The earliest to refer to China as "Khitan" in historical documents should be "Marco Polo's Travels", he called Mongolia Tatar (now many barbecue shops in the north still follow this name "Tatar roast leg of lamb"), called China Khitan and called the Southern Song Dynasty barbarians.
Marco Polo knew little about the cultural history of East Asia
Even today, the Baojialian word "China" is spelled Китай, while in ancient Europe transliterated "Khitan" as Kitan.
Online translation of test results
According to history, when the Khitan was founded, the Central Plains were in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, after which the orthodoxy should be the Northern Song Dynasty. Why did the Khitan become orthodox in the minds of foreigners? What is the history of this nation that we do not yet know?
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Liao dynasty was built by the Khitan nation
When it comes to Khitan, many small friends may first think of the big hero "Qiao Feng" (that is, Xiao Feng) in Jin Yong's "Tianlong Eight Parts". He was born in the Liao Dynasty and grew up in the Great Song Dynasty, and as a Khitan, he assisted the Northern Song Dynasty in fighting against the common enemy Jin.
Qiao Feng: "I Qiao Feng are patriotic, aiming to protect the land and the people, not to attack the city!" ”
In fact, the Khitan people, as early as the 4th century AD, lived in groups in the Liao River Valley in the form of tribes. In fact, they are people from the four northeastern provinces. By the 9th century, development had been very slow, and the clan system of dividing the tribe by surname was still implemented, and the tribal leader was the head of the clan. It was not until the last year of the Tang Dynasty, 872 AD, that a great historical figure was born to the Khitan nation, which changed this situation and realized the great unification of the Khitan nation, and this person was Yelü Abaoji.
The Khitan nation gave birth to a great historical figure
In the time of Apaoji, the Khitan tribes had formed eight major clans, and in order to prevent civil unrest due to the robbery of grazing resources, tribal alliances were gradually formed, and the leaders of the alliance were voted every three years. It's like the United Nations today. After the Second World War, the victorious powers formed the United Nations in order to stabilize the world order, under the auspices of the Secretary-General, and were elected every five years for re-election. However, the Secretary-General of the United Nations does not have much power and cannot influence the member states, while the leader of the tribal alliance holds the military power of the alliance and is a real power faction. Apaochi was such a powerful faction, and in 907, at the age of 35, he was elected as the leader of the tribal confederation and has since seized military and political power.
Jeroboam was elected leader of the tribal confederation
"Out of the barrel of a gun comes the regime," a truth that has been drawn through the lesson of blood. Apaochi was an ambitious man, and he realized this early on. So soon after he became chief, he formed a SS army and firmly grasped the military and political power. Originally, in the triennial election, Apaoji relied on the military power in his hands to drag out the power until the fifth year.
Jeroboam holds allied military power
This caused dissatisfaction among some of the other tribal chiefs, who united in revolt and demanded re-elections.
"We're going to re-elect, we're going to get out!"
The Khitan tribal alliance election method is relatively simple and crude, eight tribal leaders, one person and one vote. Unexpectedly, the result of the re-election was still the election of Apaoji. This was embarrassing, and the opponents had to bow their heads and confess their mistakes to Apaoji.
"Apaoji, we were wrong!" "Rest assured, rest assured, it's all right!" ”
Apaoji did not leave them room for remorse. He took advantage of a tribal conflict to exclude dissidents, killing more than 300 people at a time, and completely stabilizing his position. In fact, from a historical point of view, this "struggle for the throne" is actually a relay race between the clan system and the slave system.
"Say it's a relay race, you're handing over the baton!"
The victory of Apaoji further promoted the great unity of the Khitan nation and laid the foundation for the establishment of a centralized unified state of Liao.
In 916, Yelü Abaoji ascended the throne near the left banner of the Present-day Zhaowuda League in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
"Anyway, the Central Plains is the Period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the emperors are more, not worse than me!"
A new state was born in the north, 44 years before the northern song dynasty. Taking advantage of the fact that the warlords of the Central Plains were divided and failed to achieve great unification, they also snatched up parts of the northeast and Hebei.
Because he often went to the Central Plains to rob his family, Apaoji developed a strong interest in Han Chinese culture. First, he gave himself a Han name "Yi", and then imitated the Han system to revise the Khitan law, but still used Han law for the Han people in the jurisdiction. He also built the capital Shangjing city according to the Han chinese urban system. He also attached great importance to the inheritance of Khitan culture, and sent people to create the Khitan script, which preserved the Khitan civilization well.
The ruins of the capital city of Liaoshang are superimposed with archaeological schematics
In the era of Apaoji, the Liao state practiced the "two ethnic division system" based on ethnic groups, and was a country where nomadic and agricultural civilization coexisted and prospered.
"I can't surpass you, so I copied you first!" This phrase is believed by many people. Apaoji also thinks so. All the imitations were imitated, but Apao always felt that something was almost wrong, so he asked the minister and his son Yelü Bei.
Apaoji: "Tell me, what are we and the Han people?" ” Minister: "Poor saint." ” Apaoji smiled slightly, "The Han emperor worships the ancestors and worships the saints." In the Khitan I am not a saint, no one has this qualification, hehe..." Jeroboam: "Father can't do it, the saints are gone, and I don't want to live without my father!" ” Apaoji: "Ah right, right, then who do we worship?" ” Minister: "Why not worship Buddhism?" At that time, The Tang Dynasty was a popular Buddhist practice! ” Apaoji: "No, Buddhism is not a Han Chinese thing, and it is better to worship Buddha than to worship me!" ” Jeroboam: "Then worship Confucius, he is a sage of the Han people" Apaoji: "This is good, just worship Confucius"
The "History of Liao" records that Apaoji decided to worship Confucius, worship Confucius as a saint, and build a temple for Confucius. At this time, Apaoji already had a sense of identity with the Chinese family. He not only identified the Northern Song Dynasty as China, but also identified himself as China.
"Liao Shi < Taizu >": "In the autumn and August, Ding Youyu gurudwara Confucius Temple, and ordered the empress and crown prince to divide the temple view"
In 926, Apaoji destroyed the Bohai State Banshi on his way back to the dynasty, and died of illness in Siping City, Jilin Province. In the following 200 years, because the Liao State was closer to the ancient Silk Road, its influence on the Western Regions was significantly better than that of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and the later Orthodox Song Dynasty.
Ancient Silk Road
Especially in the 13th century, through the ancient Silk Road, China's black powder spread to Arab countries and then to the western region. In the ancient Islamic warrior books, it is recorded that a material called "Khitan Flower" is actually Chinese black powder. Since then, many Central, Western and Western countries have replaced the "Tang" that originally represented China with "Khitan".