A Study On The Tribe System In Liao Dynasty

The tribe, as a distinctively nomadic system, is Liao Dynasty’s fundation ofruling over two hundred years, which is developed by the Khitan tribe. Taking thetribe system as the research object, this dissertation mainly researches into the natureof tribes, the scope of tribes, the administrative organizations and their officals,residential areas of the tribes and guard places, the relations among tribes, states andcountries, and the relations between tribes and the temporary implerial palace, inorder to discuss the development of the tribes in Liao Dynasty. Except theintroduction and the conclusion, the dissertation is divided into six chapters.It begins with the introduction which introduces the significance of thedissertation, defines the concept of the tribal system in Liao Dynasty and fixes theresearch periods. In addition, reviewing all the relevant literature for summarisingtheir deficiencies, the introduction outlines the thought, the methods, the innovationand the difficulties in the dissertation.The first chapter covers the nature and the scope of the tribes in Liao Dynasty.Based on the definition and the requirements of the administrative division defined bymodern researchers, the factors for constituting an administrative division contain theexistence of a centralized country, the existence of an administrative relation betweenthe central and local governments, some hierarchical positions taken by tribes, arelatively clear frontier, some extents of territory, hierarchically administrativeorganizations and some extents of population. Since the tribes in Liao Dynastyinvolve all the factors, they are determined as a kind of the administrative division innature. In addition, analysing the causes of the controversy on the scope of the tribes,this dissertation investigates all the recorded tribes in Liao Shi in terms of the factorsfor constituting an administrative division, and redelimits the scope of the tribes inLiao Dynasty. It also reinterprets three misunderstood tribes in Liao Dynasty.The second chapter investigates residential areas of the tribes and guard places.Before1004, even though residential areas of the tribes and guard places were usually in the same places, they had tended to be separated. After1004, since the boundary ofLiao Dynasty was basically settled, the Liao imperial court rezoned residential areasof the tribes and guard places. Because the majority of guard places were situated onthe border, they were mostly separated with the residential areas of the tribes. Thecharacters how the Liao imperial court rezoned the places are summarised accordingto the available materials regarding the residential areas of the tribes and the guardplaces.The third chapter is the central administrative organizations and their officals. Inthis period, existing three central administrative organizations and their officals werethe Northern Chancellery,the Northern and the Southern Prime Ministries and theAdministration of the King of Xi.With the gradual adjustments on administrativeorganizations, the Liao imperial court categorised the Northern and the SouthernPrime Ministries as a suborganization of the Northern Chancellery to manage someadministrative organizations of tribes. However, the Administration of the King of Xiturned to be an organization under the jurisdiction of the Northern Prime Ministry, nota central administrative organization any longer. With the changes of theadministrative system, the functions of the Northern Chancellery, the Northern and theSouthern Prime Ministries and the Administration of the King of Xi were changed.The fourth chapter is the local administrative organizations and their officals.The dissertation divided into tribe, Shilie and Mili to discuss the local administrativeorganizations and their officals. The tribes under the control of the Northern and theSouthern Prime Ministries could be put into two categories: one had theadministrative division Shilie, the other did not have the adiminstrative division Shilie,which demonstrated that the government post setting in tribes were different.The fifth chapter is the military administrative organizations and their officals.The Northern Chancellery was the tribes-managing organization with militarysupremacy, which was responsible for some tribal troops. However, the other tribaltroops were subject to other military institutions. The Northern Chancellery exerted itsmilitary authority over tribes through the military institutions. In order to efficientlymanage troops, the Liao imperial court developed strict procedures of requisitions. The sixth chapter probes into the relations among tribes, states and countries, andthe relations between tribes and the temporary implerial palace in Liao Dynasty. Itshows that the tribes, states and countries were coexistent, under the threeperspectives: setting up states and countries from some parts of tribal jurisdictions,locating some parts of tribal jurisdictions over existing states and countries, andgarrisoning tribal troops in states and countries. Additionally, the relation betweentribes and the temporary imperial palace is studied in line with the threeperspectives: tribes meeting the need for the staff of the temporary imperial palace,tribes supplying materials and soldiers for the temporary imperial palace and thetemporary implerial palace’ passing or garrisoning in tribal jurisdictions.In the conclusion, the dissertation analyses the reasons of the transformationfrom tribes into administrative organizations and summarises the characters andfunctions of the tribes in Liao Dynasty.