General of Raole, the rank of Prefectural Count Loufan-xian-gong, and the honor of carrying the Tang dynasty's Li surname. The 'Raole du-du' office was in charge of six prefectures of Ruoshui-zhou (weak water) for the A-hui tribe, Qili-zhou (Lord Yao's Qi3-surname Lih2 land) for the Chuhe tribe, Luohuan-zhou (Luo-shui looping) for the Ao-shi tribe, Tailu-zhou (grand Lu state) for the Duji tribe, and Keye-zhou (aspiring for the wilderness) for the Yuansizhe tribe. All tribal chieftains (i.e., ru-he-zhu) were assigned the ci[-shi]-li (satrap) positions and were subject to the 'Yingzhou dong-yi (eastern Yi barbarians) duhu-fu' office. At one time, Xi followed the Khitans in rebelling against Tang Dynasty, and Xi sent some captured Tang general to the Muchuo (r. 691-716)'s Orchon Turks for execution. During the 6th year of the Kaiyuan Era of Emperor Xuanzong, i.e., A.D. 717, Tang Emperor Xuanzong sent Princess Gu'an-gongzhu (i.e., Xin Jingchu's daughter and Emperor Xuanzong's niece) to the Xi Chieftain as a bride and conferred Xi Chieftain the title of King of Raole. The Xi Chieftain came to the Tang capital the second year for the marriage. More Tang princesses would be married to the Xi Chieftains, including Princess Dongguang-gongzhu to Li Lusu in A.D. 726 and Princess Yifang-gongzhu to Li Yanchong (who killed the princess half a year later) in A.D. 745. After the Khitan-Xi rebellion led by Ke-tu-yu, Xi left the upperstream Raole-shui (Huang-shui) River and relocated to the Tuhuzhen-shui (Tuohechen-shui, i.e., today's Laha) River in A.D. 730, launched a new tent country at Yinliang-chuan (shady and cool river, Ningcheng of Chifeng), and five years ago, was renamed to the Tang Fengcheng (upholding sincerity) governor-general office. By the 4th year of the Zhenyuan Era, A.D. 788(?), Xi joined Shiwei in attacking the Zhengwu Governor office. Xi also joined Huihe and Shiwei in attacking Chinese Turkistan. In the first year of the Dazhong Era, A.D. 847, Tang General Zhang Zhongwu defeated the Xi and burnt 200,000 tents. When the Khitans strengthened, Xi submitted to the Khitan's rule. Badly treated by the Khitans, Xi fled to the Tang Dynasty and was assigned to Guizhou Prefecture. Xi split into Eastern Xi and Western Xi. The Shiwei people were said to be an alternative race of the Khitans, according to New History of the Tang Dynasty . They could be related to the ancient 'Dingling' people. (Dingling was said to be derived from the ancient Chidi people, and early Gaoche people were said to have relation to Dingling as well.) The Shiwei people shared the same language as Wuji people. They dwelled in the upper Heilongjiang River. The location was to the east of the Turks, the west of Wuji [Wuji [commonly mispronounced as Huji]], and the north of the Khitans. The Sui dynasty annals carried the names of five Shi-wei tribes, and the Tang dynasty annals nine tribes. Later, there were over 20 Shiwei tribes on record, including Mengwu Shiwei, ancestors of Genghis Khan Mongols. Among over twenty Shiwei tribes would be another interesting name called 'Huangtou Shiwei', i.e., yellow head Shiwei. New History of Five Dynasties, citing the account of a Chinese (Hu Jiao) taken prisoner of war by the Khitans, mentioned that there was a statelet called Yujuelu with 'Maodou' (hairy head) people to the northwest of Shiwei and to the north of the Kirghiz people. Also to the northeast of Shiwei would be another group of 'Maoshou' or hairy head people. Shiwei first came to the Tang Dynasty during the 5th year of Tang Emperor Taizong's reign, A.D. 631. Shiwei came to Tang court over a dozen times. By the 4th year of Zhenyuan Era, A.D. 788(?), Xi joined Shiwei in attacking Zhengwu Governor office. Shi-wei Zhuan of Sui Shu claimed that Shi-wei, Kumo-Xi, the Khitans and Doumolou shared the same language, while Shi-wei Zhuan of Bei Shi commented that Shi-wei was of the same stock as the Khitans. Xin Tang Shu claimed that the Shiwei people shared the same language as the Malgal people (ancestors of the Jurchens and the Manchus). They dwelled in the upper Heilongjiang River and the Argun River area. The location was to the east of the Turks, to the west of the Malgals, and to the north of the Khitans. The section Shi-wei Zhuan in Xin Tang-shu stated that there was the "Shi-wei Major" tribe beyond the mountain, a tribe dwelling next to the Shi-jian-he River, with the river having origin in the Ju-lun Lake and flowing towards the east. South of the Shi-jian-he River would be the Meng-wa Tribe, namely, the Mongols' original tribe. The Shi-jian-he River was taken to be today's Erguna River and the Ju-lun Lake Hulun-buir lake. Acording to Ren Aijun's Liao-chao Shi Gao, the Shi-wei people migrated out of the historic habitat for the west and south, with ancestors of the later Keraits and Mongols relocating westward to the three rivers' area of Tu'ula, Kerulen and Onon in central Mongolia and the later Mount Yinshan Da[2]-da[2] or Mount Yinshan Shi-wei relocating southward to the Yinshan Mountain area, i.e., Hei-chezi-Shi-wei (black cart Shi-wei) in today's southeastern Xilingele Banner. Liao Shi pointed out that there were eight Kerait tribes known as "ba 'shilie' Dilie" [eight tribes of 'Dilie'), which were clustered with the Wugu tribe in the Erguna River and the Hulun-buir Lake area, to the south of which were miscellaneous Shi-wei-tagged tribes like major and minor Da-Huang[tou]-Shiwei/Xiao-Huang[tou]-Shiwei (with 'huangtou' [yellow head] also written as 'huangpi' [yellow skin] -- which could be a mistake since 'yellow skin' Pi-shi was actually a military army unit), Choupo-Shiwei (with 'choupo' [stinky pond] having similar sound as later 'Zu-bu' name for the Dadans), and Hei-chezi-Shi-wei. Living next to Hei-chezi-Shi-wei would be the White Xi[2] (Tiele), Xi and Khitans to the north and east; the Western Turk and Eastern Turk remnants, the Three-Tribe Shatuo, the Six-prefecture Sogdians, the Tuyuhun (Hun[2], Tuihun, Tuhun, or Sheng-Tuhun[raw Tuhun]) and Tanguts (Dangxiang-Xiao-bo carrying the Tibetan 'bo' name), and the Qibi (Tiele) people to the south and west; and the Mount Jiashan Tanguts (Jiashan-Dangxiang) in the Yinshan Mountains. Further to the east of Hei-chezi-Shi-wei and in today's Duolun and Zhangbei area would be Yili and Yueli Shi-wei tribes that were later conquered by the Khitans. (Most historians took for granted that Toghrul's Keraits were Turkic without explaining the Kerait intimate relationship with Genghis Khan's Mongols. Rashid ad-Din placed the Keraits in a subgroup with the Naimans, Uygurs, Kirghiz, Kipchaks and other Turkic peoples. Paul Ratchnevscky explained the Keraits' Mongol characteristics with assumption that some Khitans were assimilated into the Keraits.) The Khitans, who were related to the later Mongols, were said in Bai-guan Zhi of Liao Shi to have a Pi-shi-jun army, with historian Xu Zhongshu taking Pi-shi to be the inverse of Shi-wei, namely, the origin of his claim that 'wei' meant for the [pig] skin. As said previously, Pi-shi-jun was a Khitan army unit, not a tribal name. There was unfounded speculation that the Mongols' ancestors, i.e., 'shi wei', dwelled in central China thousands of years ago. In Chang Fa of Shang1 Song4 in Shi-jing, there was an entry about Shang Dynasty founder-king Shang-tang's campaigns against several states, with the poem saying that Shang-tang first eliminated the Peng-surnamed Wei3 and Si-surnamed Gu4 states before tackling the Si-surnamed Kunwu-shi people, namely, 'Wei-Gu ji fa, Kunwu Xia-Jie'. The Wei3 state, also known as Shi3-wei2 [or Xi1-wei2-shi which preceded the legendary Fuxi in Zhuang-zi's fable Da-zhongshi of Zhuang Zi], was commonly taken to be located in today's Huaxian County of Henan, north of the Yellow River. In Lu Lord Zhaogong's 11th year of Zuo Zhuan, there was a reply from Chang-hong to Zhou King Jingwang, in which the remotely ancient state of Shi3-wei2 was taken to be a lunar lodge among the 28 mansions of the Constellation, i.e., the 'ying2-shi4' (encampment) mansion. Shi3-wei2 was also related to Liu Lei, a dragon trainer in the Xia dynasty, whom the Han Dynasty founder claimed to be their ancestor. Shi3-wei2 was taken by Xu Zhongshu to be literally meaning the pig-skin clothed, a tradition later seen among the Yilou and Jurchen barbarians of Manchuria. The inference was that the Mongols' or the Jurchens' ancestors dwelled in central China thousands of years ago. This, however, was more likely a wishful thinking of the modern times, with the Mongol 'shi-wei' name being much later terminology that happened to be a soundex, not a written record to the effect that the Mongols had carried on the name from their ancestors, knowing that the barbarians did not know how to count their age. Blackwater Mohe (Malgal) dwelled in the old land of Sushen, aka Yilou. This is the place where ancient Sushen statelet existed during Zhou times. Here, the name Sushen would be used for ancient Koreans during Zhou Dynasty time period, Yilou during early Han Dynasty time period, Wuji during Tuoba's Northern Wei Dynasty, Mohe (Malgal) during Sui Dynasty, Bohai (Parhae) during Tang Dynasty, and Ruzhen (Nüzhen) during the Soong Dynasty. Mohe was renamed to the old name of Wujie (Wuji [commonly mispronounced as Huji]) during Tuoba Wei Dynasty. They were connected with Koguryo in the south, around today's Changbaishan Mountains as well as with Shiwei in the north. During the second year of Tang Emperor Taizong, A.D. 628, the Wuji land was made into Yanzhou Prefecture. The Wuji tribes joined Koguryo in resisting Tang Dynasty. During the tenth year of Kaiyuan Era, A.D. 722, Tang Emperor Xuanzhong set up Heisui-fu or Blackwater Governor office in the Wuji land. Sumuo, one of the Wuji tribes, sought protection with Koguryo, and after Koguryo's demise in the hands of Tang, became independent and established the State of Po'hai (Bohai or Parhae). Po'hai continued for a dozen generations till it was destroyed by the Khitans. When later Jurchens defeated the Khitans, the Jurchens sent an emissary to Bohai, saying that Jurchens (Nüzhi) and Bohai were of same family. Note Bohai was recorded to have possessed a written language, music, government and rituals. Among the Altaic speaking people, the Tungusic branch appeared to have a strong inclination for the culture and civilization of China. The early Tuoba people had set up a good example for later Bohai, the Khitans, Jurchens, and Manchus, namely, the example that a nomadic entity could be ruling China as a Chinese emperor. The Khitans During the Tang Dynasty Xin Tang Shi (new history of the Tang dynasty) stated that the Khitans possessed eight tribes and were subject to the Turks. The Khitan chieftain's clan name would be 'Dahe-shi', that was the same as a surname seen in Japan and pronounced as Ohga. The Turks assigned Khan Tuli the post in charge of the Khitan and Malgal tribes, with the Khitan chieftain conferred the title of 'sijin' (governor or satrap) by the Turks. Khitan tribes would converge whenever called upon for war, but they went their separate ways for hunting. the Khitans frequently warred with Xi nomads. Should they be defeated, they would flee back to the Xianbei-shan Mountain as their ancestors did. They shared similar customs as the Turks. When family members died, the bodies would be placed on the top of the trees. In A.D. 619, the Khitans under chieftain Dahe Duoluo attacked Pingzhou which was under the jurisdiction of Tang 'Youzhou zongguan3 (ombudsman)' Luo Yi. Around the A.D. 620s, Khitan chieftain (Sun Aocao) paid pilgrimage to Tang's first Emperor Tang-gaozu (r. A.D. 618-626), together with a Malgal chieftain (Tudiji). Sun Aocao, a Khitan chieftain carrying a Sinicized name, previously a Sui dynasty 'jin-zi (gold violet) guanglu dafu', was appointed by Tang Emperor Gaozu (li Yuan) the posts of 'Yunhui (cloud banners) jiang-jun (general)' and 'Liaozhou (Liaoyang) zongguan (ombudsman)'. Sun Aocao, from the Khitan Dahe-shi tribe, was said to have commanded the Khitans with an inner-circle clan called by Neiji-bu (inner Ji tribe), similar to the Western Turks' future organization of ten wings, with the Western Turkic land referred in the future as the Old Ten Turkic Khans' land. In A.D. 627, Tang Emperor Taizong got enthroned after staging "Xuan Wu Men Coup D'etat" during which he killed two brothers and forced Emperor Gaozu into abdication. This year, Tiele Tribes, including Xueyantuo, Huihe and Bayegu, rebelled against the Turks. Khan Xieli accused Khan Tuli of failing to quell the Tiele rebellion. Being attacked by Khan Xieli, Khan Tuli requested for help with Tang Emperor Taizong in A.D. 628. Taking advantage of Tiele rebellions against the Turks, in A.D. 628, Khitan chieftain Dahe Mohui defected to Tang from the Turks. Turks pleaded with Tang Emperor Taizong to have the Khitans relocate back to the Turkic control in exchange for surrendering a Chinese rebel called Liang Shidu, but Taizong declined it. The next year, Xueyantuo proclaimed themselves as a khan and sought alliance with Tang. When Dahe Mohui came to the Tang court in A.D. 629, Taizong bestowed drums, flags, umbrellas and other ritual instruments which the Khitans later treated as the token of power during their tribal power struggles. In A.D. 630, Tang ordered General Li Jing on a full campaign against Turkic Khan Xieli and captured Khan Xieli. The Khitans, together with the Xi nomads, followed Taizong in the Korean campaigns in A.D. 644. Emperor Taizong, on route of return from campaign against Korguryo, would call on Khitan chieftain Kuge and other elderly people for a meeting at Yingzhou, west of the Liao River. Emperor Taizong conferred the title of 'leftside wuwei (martial defender) general' onto Kuge. Another Khitan chieftain, Luhezhu-quju (Li Quju, Li Juqu, Li Qulü), submitted to Tang and was made 'ci shi' (governor) and his land was made the prefecture of Xuanzhou, nominally under supervision of the Yingzhou 'dudu-fu' office. The prefix of Luhezhu was taken to be a new name for military chieftain, like 'mofuhe' before the Dahe-shi times and yilijin during the later Yaonian-shi reign. When Kuge led his people to Tang, a new 'dudu-fu' office, Songmo, was set up in A.D. 648, and Kuge was conferred the post of Songmo 'dudu' (governor-general) in charge of ten chained-harnessed prefectures in the Songmo area, with the rank of Byron Wuji-xian-nan (county of Wuji [no limit]). Kuge was given the royal family name of Li by Tang Emperor Taizong. Among the ten prefectures would be those converted from the original eight Khitan tribes, with the tribes equated to prefectural ci-shi and clans and families equated to county magistrates, carrying the Khitan title of da-gan. The Khitan county, termed "shilie" was equivalent to the later Jurchen and Mongol 'qian hu' (thousand households, minghan) while the smaller 'bai-hu' (hundred households, jaghun) was called by 'zhao' (pronounced as zhaw and equivalent to jiu, i.e., jaghun). Eight Khitan chieftains were conferred the post of nine 'ci shi'. Luhezhu was retained as 'ci shi' of the Xuanzhou prefecture. The eight Khitan tribes of Daji, Hebian, Duhuo, Fenwen, Tubian, Ruixi, Zhuijin and Fu were made into the nine chained-harnessed prefectures of Qiaoluo-zhou (steep and falling), Danhan-zhou (censuring the khan), Duhuo-zhou (semantically living alone), Yuling-zhou (feather), Rilian-zhou (chained suns), Tuhe-zhou (walking river), Wandan-zhou (ten thousand peony), and Pili-Chishan (red mountain). Kuge's Songmo 'dudu-fu' office and Luhezhu-quju's Xuanzhou were counted as two of ten Khitan tribes, that equated what was recorded in the Sui dynasty chronicle as the ten Khitan tribes. (Back in A.D. 619, Sun Aocao's Khitan inner-circle Neiji-bu tribe was converted to the Liao-zhou Prefecture, which was renamed to Weizhou in A.D. 627; additional prefectures of Chang-zhou under the Songmo tribe and Dai-zhou under the Yishige tribe were launched; and the three prefectures were subject to the Yingzhou dudu-fu office.) The Khitans first rebelled against Tang in A.D. 656-661, 679 and again in A.D. 696. In A.D. 660, Tang mobilized the Turks, Xueyantuo and Bai-xi[2] (White Xi[2]) tribe to quell the rebellion of the Khitans and Xi, with Khitan Songmo dudu A-bu-gu captured and sent to Luoyang for imprisonment. In A.D. 679, the Khitans and Xi sought protection from the Turks and harassed the Tang border area. In the late A.D. 680s, Tang Empress Wuhou forbade the Tang officials from befriending Khitan chieftains such as dudu Sun Wanrong of the Guicheng-zhou (returning to loyalty) prefecture, which led to rebellon of Sun Wanrong. What antagonized the Khitans would be Wuhou's subdivision of Weizhou, Chang-zhou and Dai-zhou into six prefectures, namely, carving out Guicheng-zhou from Weizhou, Wozhou from Chang-zhou, and Xin-zhou from Dai-zhou. At the times of Tang Empress Wuhou, with the death of Li Kuge, the Khitans, in collusion with the Xi nomads, began to rebel against Tang. Li Kuge had two grandsons: Li Kumuoli and Li Jinzhong. Kumuoli was conferred by Empress Wuhou the title of King Guishun-jun-wang (prefecture of returning to submission, i.e., former Khitan Danhan-zhou that was renamed to Guishun-zhou and then upgraded to Guishun-jun in A.D. 742). In A.D. 696, 'Songmo dudu' Li Jinzhong, together with 'Guicheng-zhou ci-shi' Sun Wanrong (grandson of chieftain Sun Aocao), sacked the Yingzhou dudu-fu office and killed Tang 'dudu' (governor-general) Zhao Wenhui for being insulted. The trigger was Zhao Wenhui's refusal to lend grains to the Khitans to help with famine. For severing the links to the Khitans in the Guicheng-zhou and Qingshan-zhou (green mountain) prefectures, Empress Wuhou ordered to relocate the Khitan tribesmen in Weizhou, Wo-zhou, Dai-zhou, Chang-zhou, Xin-zhou and Xuanzhou southward to Youzhou, Qingzhou and Xuzhou in today's Hebei-Shandong provinces, with those Khitans not released back to Youzhou to the north till A.D. 705-707 per Ren Aijun. Li Jinzhong declared himself 'Wushang Khan' (khan with nobody above him), employed 'ci shi' Sun Wanrong as forerunner general, and attacked Tang's Chongzhou prefecture with claim of an army of 100,000. The Khitans from Jinzhong were said to have first adopted the khan's title. Tang Empress Wuhou dispatched King of Liang-wang (Wu Sansi) and 28 generals against the Khitans. In August, the Tang army was defeated by the Khitans at Huangzhanggu (yellow roe valley) of Xi-xiashi[-gu] (western gully stone valley). The Khitans induced the Tang army into a valley in Pingzhou and defeated them. The Khitans captured Zhang Xuanyu and Ma Renjie. The Khitans failed to take over the Pingzhou prefecture. Then the Khitans attacked further east into the Andong duhu-fu office's territory of Liao-dong. Wuhou then dispatched King of Jian'an (Wu Youyi) against the Khitans. In September, Empress Wuhou, after announcing amnesty to draft the convicts for raising another army, dispatched King Jian'an-wang (Wu Youyi who was 'Tong2zhou ci-shi') against the Khitans as 'you wuwei-wei (righside martial awe guard) da-jiangjun (grand general)'. Sun Wanrong fled after the Khitans failed to take over the Tanzhou prefecture where Tang deputy zong guan Zhang Jiujie and hundreds of willing-to-be-martyr soldiers had defended the city. Li Jinzhong died shortly afterward. In the winter, Empress Wuhou induced the Turks into attacking the Khitans. Turkic Khan Muochuo helped Tang in attacking the rear of the Khitans. Sun Wanrong re-assembled his forces and dispatched his generals (Luo Wuzheng and He A'xiao) against the Jizhou prefecture to the south, killed 'ci shi' Lu Baoji and abducted over thousand Chinese, and continued to atack south against Ying2zhou (Hejian, Hebei). With the Jizhou-dao circuit in turmoil, Empress Wuhou dispatched 'shang shu' Wang Xiaojie and 170,000 army against the Khitans. In the spring of the following year, the Tang army was defeated at Dong-xiashi of Pingzhou and Wang Xiaojie was killed. Sun Wanrong then attacked and slaughtered the Youzhou prefecture. King of Jian'an failed to defeat Sun. Subsequently, the Khitans attacked Jizhou. Wuhou then ordered that King of Henei-jun (Wu