Liao, Jin and Xi Xia Flashcards
The Khitans
*Pastoral steppe nomads
*Claimed descent from the Tabgach/Tuoba (the Xianbei ruling clan during the Northern Wei)
*Founded Liao Dynasty (916-1125)
*First ruler was Abaoji
Pastoral = raise livestock, steppe = grasslands of now mongolia, nomads = move from place to place with tents and work animals
Descend from xianbei people = ruled during 10th cen
Disticntive hairstyle = top head shaved, bear = hair is political feature for inner asian dynasties = force chinese to adopt the hair style (not khitan, later dynasties)
Small portion of tang empire (beijing) = large area of grassland with much of today mongolai and manchuria =
907=946 - united khitan after fall
Khitan/Liao governance
*Both Khitan and Chinese elements in governing structure – Abaoji imported Chinese elements to help secure power
*North (Khitan) and South (Chinese) were governed separately under parallel administrations
*Abaoji ordered the creation of a Khitan writing system in the 920s
916 = rebellion from bothers and manage to keep power (every 3 years
Formal ceremony = chinese style and reign title = abolished of triannual congresses to select rulers = chinese politicl form to ciment political forms and agianst potenetial rivals in elite
Name son as successor = meeting should say that
Failed = son was not powerful warrior = diff son = continue after abaoji death = dynastic name
Liao = use heart of empire in tang territory = areas with chinese rule = or grand khitan state
Not all = traditions from khitan = dual administration and bureaucracy in n and s sections = khitan and chinese = hereditary power in khitan and civil service exams with khitan favors
Distinct over time = n officials khitan clothing and spoke khitana dn titles= s official khitan ch clothings and both, chinese titles
Khitan lang = mongolian close
Chinese = used in court = both = khitan was a bit prefered = n has greater access to emperor = officials meetings = moves around (5capitals and n officials move with him) and s just see him twice a year
Militray authority to khitan officials = physical capitals 5 chinese style = 1st = inner mongolia = southern capital in beijing = why today? = center of admi in south
Built on chinese style plan = open area of flat land for nomadic khitan (emperor who would rule from there)
Writting system = large and small script = 920s = modelled on chinese = same strokes and basic shapes = mix of logographic and phonographic = small break each word with componenet sound (//korean) = phonetic value so know how to pronounce the word
Script = didnt fully descifered today
Empress Chunqin and Khitan women
*Nomadic societies like the Liao accorded greater prominence/power to women
*Empress Chunqin (lived 879-953) was an important miliary leader in her own right, commanding 200,000 men during Abaoji’s lifetime
*Maneuvered her way out of joining her husband in death
*As regent, initiated the attacks on the Chinese that allowed the Khitans to seize the 16 prefectures around Beijing
Succession = inportant role of women = one of several empressed of liao = result of general nomadic trade (fight in battle and entrust wifes for animal herds so less division) = led to women to have more prominent role = exception despite standards = army under her = tribal customs, ruler died and lot of people need to be killed with him but her wife should join him = refusal = cut off main to her husband coffin and rrule for a few decades
Son = conauests and got regions around beijing = extensions for her is very important
Seize kaifong (before reu) and couldnt manage to govern = 1st song em = should recover them = but song was struck by arrow and fled south and khitan won victory
Dowager xiao = commanded cavalry despite<50 = major invasion of song = sued for peace and settlement in treate of.. = received annaul payment for silk and silver = most good for chinese and fine for song treasury
Chinese X tribute = economic gifts so no inferiority
Border = ditches by song state = eccept limits to the zones they control = not useful for defensive measures = disputes w individual farmers
Song refuse to accept inferior position = but equality = diplomatic correspondence on lit and old bro = equal
N and s dynasty = accept as a equal and multistate system = one of several states of the region
Treaty = chinese traditions = format decending to treaties from s & a period = in chinese so lang of diplomaty = song is not able to cut superiory but still tehre
The Treaty of Chanyuan
*Khitans generally were successful in battle against the Song
*Major Liao invasion of Song in 1004 (led by Dowager Empress Xiao, in personal command of 3 divisions of cavalry) seized substantial Northern Song territory
*Treaty of Chanyuan signed in 1005 as result
*Khitans gave back newly captured land
*Song agreed to large payment – “economic gifts”
*Border fixed between two states
*Emperors treated each other as equals
*Concluded according to Chinese diplomatic practices
The Tanguts and the Xi Xia Dynasty
*Xi Xia ruler demanded to be treated as equal by Song, Song emperor refused (Xi Xia ruler could be a “ruler” 主 but not an “emperor” 皇帝)
*Song created a fixed border with Xi Xia
*Tanguts had complex writing system, patronized Buddhism substantially, made sophisticated use of printing technology (moveable type)
