In ancient China, the northern and western ethnic groups were generally referred to as Hu. The Huns once called themselves "Hu". According to the "Book of Han and the Biography of the Xiongnu", Gulu Gudan wrote to Emperor Wu: "There is a great Han in the south and a strong Hu in the north." Hu, the proud son of heaven also. It is precisely because the Xiongnu call themselves "Hu" and are well known to the Han people that the ethnic groups active in the east of the Xiongnu are called "Donghu". During the Warring States period, there were "Lin Hu" (林胡) that were active in Yuzhong (present-day Yikezhao League, Inner Mongolia) and lou fu (剁傅) in the west of Lin Hu were also known as "Hu", so in the nineteenth year of King Wuling of Zhao (307 BC), he imitated The clothing style and combat style of Lin Hu and Lou Fu were called "Hu Clothing Riding Shooting". After the Han Dynasty, the ethnic groups in the Western Regions were also known as Hu. Therefore, the Xiongnu were called Northern Hu: Wuhuan and Xianbei were called Eastern Hu; and the ethnic groups west of the Xiongnu and east of the Onion Ridge were called Western Hu.
During the Spring and Autumn Warring States period of the Eastern Hu Dynasty, it was distributed north of the Yan State, and its power reached the northeast of the Yan State and the east of the Zhao State. Later, Yan defeated Qin Kai and moved to the upper reaches of the Liao River in the Upper Reaches of the Xilamulun River and the Laoha River Valley, engaged in nomadic and hunting. Yan built the Great Wall to prevent its invasion. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Eastern Hu was strong and prosperous, and once demanded land from the Xiongnu for famous horses, Fu shi (Shan Yu's wife), and land. At the end of the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu Mu Dun Shan Yu defeated, the tribal alliance disintegrated, and the scattered tribe in Wuhuan Mountain was called Wuhuan, and the scattered tribe in Xianbei Mountain was called Xianbei. Both Xianbei and Wuhuan belonged to the Xiongnu.
Also originating from The Eastern Hu are Murong Wei and Khitan, khitan in the south, and Murong Wei in the north. Murong Wei had close relations with the Tang Dynasty, and from time to time sent tributes to the Tang Dynasty to accept official positions from the Tang Dynasty. In the 10th century, during the establishment of the Khitan regime, some of the Chambers were incorporated into the Khitans.
The Khitan only gradually became stronger until the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the Khitan state was established in the Fifth Dynasty, which was later renamed Liao.
In the second year of Tang Zhenguan (628), the Khitan chief Mohui led his tribe to back the Turks and attach themselves to Tang. At this time, the Khitan had formed a tribal alliance, and the chief of the jun was from the Dahe clan. In 648, all the Khitan tribes requested internal subordinates, and the Tang court placed the Governor of Songmo (the seat of government was initially in the area of present-day Kulun Banner in Inner Mongolia, and later moved to the south of the Right Banner of Bahrain), with its leader Gu Ge as the governor, and feng Wuji County, with the surname of Li.
The Khitan had sun Ao Cao, the leader of the other tribes, and Tang Wude was attached to Tang in the fourth year (621). His great-grandson Wanrong, Wu Zhou Chu Gong (685-688), was the Assassin of Guicheng Prefecture, and in Banzai Tongtian (696-697), together with his sister-in-law Li Duzhong (after The Cave Brother) and the governor of Tangying Prefecture, Zhao Wenfeng, raised an army to kill Wen Fei, and according to Yingzhou, attacked the Hebei region and repeatedly defeated the Tang army. Wu Zetian sent a large army to seek revenge, and with the help of Xi and the Turks, he was pacified. Later, the Khitan were attached to the Later Turks. In the third year of Tang Kaiyuan (715), its leader Li Lost Alive came to attach, and the Tang court restored the Governor of Songmo, with inactivation as the Governor, and sealed the King of Songmo County. Subsequently, the Khitan leader KeTugan rebelled against Tang, and Tang, in order to defend the Khitans, strengthened the northeast border defense forces, established Fanyang and Pinglu, and reused the Hu people An Lushan, which led to the Anshi Rebellion. During the reign of Emperor Suzong to De (756-758), the Khitan maintained tributary trade relations with the Tang, but were also controlled by the Uighurs who rose up in the north of the desert. In the middle of the 9th century, the Uighurs were destroyed, and the Khitan returned to the Tang, and the Tang gave it the title of "Seal of the Khitan of the Kingdom".
The Khitan was divided into eight parts, and the eight adults elected one person every three years old as the ally. In 907, the Yelü clan assumed the leadership of the Haruka clan and abolished the chief electoral system. In 916, Abaoji was proclaimed king and the founding number was Khitan; in 947, it was renamed Liao.
The Khitan created their own script. In 920, Apaoji formulated large characters and Di La formulated small characters. Small characters inscribed on the epitaph were found in the tombs of the emperors of the Liao Dynasty, which have not yet been fully interpreted. The Khitan script was later used by the Jin Dynasty.
In 1125, the Liao was destroyed by Jin, and most of the Khitans were attached to Jin; some people moved west with Yelü Dashi a year before the Liao's death (1124) and established the Western Liao (Hala Khitan, 1124-1121). The post-Khitan people mostly integrated into other northern Chinese ethnic groups.
The Khitan state once reached as far as Central Asia, so many western countries in the middle and late Middle Ages used Khitan to refer to northern China, which was named after the Western Expedition of Mongolia in the 13th century, which in turn referred to all of China.
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