Yizong), 'yu shi' Lou Shide and 'You-wuwei-wei General Shazha Zhongyi led an army of 200,000 against the Khitans. Yang Xuanji, 'zong guan (omnibus magistrate) of Shenbian-dao rallied the Xi nomadic army and attacked the Khitans from the rear. Turkic Khan Muochuo was bribed to attack the Khitan homebase. After learning the loss of the Khitan homebase and family members, the Khitan army collapsed. The Tang army killed He A'xiao and captured Luo Wuzheng and Li Kaigu. When Sun Wanrong re-assembled his army to fight the Xi tribe, the Xi nomads encircled Sun and defeated the Khitans. Sun fled to east of the Lu-he river, and he was killed by his servant during rest. Zhang Jiujie relayed Sun'a head to the rest of the Khitans, and the remnant Khitans, Xi tribe, and [Bai-]Xi tribe all surrendered to Tang. In A.D. 697, Wuhou gladly changed the era to the first year of Shengong (divine feats) and declared an amnesty across the nation. Hence, the Khitans fled to the Turks for protection. In A.D. 700, two Tang nomadic generals, Li Kaigu and Luo Wuzheng, who were previously caught by Tang, defeated the Khitans again. Around A.D. 705-707, the former Khitan tribesmen of Weizhou, Wo-zhou, Dai-zhou, Chang-zhou, Xin-zhou and Xuanzhou, who were forced to relocate southward to Youzhou, Qingzhou and Xuzhou by Empress Wuhou in A.D. 696, were decreed by Emperor Zhongzong to be released back to Youzhou to the north. In A.D. 714, Shihuo (Li Jinzhong's younger cousin per Liao Shi) and xielifa Yi-jian-chuo, leading their clan, defected from Turkic Khan Muchuo to Tang. Tang Emperor Xuanzong bestowed 'iron certificate' (a document which would exempt the holder of the death penalty). Two years later, in A.D. 716, Shihuo came to Tang with Xi chieftain Li Dapu. Songmo-fu Prefecture was re-established at Yingzhou, and Shihuo was conferred the post of du du, king of Songmo-jun and leftside jinwu-wei grand general. Heads of eight Khitan tribes were conferred posts as ci si, and the rest of chieftains conferred the posts of magistrates and fan zhonglang-jiang. Shihuo was further upgraded to 'Jingxi-jun jinglüe da-shi', with the Khitan territories retaken as the chained-harnessed prefectures. A Tang royal family princess, Princess Yongle (daughter of the grandson of King Dongping-wang), was sent to Khitan chieftain as a bribe. Turks would complain to Tang numerous times, saying that both Xi and Khitan had received Tang princesses but the Turks did not get this privilege. In 717 AD, Shihuo died, and a brother, called Suogu (or Pogu), inherited everything. The next year, Suogu and Prince Yongle came to the Tang court. From A.D. 720 to A.D. 734 when Ke-tu-yu was killed, Ke-tu-yu controlled the Dahe-shi and Yaonian-shi ruling khans of the Khitans. In A.D. 720, a Khitan general, called ya-guan Ke-tu-yu, rebelled against Suogu. Suguo fled to the Yingzhou prefecture and was given 500 soldiers by Tang du du Xu Qindan. Suguo then called on Xi chieftain Li Dapu to attack Ke-tu-yu, but both were killed by Ke-tu-yu. Hence the Xi tribe was weakened with death of Li Dapu, while the Khitans gew stronger. Xu Qindan, being afraid of Ke-tu-yu, relocated the Yingzhou dudu-fu office to the Yuguan Pass. Ke-tu-yu then selected Suopu's elder cousin (Yuyu) as the Khitan king and requested pardon with the Tang court. Tang conferred the king title onto Yuyu and pardoned Ke-tu-yu. When Yuyu came to Tang, he was given a Murong-shi bride as Princess Yanjun-gongzhu. When Yuyu died, a brother called Duoyu (? Tuyusi) was enthroned. Duoyu, having rifts with Ke-tu-yu, fled to Tang with Prince Yanjun-gongzhu; Duoyu was conferred the title of King of Liaoyang-jun. Ke-tu-yu then selected Duo-yu's brother (Shaogu) as the king. Tang sent over a Cheng-shi woman as Princess Songhua to Shaogu, and Shaogu sent over his son as a hostage at the Tang court. Ke-tu-yu came to the Tang court for a second time and was mis-treated by the Tang prime minister. Three years later or the 18th year of the Kaiyuan Era, in A.D. 730, Ke-tu-yu killed Shaogu, selected Qulie as the new Khitan king, and compelled both the Khitans and the the Xi nomads into vassalage with the Turks. Qulie made Ke-tu-yu and Guozhe in charge of the military. Xi chieftain Li Dapu's brother, by the name of Lu-su, also fled to Tang for protection. Princess Donghua fled to Pinglu. The Tang court ordered a huge campaign against the Khitans and defeated Ke-tu-yu. The Xi nomads surrendered to Tang. The next year, Ke-tu-yu attacked the border areas. Tang zhang shi of Youzhou, Xue Chuyue, led over 10,000 cavalry and Xi nomads against Ke-tu-yu. Ke-tu-yu had the Turks backing him, and the Xi nomads changed loyalty. Two Tang generals were killed, and two were defeated, with a casualty of over 10,000 deaths. Tang made Zhang Shougui as the new zhang shi of Youzhou. Zhang Shougui secretly contacted a Khitan general (Li Guozhe), termed by 'bie bu-zhang' (alternative chieftain), to have him lay a siege of Ke-tu-yu. In A.D. 735, Li Guozhe killed Ke-tu-yu and Khitan Khan Qulie. History annals claimed that Ke-tu-yu and Qulie were tricked by an invitation to a party or something and then killed. Later, the Khitans used the death of Ke-tu-yu as pretext of old feuds for avenging on the Han Chinese. Yelü Helu Zhuan claimed that Yelü Helu, to avenge the Han Chinese (i.e., Tang Chinese) for killing Khitan Khan Zu-Xishou (ancestor Xishou), who was taken to be Ke-tu-yu (or Ke-tu-gan as written by Haan Yu) but should be Yaonian-shi Khan Qulie, xi-li-jin (i.e.,yi-li-jin) Yelü Abaoji (Taizu, grand ancestor) sent him, i.e., Yelü Helu , to the Xi compatriot tribe for combining force against the Han Chinese. Yelü Helu claimed that the Khitans and Xi shared the communicable language and was actually one [tribal] country. Tang conferred the title of King of Beiping-jun and du-du of Songmo onto ya-guan Li Guozhe. In A.D. 735, Ke-tu-yu remnants slaughtered Li Guozhe and his family, with one Li son fleeing to An'dong. Lü Simian pointed out that before Li Shaogu, the Khitans were ruled by the Dahe-shi tribe, but afterwards the reign passed to the Yaonian-shi tribe, with Khan Qulie listed as the first of nine Yaonian-shi khans seen in Ying-wei Zhi. After killing Li Guozhe, the Khitans, under the leadership of Yali (Zuli, Nieli or Nili, the ancestor of Yelü Ahbaoji), selected, Zuli, as Khan Zuwu who was also known as Di-nian-Zu-li and given the Tang royal name Li Huaixiu, i.e., the second of nine Yaonian-shi khans. Per Li Xihou, Khan Zuwu was a Yaonian-shi clan and he replaced Dahe-shi clan as a Khitan leader. (Speculation about Dahe-shi clan would consider Shaogu as its last heir.) Tang conferred the title of King Beiping-jun-wang, the rank of 'te-jin (special promotion)' [which was under the three grand dukes equivalent and above 'kaifu-yi-tong-sansi' (authorized prefectural office with the same treatment as three grand dukes equivalent)] and 'jian-xiao Song-mo dudu' onto Li Guozhe. In A.D. 735, Ke-tu-yu's remnants slaughtered Li Guozhe and his family, with one of Li Guozhe's sons, by the name of Li Laqian, fleeing to the An'dong Duhu-fu protector-general office. The Khitans, under the leadership of Yelü Yali (Zuli, Nieli or Nili of the Die-la clan, i.e., ancestor of Yelü Ahbaoji), supported Yaonian Khan Zuwu. Per Li Xihou, Khan Zuwu, also known as Li Huaixiu, was a Yaonian-shi clan chieftain, with the Dahe-shi clan already sidelined then. Per Liao Shi, Yi-gu (i.e., Yelü Yali) and brother Saliben controlled six ying (camps) of armies known as the Die-la tribe, which developed to the Nine Yaonian Ying (Camps) similar to Nine Yaonian Khans' Palaces per Ren Aijun, with the nine khans being eight predecessor khans and then the last ruling khan. In A.D. 737, Zhang Shougui defeated the Khitans again. In A.D. 745, Khitan chieftain (Li Huaixiu) surrendered to Tang and was conferred du du of Songmo and King of Chongshun-wang; Li Huaixiu was given Tang Prince Jingle as a bride. In the same year, Li Huaixiu killed Prince Jingle and fled home. An Lushan, jie du shi (governor-general) of Fanyang, defeated Li Huaixiu, i.e., 2nd Yaonian Khan Zuli or Khan Zuwu. (Per Li Xihou, Li Huaixiu could be the same person as Khan Zuwu.) A new chieftain, Li Kailuo, was made into King of Gongren-wang and acting du-du of Songmo, adn subsequently proclaimed himself the King of Qidan (Khitans). According to Lü Simian, the Khitans were so much weakened after this defeat that they had to go for the Xi tribe for protection. It would be the 4th generation ancestor of Yelü Ahbaoji, a yi-li-jin of the Die-la tribe, who was to defeat 'Pinglu-Hedong-Fanyang jiedu-shi' An Lushan to the south of Mt. Lu-shan, about A.D. 751. The Khitans would continue its developments in power, and by mid-750s, they defeated the Tang army led by An Lushan. An Lushan earlier had led an army in hundreds of thousands and tried to quell Khitan rebellion with a Xi nomad guide. An Lushan proposed to Tang Emperor Xuanzong in campaigning against the Khitans; An Lushan assembled an army of over 100,000 from Youzhou, Yunzhong, Pinglu and Hedong; An Lushan, using Xi nomads as guide, had a fight with the Khitans on the south bank of the Huang-shui River; and An Lushan was defeated, with a casualty of thousand deaths. An Lushan was defeated by Moulisi (future posthumous Khitan Suzu, solemn ancestor), i.e., the 4th generation ancestor of Yelü Ahbaoji, to the south of Mt. Lu-shan. For the victory during this battle, Khitan Xiao-ta-ge's 8th generation ancestor Zhi-lu was appointed the post of Khitan 'bei-fu {northern court) zai-xiang (prime minister)'. An Lushan would be engaged in zigzag war with the Khitans till his rebellion in A.D. 755. Tang nomadic general An Lushan's rebellion (An-Shi rebellion) broke out in October of A.D. 755. This will bring about Tang's decline. Before and after this time period, the Khitans had paid visits to the Tang court dozens of times. Always on a yearly basis, the Khitan chieftains came to Tang, and they stayed in special guesthouses in the number of hundreds. The Khitans later submitted to Huihe (Uygurs). Tang did not confer them any more titles