Other states =
1st xx = song recongnition as equal = letter = diff countries and diff = states of non-ch dyansties= claiming descend of chinese dy = legitimate imperial state by nc
Song = rebuff request = new offer = called xx emp son = would be ruler but less than emp = annual substity for xx
Year later = collapse when khitan invaded xx
Superiority and distinction of khitan territory
Song = not universal
New wri system = lots of characters = ritual songs for buddhism - very central = buddhist texts are easiest books in movable type = 1075 = chinese printers to be mentionned in sources = adopted tech = spread bud texts
Despite sophisticated elements = linited aspects = mongols conquered = didnt compile offical history of xx = no a major dyanty to them compared to otehr two = lost info
Hold to kingdom = until early 13th ce = conauered by mongol
The Rise of the Jurchens
*Jurchens were forest dwellers, not nomads. Society made heavy use of slavery
*Aguda was a Khitan subject but formed his own state and began seizing Khitan territory
*Song allied with Aguda’s new Jin dynasty (declared as a dynasty in 1115), allowing Jin to defeat Liao
*Liao remnants fled west to form Western Liao (Xi Liao)/Kara Khitai
Border stayed okay =
Jurchens = khitan terriotry frontiers = not own scrpit and khitan small script to write = not steppe nomads = forest hunters and huts and even farm a bit = two groups (cooked = influenced by chinese or uncooked if not) regardeless = distinctive culture = soldiers, slaves
Aguda = harbin area = large group s= powerful local leader
Launch campaigns after khitan = then mepror of chinese dyansty of jin = equal and not accepted for khitan = song as an opportunity = help them to get 16 prefectures = jin state grows = attack on both sides = k em to flee west = successors captured liao emperor and have power?
Western liao = first chinese state conquered by mongol
Song-Jin relations
*Song paid Jin a massive indemnity
*Jin seized much of northern Song, captured Song emperor
*New treaty humiliating for Song, forced to accept Jurchen superiority
*In 1141, Song even forced to agree that payments to Jin were tribute
Double pay khitan = similar treaty = same terminology for equality = song frustarted after no prefec = and backfire = war = jurchen won major victories = kaifong = take hostage
New treaty = more money owned
Sogn = nephew and jurchen uncle = not equal
Song = infignificant state and tribute called
Subject state of non ch dyanty
Governing North China
*Jurchens were small minority – 4 million vs 50 million Chinese
*Substantial acculturation both by population and state
*But Jin emperors sometimes resisted acculturation – after 1161 the emperor took aggressive steps to protect Jurchen culture
Chinese literary culture flourished under Jurchen rule
Has to govern where there is minorrity = adopt ch practices = calendar, titles, court rituals and music
Weapon against rivals in imperial court = bureaucracy system
Not diff admi = both people
Jurchen defeated = overthrown guy who did chin
Took away chinese practices
Jin ruler = failure of old guy to strengthen jurchen identify (clothes, no names,..)
Didnt work well = son and grandson didnt learn jruchen
Chinese more = exam in elite and lots of it = revivial of chinese learning and litt culture
Court = chinese terms and it was successor of n song
Bureaucrates= elite but jurchen are always higher
“Sinicization” – Wittfogel, History of Chinese Society: Liao
1.One common claim about conquest dynasties that has long been made in China and is sometimes made by scholars elsewhere as well is that they had a tendency to undergo “Sinicization.” What is Sinicization (it’s the concept described as the “Traditional Thesis” on p. 4 of Wittfogel)?
2.Why do you think that the conquest dynasties have been described this way? Does anything you’ve learned about the Liao and Jin (and Northern Wei) support the Sinicization idea? What might be some potential problems with endorsing Sincization as the basic paradigm for understanding the conquest dynasties?
3.What does Wittfogel think about the Sinicization paradigm? How does he justify his position?
1- liao and jin (+yuan and qing) (+no wei) = conquest dynaty = non ch but ch system adopted = sinicization = notion that non ch peoples who conquer china become chinese = lose own seperate identify = transformed and inlfuenced so much they end up becoming chinese themselves
2- lose lang, flourishing of ch litterary culture, admi practices for ch practices = xiaownen, japan and korea
3- chin is superior = devalues diff cultures of the area = spread of chinse practices are volunteerely = chi civil = not forced then foget bad stuff
Diff between chinese and other = distinction in all of it = politically important = doesnt describe sinization = adapting and adopting practices but not changing totally
Recap
*The Liao and Jin Dynasties forced the Song to accept equality or even inferiority, rather than claiming the universality of Chinese rule
*Both Liao and Jin had to deal with the question of balancing rule over Chinese with their own Khitan/Jurchen customs
*The “Sinicization” paradigm is a flawed way to account for the history of the “conquest dynasties”
