(Continued from the previous issue)
I. The historical and cultural background and cultural origin of the Liao Dynasty
The rise and fall of the Khitan and Liao Dynasties: At the beginning of the 10th century, the Khitan people were a strong nomadic people, they established a powerful state in the north, the name Khitan was first seen in the Jin Dynasty, originally belonged to the name of the Xianbei "Khitan", at the end of the 4th century, they were active in the area of the present-day Xilamulun River and the Laoha River, which is also considered to be the birthplace of the Khitan nation, during the Northern Wei Dynasty, they often drove horses to the Central Plains to exchange materials, this ethnic group had no currency, no unified management, and all of them were scattered activities.
By the time of the Sui Dynasty, the Khitans had gradually become stronger, established their own tribal alliances, and the population had increased to 100,000. During the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan was divided into eight departments, with 40,000 elite soldiers, and the Tang Dynasty made the Khitan chief the governor of Songmo Province.
During the Five Dynasties period, the Khitan chief Yelü Abaoji (Liao Taizu) unified the eight departments and established a state in 907 AD, with the name of the state Khitan dynasty, which is the historical Liao Dynasty, and the capital is LinhuangFu (present-day Bahrain Left Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region).
This was the first time a city was established on the steppe, and it was an important beginning for the Khitan to move from nomadic relative to settlement and the introduction of Han culture.
After Abaoji destroyed the Bohai Sea, his son Yelü Deguang (Emperor Taizong of Liao) was invited by Later Jinshi Jingyao to enter the Central Plains, thus taking the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun and greatly expanding the territory, so that the territory of the Liao State extended south to present-day Hebei and northern Shanxi, west to the Altai Mountains, east to the Sea of Japan, and north to the vast area north of the Waixing'an Mountains.
The Liao and the Central Plains continued to be at war, until the 22nd year of the reign of Emperor Shengzong Yelü Longxu and the Song Dynasty of the Central Plains fought a major battle at Liaozhou (present-day Puyang, Henan), and finally negotiated peace, and concluded the famous alliance of Liaoyuan in history, and each other was able to recuperate.
Until 1125 AD, the Liao state was destroyed by the Jin state established by the Jurchens, and the state was established for a total of 218 years, with nine emperors before and after. After the fall of the Liao, Yelü Dashi went west to Xinjiang and Central Asia, and established the Western Liao regime, which was eliminated by Genghis Khan eighty-eight years later. In total, for more than two hundred years, the Liao regime and the Central Plains regime were opposed, forming another state of confrontation between the "Southern and Northern Dynasties" in Chinese history.
Khitan customs lived in the northern steppes, originally living by nomadic archery and hunting, which was reflected in the customs before their founding: "Those who weep when their parents die and think they are not strong." Drinking wine, he said, "If I shoot a hunt, I will have more pigs and deer." The so-called "rich with horses, strong (strong bow) shooting (hunting), for daily use." And its livestock is also very prosperous, "sheep in the thousands as a herd", which can be eaten and exchanged: "the horses move in thousands" for driving.
Second, the relationship between the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty is entangled
At the same time, they went out to plunder and produce slaves with captive households.
In short, it was a primitive clan combined with the economy of slavery. When Yelü Abaoji was on the plane, he once captured more than 90,000 Han Chinese, and "the Han people tied their heads to wood with long ropes" to prevent them from escaping, which was very cruel.
However, after that, he appointed the Han people to manage the affairs of the Han people, giving full play to the strengths of the Han people's production, coupled with the increasing number of people in the Central Plains, handicrafts such as agriculture and iron smelting appeared on the grasslands.
After the Liao State obtained a large area of agricultural territory in the Central Plains, the economic situation changed significantly.
In order to adapt to the new situation, the Khitan rulers adopted a more practical ruling strategy, that is, "governing according to customs", that is, "governing the Khitan with the state system and treating the Han people with the Han system".
To this end, two official offices were established in the north and south, with the officials ruling the Khitan in the north and the Officials ruling the Han people in the south. This was a very wise policy decision, which avoided historical regression and ensured the relative stability of the original political and economic life in the Hanmin areas in the Liao state, and also created favorable conditions for the economic development of the Liao state.
The influence of Han culture on the Khitan people: Most of the upper echelons of the Khitan tribe learned the Central Plains culture to a greater or lesser extent.