because of their submission to Huihe. It would be in A.D. 842 that Khitan chieftain Qushu (Quxu in Gao-li Gu-jin Lu) came to submit to Tang again after the Uygurs were destroyed by the Kirghiz, and received Emperor Wuzong's conferral as General Yunhui (cloud-banner) in the 2nd year of the Huichang Era, i.e., A.D. 842. Qushu was Khitan Khan Yelan. Earlier, Tang Emperor Wuzong dispatched several columns of army against Huihe by taking advantage of the Kirghiz attacks of the Huihe (Huihu/Uygur). A Huihe chieftain, Wenmeisi, surrendered to Tang. Governor-general of Youzhou, Zhang Zhongwu, would replace Khitan's Uygur seal with a Tang seal. In the A.D. 860s, Khitan king Xi-er-zhi sent emissary to Tang. After Xi-er-zhi would be Qinde, i.e., Yaonian Khan Hendejin the last and 9th Yaonian-shi khan after whom Abaoji of the Die-la tribe took over the Khitan reign. Beginning from A.D. 885, with the decline of the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), the Khitans began to conquer Dada [Dadan], Xi nomads and Shiwei statelets in late A.D. 880s. They began to raid into northern China again. Governor-general Liu Rengong counter-attacked the Khitans by going beyond the Zhaixing-ling (stars' snatching) Ridge and burnt the grass to starve their herds. The Khitans lost a lot of horses and requested for ceasefire. The Khitans broke the peace treaty and invaded China with over ten thousand cavalry. Later, Liu Shouguang of the Pingzhou prefecture defeated them again by capturing their generals during a peace banquet, and peace ensued for 10 years. Khitan King Qinde, in his late years, gradually lost his control over eight Khitan tribes. Per History of the Tang Dynasty, the Dahe-shi clan, and actually the successor-Yaonian-shi clan, hence lost control of the power over the Khitan tribes. Yelü Ahbaoji was selected because the other Yaonian-shi chieftains failed to do the job. Yelü Ahbaoji was conferred the post of yilijin of the Dielie tribe by Yaonian Khan Hendejin in A.D. 901. Abaoji was from the Die-la tribe, with the hereditary yi-li-jin (i.e., army minister equivalent) post, who took over the Khitan reign from the Yaonian-shi tribe. At the time Abaoji was born, around A.D. 872, the Die-la tribe had internal turmoil, with Abaoji's grandfather yi-li-jin Yundeshi (Yunde) killed by Yelü Hende and his grandmother sending four sons to shelter with Yelü Taiya. Hende was killed by military chief Puguzhi. Dozen years after, another Die-la tribal turmoil saw Abaoji's cousin Yelü Shilu (a yu-yue command-in-chief equivalent) killed by Yelü Huage (a nephew to Abaojiu and a son to victim Shilu), Puguzhi, Kexiao-taisa (an uncle-grandpa). Yelü Shilu previously worked with Yelü Xiadi to hijack the Die-la tribe's yu-yue (Turkic name for üge [wise men]) and yi-li-jin posts, and appointed Yelü Abaoji the bodyguard garrison commander post of ta-ma. Liao Shi stated that at the time of Yaonian Khan Hendejin, in A.D. 901, younger stepbrother Yelü Xiadi forcefully took over elder stepbrother Yanguzhi's yi-li-jin post, with both being Abaoji's clan uncles. Yelü Xiadi was responsible for assassinating Yelü Shilu, over which he fled to the Bohai state for asylum before returning to be a yu-yue under Abaoji. Abaoji, who was ta-ma rong sha-li, quelled the rebellion and took over the military leader's post while Yelü Shilu was dead and Yelü Xiadi fled the scene, and received Khan Hendejin's approval to be Die-la yi-li-jin and subsequently the Khitan tribes' 'da Die-lie-fu yi-li-jin' posts. Purportedly, in early years of Posterior Liang, around A.D. 907, Abaoji, using the trick of his Huihe wife (Shulü), cheated the tribal leaders into a party and killed them all. Hence, Yelü Ahbaoji, a Yaonian-shi clan member, controlled all Khitan tribes. Abaoji, an yi-li-jin that was equivalent to 'zai-xiang (prime minister)' of the Khitan southern court and northern court, took control of all Khitan tribes after getting rid of da-ren chieftains of eight tribes and succeeded Yaonian Khan Hendejin's kingship as the sole Khitan leader. Khan Hendejin died in December of the 3rd year of the Tianyou Era, i.e., A.D. 906, while Abaoji ascended to the Khitan emperor's throne immediately in January of the 4th year of the Tianyou Era, i.e., A.D. 907, per Liao Shi. Historian Lü Simian, however, thought that this was made up by the writers of Wu-dai Shi on basis of rumors heard from the Khitans since Yelü Ahbaoji always held the Super-yilijin politico-military post of the Khitans, with the contended post being the Khitan emperor, i.e., arch-khan. Liao Shi described Yelü Ahbaoji's background as someone from the Yelü shire (mili of the Xialaiyi (Xi-lamulun) county (shilie) of the Die-la tribe. According to Lü Simian, Abaoji's tribe was already separate from the eight Khitan tribes. Per Ren Aijun's analysis, the Die-la tribe possessed seven counties (shilie) and eleven 'bai-hu' (thousand households, jaghun), the strongest among ten Khitan tribes (including Yaonian and Die-la) or twenty Yaonian tribes. It was not clear whether Abaoji was the sole yi-li-jin who was in charge as there were supposed to have existed two yi-li-jin politico-military officials in charge of the Khitan southern court and northern court; and it was not also clear what the history annals Wu-dai Shi meant by an arch-da-ren was, some leader selected among or above the chiefains of eight Khitan tribes' da-ren and who should be like Khan Hendejin. It appeared that from A.D. 901 to A.D. 907, there were no challengers to Abaoji's power within the Die-la tribe. The following years, Abaoji was busy with expansion. In A.D. 901, Abaoji attacked Shi-wei, Ugu and Xi. In July of A.D. 902, ABaoji commanded an army of 400,000 to attack He-dong and Dai-bei of northern China, sacked nine prefectures, captured 95,000 people, and in September launched a Longhua-zhou (dragon incarnation) city to the south of the Huang-shui River, with a Kaijiao-si (start preaching) Buddhist monastery built, a city that was called Abaoji's first 'tou-xia' [under the chieftain] city; and in the spring of A.D. 903, Abaoji attacked the Jurchens, in September sacked several He-dong cities including Huaiyuan-jun, and in October, attacked Ji-bei (northern Ji[4]zhou), over which Khan Hendejin granted Abaoji the honorary title of yu-yue, with the title of 'zong-zhi junguo-shi[4]' (omnipotent power over the military affairs). In this year, Abaoji organized a separate 'Xi-Xiela-bu' tribe, i.e., a Xi tribe under Die-la's command. Yelü Ahbaoji apparently moved southward to set up an independent city 'Han Cheng' (i.e., the Chinese city) by himself rather being challenged by the rest of Khitan chieftains. In A.D. 904, Abaoji defeated the Heichezi-Shiwei (black cart Shi-wei) tribe, as well as defeated Liu Ren'gong's Youzhou army which came to the relief of Heichezi-Shiwei. In A.D. 905, Abaoji and Shatuo warlord Li Keyong struck an alliance at Yunzhou (Datong). In A.D. 906, Zhu Wen sent a messenger to visiting Abaoji as well, which was a detour trip across the sea. Late in the year, Khan Hendejin abdicated to Abaoji, with Abaoji tacking on the emperor's post on the 'geng-yin' day of January, A.D. 907 and decreeing his family as the Tenth Khan's Tent. Subsequently, Abaoji yielded the 'da Die-lie-fu yi-li-jin' post to cousin Dielidi, and again attacked and subjugated eight Heichezi-Shiwei tribes. Hence, there was no validity in the claims that Yelü Ahbaoji took over the reign for nine years without rotating the seat after hearing of the Chinese saying that the kings did not rotate; that under the pressure of the other tribal heads, Yelü Ahbaoji moved southward where he set up an independent city called 'Han Cheng', namely, the Chinese city, near the bank of the Luan-he River in today's Jehol; and that Abaoji took his Huihe (Uygur) wife's trick in inducing the chieftains to a party at the Han-cheng city and killed them all. According to Lü Simian's analysis, it was because the Yaonian-shi khan who failed to counter Liu Ren'gong's repeated campaigns to the Zhaixing-ling (ridge that reached for the stars) area to burn the pastures, that the eight Khitan tribes supported yi-li-jin Abaoji of the Die-la tribe to be the new Khitan ruler. Through A.D. 901-907, there was no internal turmoil and killings as existed before. The only challenge would be after Abaoji ascended to the throne January A.D. 907, the reason being uncle Yelü Xiadi's instigation of Abaoji's brothers. Abaoji quelled the rebellions of his brothers numerous time through A.D. 911-913. Yelü Xiadi, before death, confessed that it was because he envied Abaoji's grandioseness in being an emperor that he instigated the rebellions while initially not taking the emperor or khan's position seriously. Back in A.D. 907, Abaoji took over the reign over the Khitans, with initial coutesy offer of the emperor's post to Yelü Xiadi. However, in A.D. 913, Yelü Xiadi instigated Abaoji's brother Yelü Lage, et al., into rebellion while Abaoji campaigned against the southwestern area. Years back, in 911 and 912, brother Yelü Lage (Yelü Shuailan/Lülan), with the rest of brothers, rebelled against Abaoji but was pardoned. Yelü Xiadi was imprisoned and executed. Brother Yelü Lage later in A.D. 917 fled to Youzhou for asylum with Li Cunxu and subsequently fled to Posterior Liang but was killed by Li Cunxu after Posterior Jinn sacked the Posterior Liang capital city of Luoyang in A.D. 923. Yelü Ahbaoji (Yeh-lu A-pao-chi A.D. 872-926) took in a lot of Youzhou and Zhuozhou Chinese who fled from warlord Liu Shouguang's tyranny. Yelü Ahbaoji expanded his territories by sacking the Chinese border cities and abducting the civilians. Yelü Ahbaoji moved southward where he set up an independent city called 'Han Cheng', namely, the Chinese city, near the bank of the Luan-he River in today's Jehol. Yelü Ahbaoji had the Chinese cultivate the lands and mine the ores. To the north of 'Han Cheng' (the Chinese city), along the West Liao River and Xi-lamulun River, in the valley and sandy area [i.e., the ancient Song-mo or Pine Desert area), the Khitans by the early 11th century