There were many ethnic minorities in ancient Chinese history, among which the nomadic ones were the Xiongnu, the Eastern Hu, the Turks, the Uighurs and the Khitans. Many people's cognition of nomads is that they are brave and good at war, because their living environment is basically grassland desert, and the things they eat are high-calorie and high-protein foods such as beef and mutton, and they look relatively strong, so they think that they are born with divine power. From slave society to feudal society, the rising nomads in the ancient north of China brought a lot of trouble to the Central Plains Dynasty, and even sent troops to pacify the nomads several times.
In order to conquer the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of han ordered Wei Qing and Huo Zhiyi and others to lead hundreds of thousands of troops to attack the Xiongnu, so that the Xiongnu did not dare to invade the Central Plains Dynasty again, maintaining peace and stability on the frontier for decades. Due to the strong combat ability of the nomads, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also made a lot of efforts to win the Xiongnu. Later nomadic peoples such as the Turks and Khitans also caused headaches for the Emperor of the Central Plains, and after the Khitans grew, they also established the Liao Dynasty. So why did the previously famous "Khitan people" gradually lose their voice in the torrent of the times? What kind of nation is he today?
The Khitan people originated in the north of China and grew in the process of continuous development, and by the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan tribe was already very large. Later, Yelü Abaoji unified the various Tribes of the Khitan and became the Khan of the Khitan tribe. After Yerushalayim became Khan, the leaders of other tribes rebelled against his long reign as Khan. Yerushalayim eliminated all these tribal chiefs, and the other tribal chiefs at the bottom did not dare to oppose him continuing to sit on the khan's throne.
After unifying the eight Khitan tribes, Yelü Abaoji established the "Great Khitan" state and called himself emperor, later Liao Taizu. In 947, Emperor Taizong of Liao changed the name of the country to "Great Liao", and the Great Liao regime established by the Khitans began to shine in history. They had their own cultural customs, and later actively absorbed han culture, forming their own unique Khitan culture. The Liao Dynasty passed down a total of nine emperors and existed for more than two hundred years. It was not until the Jurchens established the Jin Dynasty that the Liao Dynasty was overthrown under the attack of the Jin army.
After the fall of the Liao Dynasty, some Khitans went to the northwest to establish a new power from the Western Liao, which was later destroyed by the Mongol army. The crippled Khitan tribes fled to the vicinity of the Persian Gulf to rediscover, and may have gradually integrated into the local ethnic group. The Khitans who remained in the Central Plains later became the subjects of the Jin Dynasty and were forced to move to the central and northern regions of present-day northeast China. Their surnames have also changed with the passage of time, and their way of life has gradually integrated into Han life.
After Genghis Khan established the Great Mongol Empire, the distribution of Khitans was already very extensive, and the Khitan people in Mongolia and the northeast region were the most distributed. As dynasties changed more frequently, the Khitans also traveled throughout China, and the present-day Daur and Pumans in Yunnan are descendants of the Khitans.