An Exploration Of Several Issues In The Early History Of Khitan

Khitan originated in the northern part of ancient China,and were initially active in in the eastern part of the Inner Mongolia plateau and the southwestern part of the northeast plain.In 916,the Khitan—Liao regime was established.Khitan died out around the 14 th century as a nation.Before 916,the social organization of Khitan was mainly composed of tribes and tribal alliance,which was still in the early stage of its historical development.Wei Shu is an early historical book that recordes Khitan,as one of its chapter,Khitan Biography initiates the history of Khitan documents.The later documents,such as Sui Shu,Bei Shi,Tang Shu and Wu Dai Shi,continue the tradition of making a biography for Khitan.Wei Shu·Khitan Zhuan,Tongdian·Khitan,and other relevant centralized records in other historical books constitute the basic historical materials for studying the early history of Khitan.Later published historical books inherite much ofthe previous ones.In Yuan Dynasty,there appeared an official historical book,Liao Shi,which specially recorded Khitan and the history of Liao Dynasty.As one chapter of Liao Shi,Shi Biao combs the development of the previous dynasties of the Khitan — Liao regime on the basis of summarizing the history books of the previous dynasties and the historical materials handed down by the Khitan people.These basic historical materials completely and continuously record the Khitan history before 916.These historical sources include not only the perspective of historians in the Central Plains,but also the historical memory and inheritance of Khitan people themselves.By analyzing the historical information transmitted by the relevant historical materials,we can outline the origin of Khitan and the development of the early tribes and tribal alliance.Khitan people trace their ancestors back to Xianbei people in the second century,which is not contradictory to the records in Wei Shu·Khitan Zhuan.Although there are various methods and conclusions about the researches of Khitan's name and origin,and there are also different records in historical books,by combing them,we can find that Wei Shu·Khitan Zhuan is the source of later historical books and reflects the relationship between Khitan and Yuwen group.According to the similarities between Khitan and Xianbei in activity areas,customs,languages,culture and races,etc.,the judgment that Khitan should comefrom Xianbei people in Yuwen group can be reached.The main tribes of Khitan evolve in the framework of "eight tribes",including Ancient "eight tribes","Daheshi eight tribes" and "Yaonianshi eight tribes",among which Ancient "eight tribes" actually refer to the tribes in the "Northeast Group Di",including the originally formed Khitan tribes and the closely related Xiwandan and other seven tribes.From the Ancient "eight tribes" to the "Daheshi eight tribes",the middle has experienced the development stage of ten tribes of Tuohechen river."Yaonianshi eight tribes" is splited from five tribes left after the decline of Daheshi tribes.The development and evolution of Khitan also include the migration and integration of tribes,including those who move into other areas and integrate into other ethnic groups,and those who develop and strengthen through the integration of various parts of their own ethnic group and other ethnic groups.In the same way,the tribal alliance has also improved its organizational and institutional construction.Both the internal and external factors in the formation and decline of Daheshi tribal alliance,the dual operation system in the development process of Yaonianshi tribal alliance,and the duality in the political construction of Shilishi tribal alliance are based on the need of centralization and unification.In order to adapt to the continuous development of the situation,they are formed under the dual effects ofinternal and external factors.Although there are various forms of duality,its essence is the concrete manifestation of contradictory movement in the process of formation and development of Khitan.The early development characteristics of Khitan are inherited by Khitan — Liao regime,which created brilliant culture,either in the form of material and cultural remains,or as the core of spiritual civilization,enriching Chinese civilization.