were to build nine Chinese-style prefecture-level settlements numbering 350,000 households, including Qing[4]zhou (to the north of Linxi and west of Balin-zuoqi), Huaizhou (west of Balin-zuoqi, Tang Dynasty's Guicheng-zhou), Shang-jing (the upper capital city) [in today's Balin-zuoqi), Zuzhou (ancestral prefecture, between Huaizhou and Shangjing), Raozhou (south of Balin-youqi, Tang Dynasty's Raohua-zhou and Songmo-fu [pine desert prefecture]), Yikunzhou (southwest of Raozhou), Songshanzhou (pine hill prefecture, south of Shangjing and west of Balin-youqi) between Wuer-jimulun River and Xi-lamulun River, Yongzhou (southeast of Songshanzhou, called Tong-nabo, i.e., tents in the winter times) at the intersection of Xi-lamulun River and Laha-he River, Longhuazhou (southeast of Yongzhou) northeast of today's Naiman-qi, and Longshengzhou (southwest of Naiman-qi) etc. Longhuazhou would be where the Khitan ancestor, Khan Qishou, dwelled, and was called by Long-ting, i.e., the dragon's court house. Xi-lamu-he was known as the ancient Huang-shui (yellow water) or Raole-shui, and merged with Laha-he River to become the source of the West Liao-he River. The ancient Song-mo or Pine Desert area is known as Ke-er-qin today. Northern Soong emissary Song Shou, when traveling between the Liao Zhongjing (the middle capital city) and Shangjing, described the geography of crossing the desert, passing Baima-dian (white horse lake) and crossing the Tu-he (Laha-he) River. The Khitans were said by Paul Ratchnevsky to have been pressured into moving into northern China where they established the Khitan Dynasty in A.D. 907. The Naimans, who first allied with the Kirghiz who defeated the Huihe (Uygurs) in A.D. 840, grew in strength and drove the Kirghiz to the River Yenisei and rooted the Keraits from their homeland on the Irtysh in the Altai and drove the Keraits towards Manchuria, hence indirectly causing the Khitans to move to northern China where they established the Khitan Dynasty in A.D. 907. This might not be true as the Khitans actually co-existed with the Tang Chinese and Turks for hundreds of years. Abaoji conquered Bohai to the northeast, plus Shiwei and Jurchens; the Kirghiz to the northwest; the Tanguts, Shatuo, Dadan, Tuyuhun and Huihe (Uygur) to the southwest -- which led to tributes from the Tibetans, Khotan, Persia and Dashi (Arabs) in the remote lands. The Tuyuhun people, subdivided into raw and cooked Tuhun, like their neighbor Tanguts. relocated to northern China under the pressure of the Tibetans in a similar context as the Shatuo people's relocation. The Khitans under Yelü Ahbaoji obtained a Chinese minister called Han Yanwei and quickly conquered in A.D. 926 tribes like the Dangxiang (Tanguts) in the west, and the Tungusic P'o-hai in the east and north Korea. (The Khitans conquered the Xi nomad and Shi-wei in the north earlier.) The Khitans became a much larger northern power. The Khitans ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and much of northern China by A.D. 925. The Khitans renamed their dynasty to Liao Dynasty in A.D. 947 in the attempt of ruling northern China. When the weather got hot and the Chinese rebelled against them, Yelü Deguang retreated to the north and died en route to home at a place called the Fox-killing Ridge (shahu-ling). They renamed it back to Khitan in A.D. 983, and finally back to Liao Dynasty in A.D. 1066. The dynasty lasts through 907-1125.
The Khitans & the Five Dynasties The Khitans were said to have been pressured into moving into northern China where they established the Khitan Dynasty in A.D. 907. The Naimans, who first allied with the Kirghiz who defeated the Uigurs in A.D. 840, grew in strength and drove the Kirghiz to the River Yenesei and rooted the Keraits from their homeland on the Irtysh in the Altai and drove them towards Manchuria, hence indirectly causing the Khitans to move to northern China where they established the Khitan Dynasty in A.D. 907 and renamed it to Liao Dynasty in A.D. 938 (or A.D. 947 according to alternative claim). The Khitans ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and much of northern China by A.D. 925. Per Paul Ratchnevsky, the Naimans, who first allied with the Kirghiz who defeated the Huihe (Uygurs) in A.D. 840, grew in strength and drove the Kirghiz to the River Yenesei and rooted the Keraits from their homeland on the Irtysh in the Altai and drove the Keraits towards Manchuria, hence indirectly causing the Khitans to move to northern China where they established the Khitan Dynasty in A.D. 907. The truth was that the Khitans dwelled next to the Tang Chinese for hundreds of years and should be considered at least one-third sedentary since they enjoyed the Song-mo and Yingzhou citadels that were constructed with the help of the Tang court's artisans, not to mention the Khitan khans' marriage with the Tang princesses numerous times. Khitan leader Yelü Ahbaoji was said to have broken the Khitan rotational leadership customs in tricking chieftains of eight Khitan tribes to a party at one of his Han-cheng (Chinese city) citadels for assassination and in A.D. 916 declared himself Emperor Da-sheng da-ming tian-huangdi' (great saintly and bright heaven emperor -- which sounded like a posthumous title), with the setting being Abaoji's triumphant return from a campaign against Shi-wei in A.D. 915, which was doubted by historian Lü Simian to be hearsay recorded in Wu-dai Shi. It appeared that the forgery book Qi-dan Guo Zhi copycatted Zi-zhi Tong Jian in making the claim that Abaoji ascended the emperor's throne on the 'bing-zi' day of Posterior Liang Emperor King-Jun-wang's Zhenming 2nd year, i.e., A.D. 916. While this webmaster was contemplating on the riddles of Abaoji's path to power, more discoveries were made concerning the historic literatures, which led to finding a writeup on Abaoji's reign by Professor Liu Pujiang of Peking University, which could be generalized as below:
Indeed the eight Khitan tribes used to have a system of rotating rule for selecting their chieftains every three years, but Abaoji broke the rule in a gradual way, not by eliminating the chieftains through a coup in a purported Yanchi (salt pond) banquet of A.D. 915. First, Abaoji appointed brother Yelü Lage the post of ti-yin guan in charge of clan and tribal affairs in January of A.D. 708, then appointed brother-in-law Xiao Dilu as 'bei-fu zhai-xiang (prime minister of the northern court) in July of A.D. 910, and finally appointed brother Yelü Suwei the post of 'nan-fu zhai-xiang (prime minister of the southern court) in A.D. 921. The challenge to Abaoji's rule came from his brothers who staged rebellions numerous time through A.D. 911-913. Abaoji had five brothers named Lage, Diela, Yindizhi, and Anrui who were all spared the death penalty, plus one more brother by the name of Yelü Su. For decentralizing the Die-la tribe's hold on power, Yelü Ahbaoji later in October of A.D. 922 reorganized the original five shilie (county) and six zhao (pronounced as zhaw and equivalent to jiu [designation for the later Khitan miscellaneous tribal armies jiu-jun but interpreted by Yan Wanzhang as equivalent to Chinese 'jun' for armies with ancient pronunciation of 'gun' as seen in Korean and Japanese, i.e., jaghun {hundred household head}]) system into two tribes ruled by wu-yuan bu (five tribes) and liu-yuan bu (six tribes) plus 'da heng zhang' (great horizontal tents) that mutated into four royal tents. The demise of the Tang Dynasty brought the so-called Five Dynasties (A.D. 907-960) in northern China and 10 Kingdoms (A.D. 902-979), with the nine kingdoms in southern China and Northern Han (A.D. 951-979) in today's Shaanxi. As recorded in history, the three dynasties in between Posterior Liang and Posterior Zhou were of alien nature, founded by generals who belonged to a group of nomads called Shatuo (Sha'to, a Turkic tribe). The Shatuo people, under the pressure of the Tibetans, relocated to northern China where they merged with the Six-prefecture Sogdians of Lu-zhou, Li-zou, Han-zhou, Sai-zhou, Yi-zhou and Qi-zhou in southern Lingzhou-Xiazhou prefectures to form the three tribes of Shatuo, Anqing and Sage (Suoge) -- that came to be known as the Nine-prefecture Shatuo in the Five Dynasties' time period, a name from the Ten Shatuo Prefecture of the Tang dynasty. While Posterior Liang (A.D. 907-923) was set up by Zhu Wen (who first betrayed rebel leader Huang Chao and then usurped Tang Dynasty), the leader of later Posterior Tang (A.D. 923-936), Posterior Jinn (A.D. 936-946) and Posterior Han all came from nomadic Shatuo (Sha'to), i.e., the Sino-barbarian autocracy that was named by Jacques Gernet (who erred in the claim that “no clergy, no military caste, no merchant class ever succeeded in gaining political power” in China). This time period marks the penetration and influence of the Khitans on northern China. Posterior Tang leader Li Keyong had once gone into exile in another nomadic group of people called Dada [Dadan] (to be mixed up with Tartar later) till he was recalled by Tang emperor for quelling the Huang Chao Rebellion. When Zhu Wen usurped Tang, General Li Keyong and his son Li Chunxu set up the so-called Posterior Tang. Around A.D. 907, the Khitans invaded northern Chinese post of Yunzhong. To combat Posterior Liang, Li Keyong would strike an agreement with the Khitans (a branch of earlier Xianbei nomads) against Posterior Liang. But the Khitans, under Yelü Ahbaoji (Yeh-lu A-pao-chi A.D. 872-926) and his Uygur wife, would collude with Posterior Liang. Yelü Ahbaoji had earlier led a 300 thousand army to an alliance meeting with Li Keyong and swore to be brothers. Yelü Ahbaoji gave a few thousand horses to Li Keyong. But, Yelü Ahbaoji would change mind soon, and he sought suzerainty with Zhu Wen for sake of title conferring as well as marriage with Zhu Wen's daughter. Li Xihou commented that Yelü Ahbaoji intended to be conferred kingship by a Chinese emperor for sake of solidifying his rule over eight tribes at home. Posterior Liang exchanged emissaries with Yelü Ahbaoji few times, and had Yelü