The Khitan originally had no writing, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Khitan character was created by using Chinese characters as phonetic symbols. Apaochi's eldest son, Jeroboam, was a highly accomplished sinologist and artist.
In order to improve the cultural quality of the people of the Liao State, after the founding of the Liao Dynasty, it also imitated the Tang system, selected talents from the people, and held a ceremony to open the science and take the soldiers from time to time. After the Alliance of Yuanyuan, the emperor of the Liao State was not willing to lag behind the Song Dynasty culturally, so he tried to promote Han culture.
The Holy Sect claimed that the most admired figure was the Tang Ming Emperor; the Taoist Yelü Hongji said, "I cultivate cultural relics, and I am no different from Chinese." As a result, the culture of the Liao State has been greatly developed and improved.
3. The historical and cultural background and artistic characteristics of the Liao State
In 1986, cultural relics archaeologists cleaned up and excavated the ancient tomb of the inner Mongolian Naiman Banner to cooperate with the construction of the reservoir in Qinglongshan Town, and made an amazing and significant discovery, and also unveiled the secret of the tomb of the nobles of the Liao State.
Princess Chen Guo was the daughter of King Jingzong's second son, Yelü Longqing, king of Qin and Jin, and was born to Concubine Xiao.
Princess Taiping was initially created Princess Taiping, was posthumously honored as Princess of Chen Guo, and was an important member of the liao dynasty royal family.
More than thousands of cultural relics have been excavated from the tomb, including exquisite gold and silver, ceramics, glass, wood, jade and pearls, agate, crystals, and amber products. The most touching thing is that unlike ordinary burial tombs, the couple still snuggled together after their deaths. The jade unearthed in the tomb represents the highest level of the Liao Dynasty.
This group of jade pendants seems to be bland, carefully pondered but endlessly charming, the shape is realistic, the appearance is natural and not exaggerated; the ornamentation is simple, light and elegant.
Fourth, the basic characteristics of the tomb jade of the Princess of the Liao Dynasty
There are fewer Liao Dynasty jades excavated through archaeological excavations, and the jade artifacts excavated from the tombs of Princess Chen Guo of Liao and Fu Ma are a number of typical important materials, mainly including phoenix-shaped jade stones, round jade water cups, jade arm ornaments, jade horse ornaments, jade cross silk and cross-silk ribbons, jade copper belt ornaments, jade pendants, etc.
The most characteristic and eye-catching is the multi-component jade pendant. Most are worn on princesses.
The shape of the jade pendant ornaments is rich and colorful, mostly using the image of Xiao Shengyu, including dragons, phoenixes, fish, mandarin ducks, hong geese, toads, lizards, scorpions, snakes, monkeys, conches, etc.; there are also some symbolic utensils, such as knives, scissors, cones, files, etc.
A set of jade pendant ornaments, placed in the east of the corpse bed when excavated, consists of 5 jade pendants hanging under a gilt and silver chain of a skeletonized jade ornament.
In the middle is the double phoenix ornament, on both sides are the ornaments opposite the pisces and the double dragon, and the outer two are one fish and the other is Capricorn.
The form is natural, simple and clumsy. This combination is a characteristic of the Liao Dynasty jade pendant, with distinct Khitan characteristics.
All are made of white jade hollow and yin thread.
V. Key points for appreciating jade from the tomb of the Princess of the Liao Dynasty
The carved ribbon jade ornament is slightly rectangular in shape, and the surface is polished and white and flawless.
Outline the shape with a snicked line. The five pendants are all flattened round carvings. Jade white or bluish.
Fish, dragons, phoenixes, capricorns as the main body, supplemented by lotus flowers, lotus leaves, lotus ponies, orbs, etc.
The lotus flower has buds and the lotus leaves fan shape. The animal is carved with crossed slashes into diamond-shaped fish scales or diamond-shaped feathers, and the details such as the abdomen, ridge and tail are decorated with simple oblique lines, and the dorsal fins of the fish are carved into a zigzag shape.
The carving is concise, the carving is meticulous, the contours are clear, and the picture is exquisite.
Through these combinations of jade pendants with strong Khitan ethnic customs, we can intuitively feel the vitality of life expressed in these pendants.
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