The Khitan people were originally an ancient nomadic people in northern China, mainly active in the nomadic areas with abundant water and grass along the LiaoHe River.
In the last years of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan people living outside guanxi suddenly became stronger. They absorbed a large number of Han Chinese who fled to Guanwai due to war, learned advanced Han culture, and began to change from a backward tribal state to a feudal empire "Liao".
In 916, Yelü Abaoji (Liao Taizu), one of the eight khitan tribes, established the Liao Dynasty/Liao State in Linhuang, initially with the name "Khitan" and later renamed Liao.
At its most powerful, the Liao state once ruled northeast China and the Mongolian plateau. From the 11th century onwards, the Liao Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Western Xia Dynasty showed a three-legged situation.
Among the three kingdoms, the Liao state had the strongest military strength and implemented a policy of respecting Confucianism and worshiping Buddhism; while the Northern Song Dynasty had the strongest economic strength and the largest population, but its military strength was average; the Western Xia's national strength was the weakest, the economy was fragile, and at its peak it had a population of more than 3 million, but its military strength was also very strong.
As for the meaning of the Khitan people's designation of the country name as "Liao", it has been recorded that it is described as:
"Liao takes the iron as the number, take its jianye!" Although the iron is strong, it will eventually become bad, but the big gold will not be bad. ”
Because the Northern Song Dynasty lost the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and the Great Wall, it was only able to rule the areas inside The Guannei, and the vast lands outside the Guanxi were under the rule of the Khitans for more than two hundred years. During this period, the prestige and territory of the Khitan people reached the peak of history.
To this day, the Russian word "China" comes from the translation of "Китай (Khitan)", and some Arab countries also refer to northern China as "Khitan".
The "LiaoShi Taizu Benji" said: Wu Xiu cultural relics, Binbin is no different from China.
However, the powerful Liao Dynasty fell to extinction around the 12th century and was replaced by an emerging Jurchen clan (Jin Dynasty/Jin Dynasty).
In 1115 AD, the Jurchen leader of the Completed Yan clan, "Completed Yan Akuta", established the Jin State in Heilongjiang Province, and then spent nearly ten years destroying the Liao State.
The "ruling core" of the Liao state and the Wujing area all fell into the hands of the Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty, namely Shangjing Linhuangfu, Xijing Datongfu, Nanjing Jingjinfu, Tokyo Liaoyangfu, and Zhongjing Dadingfu.
The leader of the Khitans, the last emperor of the Liao state, the Tianzuo Emperor Yelü Yanxi, died of incompetence and eventually became a captive of the Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty.
After the fall of the Liao state in 1125, the name of the Khitan nation also fell apart, disappeared into the long river of history, and gradually forgotten by people.
"History of the Yuan": "Liao was released from ruin, and Jin died with Confucianism." ”
It was not until the new discoveries of archaeologists in modern times that it was determined that the descendants of the Khitan had always been in the big family of the Chinese nation. According to the "History Book" records and modern DNA comparison techniques, it is roughly possible to determine the whereabouts of the Khitans after the fall of the Liao State.
First, it was integrated into the Jurchen clan, and later it was gradually Sinicized
The Khitan and Jurchens were originally two different ethnic groups, but the Jurchen Jin Kingdom also annexed the Liao's homeland after destroying the Liao State. Most of the Khitans chose to submit to the Jurchens and become the people of the Jin Kingdom. After many Khitan nobles surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, they all served as high-ranking officials in the Jin Kingdom.
In the war of the Jin Dynasty to eliminate the Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of Khitan and Xi warriors were also used in battle. This part of the Khitan people followed the Jurchens to conquer the Central Plains, mixed with the Han people, and after more than a hundred years of evolution, gradually integrated into the Han nationality, so they no longer retained the name of "Khitan".
Second, he followed the Great Stone of Yerushalayim, which was gradually Islamized
The "History of Liao" records that the Khitan nobleman Yelü Dashi refused to submit to the Jin Dynasty, led more than a hundred Khitan cavalry to flee west, and the people along the way continued to gather the old part of the Liao state, and finally got more than 10,000 people and hundreds of thousands of livestock.
Based on this part of the soldiers and horses, Yelü Dashi continued to expand its strength and established the Western Liao Dynasty in Xinjiang, Central Asia and other places.
This part of the Khitan people followed the Yelü Dashi's western expedition and brought Khitan folklore to the far northwest.
In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire arose, and the Western Liao was eventually destroyed by the Mongol Empire due to the long-term war with the Afghan Gur Dynasty and its strength was greatly reduced. The remaining Khitans fled into Central Asia, mostly Muslims (Muslims).
Third, migrate to Yunnan or remote areas in the northeast and become other ethnic groups
In addition to following the Jurchens into the Central Plains, there were also some Khitans who remained in the northeast, and were sent to the distant borders by the Jin Dynasty and later the Mongol Empire.
This part of the population merged with other ethnic groups and became the "Daur" of later generations. After DNA comparison, referring to the remains of the Khitan people in the ancient tombs of the Liao Dynasty, experts found that the Daur people were the closest to the historical Khitan people.
The Daur people are an ethnic minority in the northeast, accustomed to living in clusters, and their customs are very similar to those of the Khitan people in history. According to statistics, the Compatriots of the Daur nationality are mainly distributed in the Dahuer Autonomous Region in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Heilongjiang Province, Liaoning Province, and other places. Because of their strong physique and developed athletic genes, they are good at hockey.
In addition, the descendants of the Khitan ethnic group have also been found in China's Yunnan Province. The Puman people in Yunnan are the descendants of the khitans in history, and about 150,000 people live in Yunnan. In the 1990s, China's Union Hospital, the Academy of Social Sciences, the Yunnan Nationalities Commission, and the Inner Mongolia Nationalities Commission conducted an investigation on this, compared the DNA of the Puman people with the DNA of the Khitan people, and found that the two were highly consistent, thus determining that they were the descendants of the famous Khitan people in history.
However, the Khitan was originally an ethnic minority in the northeast region, so why did they come to Yunnan, thousands of miles away?
Experts speculate that during the rise of the Mongols in history, Kublai Khan once led a part of the Khitan army south to attack the Dali state (the ancient Yunnan regime), so the descendants of this group of Khitans remained in Yunnan to be responsible for defense and reclamation, and their descendants are today's Pumans.
In 1253, the Mongol Empire sent troops to destroy the Dali State, which was later set up as Yunnan Province by the Yuan Dynasty, and khitan descendants remained in Yunnan.
References: History of Liao, History of Jin, Cambridge History of China, Folk Customs of the Daur People, Changes in Ethnic Minorities in Yunnan