Ahbaoji dispatch 300 Khitan cavalry to Posterior Liang as a show of submission. Li Keyong, hearing of the Khitan betrayal, got ill and passed away, leaving three arrows with his son (Li Chunxu, Posterior Tang Emperor Zhuangzong) as oaths to destroy Posterior Liang and the Khitans. However, Yelü Ahbaoji failed to go to Posterior Liang capital for the conferral, and the Khitans altogether sent 4 missions to Posterior Liang. The Khitans under Yelü Ahbaoji obtained a Chinese minister called Han Yanwei and quickly conquered, in A.D. 926, tribes like Dangxiang (Tanguts) in the west, and the Tungusic P'o-hai in the east and north Korea. (The Khitans conquered the Xi nomad and Shi-Wei in the north earlier.) Khitan became a much larger northern power. The Khitans ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and northern China by A.D. 925. After Li Chunxu overthrew Posterior Liang in A.D. 921, Tangut's Li Renfu expressed loyalty to Posterior Tang. In A.D. 933, Tangut's Li Yichao assumed the post of his father Li Renfu. Posterior Tang Emperor Mingzong [Li Siyuan or Li Dan, reign 926-933] had campaigned against Li Yichao for his refusal to relocate to Yanzhou. After laying siege of Xiazhou in vain for over hundred days, Posterior Tang Emperor Mingzong withdrew the siege and re-confirmed Li Yichao's post. After Li Yichao's death in A.D. 936, brother Li Yiyin assumed the Tangut post. Posterior Jinn (A.D. 936-946), led by a Posterior Tang general called Shi Jingtang, also a Shatuo (Sha'to) nomad, in order to fight Posterior Tang, would secede 16 zhou (a unit larger than prefecture but smaller than province) to the Khitans, including today's Beijing city which was never recovered from the nomads till Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) overthrown the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Yelü Ahbaoji's son, Yelü Deguang, would assist Posterior Jinn in destroying Posterior Tang and hence take over 16 northern Chinese prefectures as a ransom. With the help of the Khitans, Posterior Jinn took over Luoyang and destroyed Posterior Tang. After Shi Jingtang, i.e., Tang Emperor Mingzong's son-in-law, colluded with the Khitans in overthrowing Posterior Tang and establishing Posterior Jinn, Tangut's Li Yiyin continued to receive the old conferrals. Posterior Jinn further caught Tangut rebels in A.D. 943 on behalf of Li Yiyin. However, rifts between the Khitans and Posterior Jinn ensued, and the Khitans destroyed Posterior Jinn. When Posterior Jinn Emperor Chudi refused to acknowledge vassalage to the Khitans, Yelü Deguang attacked Posterior Jinn. When the Khitans attacked Posterior Jinn in A.D. 944, Tangut's Li Yiyin led a combined force of 40,000 Tibetans, Qiangs and Han Chinese in attacking the west of the Khitans by crossing the Yellow River at Linzhou. Yelü Deguang destroyed Posterior Jinn in A.D. 946. the Khitans renamed their dynasty to Liao Dynasty in A.D. 947 in the attempt of ruling northern China. Khitan chieftain, Yelü Deguang, tried to establish himself as emperor of northern China and declared Liao Dynasty while he was occupying the capital of Posterior Jinn in A.D. 947. (Khitan Liao's dynasty lasted A.D. 916-1125, but the name of Liao was to do with A.D. 947 when Posterior Jinn was destroyed. Liao was meant for a dynasty in China, while Khitan was for their original northern dynastic title.) When weather got hot and Chinese under Posterior Han Dynasty's Liu Zhiyuan rebelled against them, Yelü Deguang retreated to the north and died on route home at a place called Fox-killing Ridge. Liu Zhiyuan of Shatuo origin established Posterior Han Dynasty. Posterior Han Dynasty continued the pacification policy as to the Tanguts, and further seceded Jingzhou (Mizhi county of Shenxi) to Tangut's Li Yiyin in A.D. 949 and conferred the title of "zhong shu ling" (minister for central secretariat). At this time, Southern Tang (A.D. 937-975) in Nanking, south of the Yangtze River, had contacted the Khitans expressing a desire to go to the ex-Tang capital of Chang'an to maintain the imperial tombs. When weather got hot and Chinese under Liu Zhiyuan rebelled against them, Yelü Deguang retreated to the north and died on route home at a place called Fox-killing Ridge. A Posterior Jinn general of Shatuo tribe origin, Liu Zhiyuan, would be responsible for rallying an army and pressured the Khitans into retreat, and hence Liu founded the Posterior Han Dynasty (A.D. 947-950), citing the same family name as Han Empire's founder. Yelü Deguang's nephew (Wuyue Yelü Ruan), would succeed the Khitan post in A.D. 947. Five years later, in A.D. 951, he was assassinated. Posterior Han Dynasty continued the pacification policy as to the Tanguts, and further seceded Jingzhou (Mizhi county of Shenxi) to Li Yiyin in A.D. 949 and conferred the title of "zhong shu ling" (minister for central secretariat). Guo Wei, a general of Posterior Han Dynasty responsible for defeating Posterior Jinn, rebelled after his family were slaughtered in the capital; Guo later staged a change of dynasty by having his soldiers propose that he be the emperor of Posterior Zhou (A.D. 951-960), while the uncle of Posterior Han emperor declared Northern Han (A.D. 951-979) in today's Shaanxi and allied with the Khitans. Yelü Deguang's son, Wulu (Yelü Jing), would now succeed in A.D. 951. Note that the Yelü family had adopted Chinese first names here, and they had Sinicized by adopting Chinese language, rituals and governmental structure. After Guo Wei, i.e., "liu shou" (interim governing magistrate) for Yedu (Yecheng of Shanxi), killed Posterior Han Dynasty Emperor Yindi (r 948-950), Guo Wei upgraded Tangut's Li Yiyin to the title of King Longxi-jun-wang in A.D. 951. Yelü Deguang's son, Wulu (Yelü Jing), would now succeed in A.D. 951. Note that the Yelü family had adopted Chinese first names here, and they had Sinicized by adopting Chinese language, rituals and governmental structure. The Khitans changed their dynastic names back and forth between Liao and Khitan, several times. First called Khitan in A.D. 907, they did not have chronicle year till A.D. 916. They renamed it to Liao in A.D. 947, renamed it to Khitan in A.D. 983, and renamed it back to Liao in A.D. 1066. Guo Wei, i.e., Posterior Zhou Dynasty Emperor Taizu (r 951-954), conferred the title of King Xiping-wang onto Li Yiyin in A.D. 954. Li Yiyin did not severe relations with Northern Han Dynasty till A.D. 957. Guo Wei's Posterior Zhou will pass on to his foster son, Cai Rong, to be eventually replaced by his general called Zhao Kuangyin who founded the Northern Soong Dynasty (A.D. 960-1127). In A.D. 960, Zhao Kuangyin initiated Chenqiao Coup, took over the reign from Posterior Zhou and established the Soong Dynasty as Emperor Taizu (r 960-976). Tangut's Li Yiyin promptly dispatched emissary to Soong court for expressing loyalty, and changed his name to Li Yixing for avoiding the conflict with the last character of the given name of Zhao Kuangyin's father. Li Yiyin surrendered 300 stallions to Soong court in A.D. 962 and received jade-belt as imperial bestowal in return. When Li Yiyin died in A.D. 967, Soong Emperor Taizu ordered a mourning for three days and conferred Li Yiyin the title of King Xia-wang posthumously. Tangut's Li Guangrui assumed his father's post. The Khitans, Western Xia and Soong China, during the remainder of the 11th century and the early years of the twelfth century, were frequently at war with each other till the Jurchens came along. The Jurchens, ancestors of the later Manchus, would defeat the Khitans in a seven-year war (A.D. 1115-1122) by means of an alliance with Northern Soong. The Khitan Script There is a citation that a Uyghur prince went to the kitan places but he could not communicate with the Khitans. Hence the Khitans began to develop a 'small script'. This saying is now disputed since the finding would be that the Khitans first developed the so-called 'big script' (a Sinicized language), and then the small-character scripts with the Uygur influence. The Khitans, after taking over Mongolia from the Kirghiz, had retained a lot of Uygurs who were left behind. Many records show the exchange between the two groups. The Uygurs, i.e., Huihe, in turn obtained the script as well as religions such as Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism ('Xian-jiao') and Manichaeism ('Ming-jiao' or Mani 'jiao'), from the Sogdians who were historic allies of the Turks. The Khitan Mode of 'Mobile Palaces' The Khitans shared the same mode of 'Mobile palaces' as the Yuezhi. Chinese Turkistan possessed dozens of statelets, and they were the agri people in comparison with the roaming marauders on the steppe. The Yuezhi were said to be practicing the mode of 'Mobile palaces', the same way as the Iranian or Persian rulers. That means, the Yuezhi ruler would spend one summer in a certain palace of a certain city and then relocate to a palace in a different city. The later Khitans had so-called 'Xi-lou' (i.e., Zuzhou, an ancient Khitan hunting ground, southwest of Balin-zuoqi) and 'Dong-lou' (Jiangsheng-zhou, or today's Kulun-qi Banner), i.e., the west storey palace and east storey palace, and they moved to different places in different seasons. Both Chinese Turkistan and Manchuria DIFFER from Mongolia in that the nomads of Mongolia and Altai had no cities and they roamed the plains in search of grass and water. The Khitans, who dwelled in the sandy Song-mo (Pine Desert) area, had undertaken limited cultivation. This is the fundamental distinction. The Khitans & the Soong Dynasty Zhao Kuangyin, i.e., Soong Emperor Taizu convened a wine party meeting with his top generals, among whom were Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Wang Shenqi, Zhang Lingduo and Luo Yan’gui, et al., and revoked their 'dian-qian' and 'shi-wei' palace guard and forbidden army generals' titles, with retention of nominal titles of 'jiedu-shi' as regional satraps. This was a rumored story recorded by Wang Ceng (A.D. 977-1038) and Sima Guang (A.D. 1019-1086) after the emperor purportedly consulted with Zhao Pu as to how to avoid the turmoil like the change of eight dynasties from the late Tang dynasty till then. The timing could be in A.D. 962, or sometime between the middle of A.D. 961 when Gao Huaide was reassigned to the post of 'Gui'de-jun jiedu' and early A.D. 963 when Shi Shouxin was reassigned to the post of 'Tianping-jun jiedu-shi'. After dismissing the sworn brothers from military posts, second-tier commanders were sent to the key points, with Li Hanchao garrisoning at Guan-nan (south of the pass, i.e., ancient continental lake area), Ma Renyu at Ying2-zhou (Hejian), Haan Lingkun at Changshan, He4 Weizhong at Yi4zhou, Heh Jiyun at Di4zhou (Wudi), Guo Jin at Xishan (western mountain), Wu Shouqi at Jinnyang, Li Qianpu at Xi2zhou (Xi2xian of Shanxi), Li Jixun at Zhaoyi, Zhao Zan (Zhao Kuangzan, i.e., Khitan prime minister Zhao Yanshou's son) at Yanzhou, Yao Neibin at Qing4zhou, Dong Zunhui at Huan2zhou, Wang Yansheng at Yuan2-zhou, and Feng Jiye at Lingwu. Khitan Emperor Muzong (Yelü Jing r 951-969) was assassinated in A.D. 969. Wuyue's son, Yelü Xian, would be enthroned as Khitan Emperor Jingzong (r 969-982). Yelü Xian would appoint Xiao Shouxing as 'shangshu-ling' and take over Xiao's daughter as his empress. Empress Yanyan (or Yeye), after the death of Yelü Xian, would assume Khitan regency as so-called Xiao-niangniang or Xiaotaihou. Empress Xiaotaihou changed the dynastic name back to Khitan. i.e., Da Qi Dan or the Great Khitan. Yelü Rongxu was enthroned in A.D. 982 and continued till A.D. 1031, but Xiaotaihou held the actual power. Xiaotaihou appointed a Chinese, Han Derang (son of Han Kuangsi or Han Guosi) as so-called 'shumi-shi' in charge of secretariat, Yelü Boguzhe in charge of areas west of Beijing, Yelü Xiuge in charge of areas south of Beijing, and accepted the surrender of a Soong Chinese general (Li Jiqian). When the Soong Dynasty's second emperor, Soong Taizong (r 976-997), tried to attack Beijing (after quelling the remnant Posterior Han), the Khitans dealt Soong Chinese a thorough defeat. Xiaotaihou later took in Han Derang as her lover and conferred onto him the post of prime minister and the title of King Jin; Xiaotaihou gave Han Derang the Khitan name of Yelü Rongyun. When Xiaotaihou and Han Derang passed away, Yelü Rongxu ordered that Han Derang be buried next to the tomb of Xiaotaihou. Yelü Rongxu campaigned against Koryo for the killing of Koryo king by a minister. During the regency, Xiao-taihou repelled the Soong dynasty's A.D. 986 Yongxi Northern Campaign, and counter-attacked and defeated the Soong army in the Yingzhou area, sacking Shenzhou (Shenxian, Hebei), Qizhou (An'guo, Hebei), and Yi4zhou (Yixian). The Yongxi Northern Campaign was a proposal from Soong 'Xiongzhou zhi-zhou' Heh Lingtu, 'Yi4zhou ci-shi' Heh Huaipu, and 'Wensi-yuan shi (preparatory colonel)' Xue Jizhao, et al., that the Khitans could be taken advantage of by the Soong dynasty because Xiao-taihou and Haan Derang degraded the Khitan court with the lewd acts and caused the Khitan people discontent. From A.D. 991 onward and in face of a two-front war against the Khitans and Tanguts, the Soong emperor adopted the defensive posture against the Khitans, and ordered to build the watercourse and lake defense line against the Khitans, that extended from the Chenyun-po Lake (Baoding) to the seacoast near today's Tanggu of Tientsin. In the Hebei plains, an underground labyrinth of tunnels was discovered in the 20th century, during the war of resistance of the 1930s, that was speculated to be the work of the Soong dynasty for the defense against the Khitans. Later, when the Mongols invaded northern China, the Jurchens invoked two ethnic-Chinese military strongmen, i.e., Duke Gaoyang-gong Zhang Fu, et al., to defend the water-laden area. The Jurchen emperor assigned Zhang Fu (Wanyan Fu) and Zhang Jin (Wayan Jin) as commanders of the Xin'an-jun Army for guarding the water-borne area called by "ju luo4" (great lake), namely, the area that today's imbecile communist leader built as the Xiong'an ghost city. After about one and half decades of resistance wars, Zhang Jin (Zhang Renyi, Wanyan Jin), i.e., Zhang Fu (Duke Gaoyang-gong)'s successor, surrendered the water-course defense works (i.e., today's Baiyangdian Lake and ancient Continental Lake) to Mongol general A-zhu-lu in A.D. 1229. In A.D. 999, the Khitan Liao army laid siege of the Soong army at Dingzhou (Zhengding, Hebei). In A.D. 1000, the Khitan Liao army defeated the Soong army at Yingzhou, i.e., the Suicheng-Yangshan campaign. In April of A.D. 1003, the Khitan Liao army invaded the Soong territory for sake of recovering the Waqiao-guan (tile bridge) Pass, namely, today's southern quarter of Xiongxian County, Hebei. In A.D. 1004, peace talks broke down over the Khitan demand for the ten-county Guan-nan land, namely, Waqiao-guan (Xiongxian), Yijin-guan (Ba4zhou), Yukou-guan (Ba4zhou), Ying2-zhou (Hejian) and Mozhou (Ren'an), namely, the land recovered from the Khitans by Posterior Zhou emperor Chai Rong in A.D. 959. Chai Rong renamed Waqiao-guan to Xiongzhou and the Yijin-guan pass Ba4zhou. In August of A.D. 1004, the Khitans mounted another attack against the Soong dynasty, on which occasion the Soong emperor went to the Chanzhou (Puyang, Henan) front to direct the war. By December, the Chan-yuan (deep pond of Chanzhou) Truce was signed, with the Soong and Khitan emperors calling each other by younger and elder brothers, and calling the Khitan empress by aunt. The territory demarcation was unchanged along the Baigou-he (white ditch) River, namely, the Juma-he River. The Khitans sent emissary to congratulate Soong Emperor Renzong's enthronement. The second year, the Khitans propagated the news that they would go for hunting at Youzhou. A Soong minister by the name of Zhang Zhibai advised against amassing troops for guarding possible Khitan invasion, and the Khitans failed to find any excuse to invade Soong. the Khitans quelled the rebellion in Liaodong areas. In A.D. 1031, Khitan Emperor Shengzong (Yelü Rongxu) passed away, and son Yelü Zongzhen was enthroned as Emperor Xingzong (r 1031-1055). Yelü Rongxu gave two wills to Yelü Zongzhen, i.e., i) treat Khitan empress as his own mother; ii) befriend Soong as long as Soong keep peace. Yelü Zongzhen sent emissary to Soong to notify of his father's death, and Soong sent zhong cheng (central prime minister) Kong Daofu to express condolences. In A.D. 1032, Yelü Zongzhen's birth mother took advantage of Yelü Zongzhen's hunting and ordered that Yelü Rongxu's dowager empress to commit suicide. Yelü Zongzhen's birth mother later tried to instigate a usurpation to have a junior son replace Yelü Zongzhen. Yelü Zongzhen relocated his mother out of the capital and officially took over regency. In A.D. 1042, the Khitans took advantage of the Soong-Tangut war to threaten to break the A.D. 1004 Chanyuan Peace Accord for the 'guan-nan' land, i.e., the lakeladen land south of today's Peking city. To put off the Khitans, the emperor sent Fu Bi north with the offer to additional 100,000 folds of silk/cloth and 100,000 ounces of silver per year. Northern China was inevitably mingled with nomads from Manchuria and Mongolia. The city of Beijing would remain in the hands of the Khitans (A.D. 907-1125), and then passed into the Jurchens (A.D. 1115-1234) after a short interim under Soong administration, Mongol Yuan (A.D. 1279-1368) till the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Mongol yoke in A.D. 1368. For hundreds of years, the Soong Dynasty, built on top of Northern Zhou (A.D. 951-960) of the Cai(1) family, would be engaged in the games of 'three kingdom' kind of warfare. Northern Soong (A.D. 960-1127) would face off with the Western Xia (A.D. 1032-1227) and Khitan Liao in a triangle, and then played the card of allying with the Jurchens in destroying the Khitan Liao. With Northern Soong defeated by the Jurchens thereafter, Southern Soong (A.D. 1127-1279) would be engaged in another triangle game, with the other players being Western Xia and the Jurchen Jin. Southern Soong would then play the card of allying with the Mongols in destroying Jurchen Jin, and it even sent tens of thousands of carts of grain to the Mongol army in the besieging of the last Jurchen stronghold. Soon after that, the Southern Soong generals broke the agreement with the Mongols and they shortly took over the so-called three old capitals of Kaifeng, Luoyang and Chang'an. But they could not hold on to any of the three because what they had occupied had been empty cities after years of warfare between the Jurchens and Mongols. Similar to the times of the Western Jin (A.D. 265-316) and Eastern Jin (A.D. 317-420), the northern Chinese would have fled to the south during these conflicts. While Eastern Jin re-established their capital in Nanking, the Southern Soong, driven away from Nanking by the Jurchens, chose today's Hangzhou as the new capital. Hangzhou, however, had been the capital of Warring Kingdoms in Zhou times. The Khitans, the Uygurs, the Jurchens & the Tanguts The Khitans' relationship with the Uygurs and Tanguts would play some role here. The Jurchen overran the Khitan territories in A.D. 1114. The Jurchens, ancestors of the later Manchu, would defeat the Kitans in a seven-year war (A.D. 1115-1122) by means of an alliance with Northern Soong Chinese. In A.D. 1122, Khitan Emperor fled to the Yinshan Mountains in today's Inner Mongolia. Tangut General, Li Liangfu, leading an army of 30000, came to the aid of the Khitans. Tanguts would not swear allegiance to the Jurchens till A.D. 1124. One Khitan prince, Yelü Dashi, sensing the onslaught of the Jurchens, already went to the west to establish his Western Liao Dynasty. Yelü Dashi, after the last Khitan Liao emperor was defeated by the Jurchens in southern Mongolia, first fled to the Ongud (Wanggu) tribe, where he received Ongud chieftain Chuang-gu-er's assistance of 400 horses, 20 camels and 1000 sheep, and then continued west to Beshbalik, where the Uygur king Bi-le-ge (Pileko) gave him assistance in the form of 600 horses, 100 camels and 3000 sheep for helping to relaunch the Khitay kingdom, i.e., Kara-khitai. In A.D. 1126-1127, the Jurchens attacked Shenxi via Daqing-guan (big celebration pass, Dali4, Shenxi), and attacked the Soong Fu1yan-lu (Yanzhou/Yan'an, Shenxi) circuit and the western Jingyuan-lu (Jing-shui River plateau) circuit. In February of A.D. 1127, Yan'an fell to the Jurchens. The Tanguts in March of A.D. 1126 crossed the Yellow River at Jinsu and Heqing, and took custody of Tiande-jun, Yunnei-zhou, Jinsu, Heqing, Wu3zhou and the He-dong land of 'Ba-guan' (eight kiosks) in today’s northwestern Shanxi - including Douda (sag bag), Sila, Hedong, Yeque (wild sparrow), Shenya (divine cliff), Yulin (elm forest), Bada and Yumin (enriching people) - per treaty with the Jurchens. Taking advantage of the Jurchen war against the Soong dynasty, the Tanguts in April A.D. 1126 sacked the Soong Zhenwei-cheng fort and killed 'zhi-zhou' Zhu Zhao, and raided other cities in Tiande. In September, the Tanguts sacked the Soong Xi'an-zhou prefecture. In October, the Tanguts sacked the Soong Jianning-zhai palisade of Linzhou (giraffe) and killed Soong General Yang Zhen. In November, the Tanguts attacked Huaide-jun and sacked the city after a second attack after being repelled the first time. In February of A.D. 1127, Yan'an fell to the Jurchens. However, in A.D. 1127, the Jurchens renegaded on the land offer to the Tanguts and retook Tiande and Yunnei, etc., while Wanyan Zongbi was on a purported hunting trip. The Jurchens took back the He-dong land of 'Ba-guan' (eight kiosks) as well, and cheated the Tanguts that once the Jurchens were to take the Soong Shen-xi land, the Tanguts would be compensated for with the northern Shen-xi land. In April of A.D. 1123, Jurchen generals Wo-lu (Wanyan Wolugu) and Zongwang attacked Liao Emperor Tianzuodi (Yelü Yanxi, r. A.D. 1101-1125) at mount Yinshan (Jia-shan); and Yelü Dashi, who was called by Linya-dashi in Jin Shi, invaded Fengshengzhou but was defeated and captured by Jurchen generals Zhao-li, Loushi and Ma-heshang. After finding out that the Liao emperor was at Qingzhong (green tomb), the Jurchens attacked Ying4zhou, chased and defeated Tianzuodi and captured the Khitan imperial seal. Yelü Dashi escaped when ordered to guide the Jurchens to attack Tianzuodi. In A.D. 1124, the Tanguts accepted suzerainty with the Jurchens, with Jurchen Emperor Taizong (r. A.D. 1123-1135) ceded to the Tanguts the ex-Khitan territories before retaking the conceded land later. Liao Emperor Tianzuodi (Yelü Yanxi, r. A.D. 1101-1125) was captured by the Jurchens at Ying4zhou (Jincheng/Hunyuan, between Longshou [dragon head] and Yanmen [swan gate] mountains) in A.D. 1125. However, in the same year Aguda (Jurchen Jin Emperor Taizu/Wanyan Min, r. A.D. 1115-1123) died, i.e., A.D. 1123, Zhang Jue2 (Zhang Gong), a former Khitan Liao general who surrendered to Jurchen General Wanyan Zonghan in A.D. 1123, defected to Soong with the cities of Pingzhou, Luanzhou and Yu-huan in June of A.D. 1123 as a result of Soong's instigation. Ma Zhi (Zhao Liangsi), who orchestrated the Jurchen-Soong alliance, objected to Soong China's taking in rebel Zhang Jue2, which ended in deprivation of posts and downgrade of rankings by five levels ('wu jie') by the emperor and later in A.D. 1126 and after a censure by 'yu shi' Hu Shunshe, execution as a scapegoat for the Soong debacle in the hands of the Jurchens. Taking advantage of the Jurchen mourning, the Soong court sent eunuch Tan Zhen to recovering the remaining nine out of the sixteen northern prefectures, with Shuozhou, Yingzhou and Yuzhou (Yuxian, Hebei) pacified. Zhang Jue2's subordinates rebelled against Jurchen Jin after hearing that Khitan Liao Emperor Tianzuo-di conducted military operations to the south of the Gobi Desert and intended to yield Pingzhou to Soong for using the Soong military power against Jurchen Jin. Zhang Jue2 killed Khitan-Jurchen minister Zuo-qi-gong who was against Jurchen Jin Emperor Taizu (Wanyan Aguda)'s returning seven out of sixteen Yan-Yun prefectures to Soong. The seven prefectures returned would be Yan, Zhuo, Tan, Shun, Ji, Mo and Ying while the prefectures of Ru, Gui, Wu, Xin, Yu4, Ying, Huan2, Shuo and Yun were still in the zigzag status between Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin. 
Khitan Liao Dynasty's Demise In A.D. 1114, the Jurchens attacked, sacked and massacred Ningjiang-zhou (river quelling prefecture) at the Sungari River, and further defeated Khitan General Xiao Sixian at Hedian (river shop; Zhuhe-dian). Along the way, the Jurchens blanketed the young and strong as soldiers, and killed women and children, with children stabbed by the long spears for flying in the sky. The Jurchens amassed an army of over 100,000 cavalrymen. The Khitan army, with over 100,000 troops, attacked the Jurchens with multiple prongs along the Changchun-lu circuit. The Jurchens defeated the Khitans, pillaged Qing4zhou and Rao2zhou, sacked Dong-jing (eastern capital), Huanglong-fu, Sufu[zhou], Bohai and Liaoyang, with several millions of ethnic-Chinese in the fifty-four prefectures massacred by the Jurchens. Liao Emperor Tianzuo-di, with four routes of Khitan 'du-tong' generals defeated by the Jurchens, acknowledged the independence of the Jurchens who declared the dynastic name of Da-jin [grand gold] to counter the purported Khitan dynastic embodiment of iron. In A.D. 1120, the Jurchens and the Soong Chinese reached a Hai-shang (above the Bo-hai Sea) Alliance agreement to pincer-attack the Khitans. This was the work of Ma Zhi (?-1126), a former Khitan Liao dynasty official, who secretly contacted Soong eunuch-emissary Tong Guan who accompanied 'zhi shumi yuan shi4' (acting deputy military privy) Zheng Yunzhong on a visit to the Khitans in A.D. 1211, with a proposal to destroy the Khitan Liao dynasty via an alliance of Soong China with the Jurchens. Ma Zhi, who defected to Soong, was conferred the royal surname of Zhao by Emperor Huizong in A.D. 1115, and in the disguised name of Zhao Liangsi, crossed the Bohai Sea to visit the Jurchens seven times, which culminated in the alliance above the seas. Jurchen chieftain Wanyan Aguda rebelled against the Khitans in A.D. 1114. However, uprising erupted in southern China. The Soong army, which was experienced in fighting the Tanguts, was called over to southern China instead of the scheduled attack at Khitan Liao. In A.D. 1120, Soong general Zhang Jun led the frontier army across the Yangtze. Among the officers participating in war against rebel Fang La would be a northwestern China native called Wu Jie from Deshun-jun (Jingning, Gansu). The Soong army subsequently quelled another uprising in North China. Khitan Emperor Tianzuo-di in early A.D. 1122 fled Zhong-jing (Chifeng) for the Jia-shan mountain of Mongolia under the attacks of the Jurchens. At today's Peking, Yelü Dashi (Prester John) supported a Khitan king by the name of Yelü Chun as a new emperor, i.e., Liao Emperor Xuanzong (r. A.D. 1122) or Emperor Tianxi-di. At the time the Jurchens attacked Khitan Liao, Khitan general Guo Yaoshi surrendered to Soong with the Zhuozhou and Yi4zhou prefectures. With 6000 Soong army troops, Guo Yaoshi attacked Yan-jing (Peking) but was repelled by the Khitan army led by Yelü Dashi and Khitan Empress Xiao-fei who was wife of late Khitan Liao Emperor Xuanzong. It would be the combined efforts of the Jurchens and Soong Chinese that the Khitans were defeated. The Jurchens, before handing over Yan-jing, extracted more money from the Soong Chinese. The Jurchens transferred Wu3zhou to Soong in this year. After the demise of the Khitan Liao dynasty, the Khitan remnants launched a new kingdom in Mongolia and Central Asia that came to be known as the Western Liao dynasty or Kara-khitay that was to be usurped by Kuchlug, a Naiman prince, and conquered by the Mongols. Through the 12th century A.D., there were continuous wars between the Jurchens and Yelü Dashi’s Kara-Khitay in the three rivers’ area of Mongolia and across the Gobi Desert, with the Jurchen wars with the Onggirats continuing for almost a century. Note that Yelü Dashi set up a court at the ancient Uygur khan's Ke-dun (Khatun) city in today's Bulgan of Mongolia, i.e., the Khitan Liao dynasty's Jian'an[-jun] garrison, where the Khitan 'Zu-bu [barbarians] jiedu-shi' office and 'Xibei-Lu [northwestern] zhaotao si' office were. The Naimans adopted Nestorian Christianity ('Jing-jiao', i.e., illustrious religion of the Christian Church of the East), and were observed to be so by William of Rubruck in A.D. 1253 (see Paul Ratchnevsky); similarly, the Keraits accepted the Nestorian faith and that both Toghrul's grandfather and father had Latin names like Marghus (Markus) and Qurjaquz (Kyriakus). The Mongols first launched a war against Kara-khitai in A.D. 1214, which was an obscure record. Guo Baoyu’s biography in Yuan Shi stated that Genghis Khan and Guo Baoyu passed through Bayou the E-yi-duo city (? Uygur founder-king Kutlug Boyla or Kutlug Bilge Kaghan's Peiluo or Boyla city) of the ancient [Gu-]Xu-gui-guo state and fought against 300,000 western (i.e., Kara-khitai) army, in such engagements as the Siege Battles of Bie-shi-ba-li (Beshbalik) and Bie-shi-lan, which would be after Kuchlug's usurpation of Kara-khitai. Kuchlug himself converted to Buddhism from the Nestorian religion at his wife's request. The Mongols in 1216 ordered Subetei to attack the Merkits, a campaign that continued till A.D. 1219, with Subetei defeating the Merkits at the Chan-he (toad) River in A.D. 1218 while Chepe defeated Kuchlug's Kara-khitay, ensuing in the Mongols' first skirmish with the Khwarezmians in the Huili-he River (i.e., Ata-Malek Juvaini's Qaili and Qaimich Rivers) area in A.D. 1219.
Written by Ah Xiang |
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![Though, Anna Wang [Anneliese Martens], in her memoirs, expressed jealousy over Gong Peng by stating that the Anglo-American reporters had flattered the Chinese communists and the communist movement as a result of being entranced with the goldfish-eye'ed personal assistant of Zhou Enlai](GongPeng.jpg)
