A Comparative Study Of The Herding Grazing System In Liao Dynasty And The Supervisory Grazing System In Northern Song Dynasty

The herding grazing system in Liao Dynasty and the supervisory grazing system in Northern Song Dynasty were both the systems that operated and managed the official animal husbandry systematically.From the development course of the herding grazing system in Liao Dynasty and the supervisory grazing system in Northern Song Dynasty,the creation and improvement of the herding grazing system in Liao Dynasty has experienced a relatively long process.Since its establishment,the herding grazing in Liao Dynasty has been continuously developed under the systematic management.Although the supervisory grazing system in Northern Song Dynasty had been established since the beginning of the state and made some achievements in the time of Song Zhenzong.But since then,because of the land disputes between agriculture and husbandry,its development has been more tortuous,the supervisory grazing were repeatedly abandoned and replaced,and its scale was shrinking,basically showing a declining trend.From the perspective of institutional sources,the herding grazing system in Liao Dynasty absorbed and borrowed the supervisory grazing system in Tang and Five dynasties,the supervisory grazing system in Northern Song Dynasty was directly inherited from Tang and Five dynasties.Specifically,from the point of view of management organization and official establishment,the officers of herding grazing in Liao Dynasty were the product of innovation on the basis of referencing and quoting the official system of Central Plains and combining with their own traditions.In Northern Song Dynasty,both the name and the function of the supervisory grazing made great changes on the basis of the official system in Tang Dynasty.As far as management measures are concerned,in the register system,reward and punishment system and protection of herd grazing,both the herding grazing system in Liao Dynasty and the supervisory grazing system in Northern Song Dynasty inherited the supervisory grazing system in Tang Dynasty.However,in terms of actual animalhusbandry,they each maintain the original northern nomadic tradition and the refined way of raising horses in the Central Plains.Both the herding grazing system of Liao Dynasty and the supervisory grazing system of Northern Song Dynasty inherited Tang and Five Dynasties,as well as made changes according to their respective national conditions,but their development trends were totally different.In terms of the reasons for they faced with adverse factors,although there are some problems in the geographical environment,pasture land and the source of livestock,Liao Dynasty's herding industry is still in a good development situation as a whole.However,the supervisory grazing of Northern Song Dynasty was congenitally inadequate,coupled with the problems of land disputes between agriculture and husbandry,the abrogation of impermanence and management,and so on,which eventually declined.The prosperity of Liao Dynasty's herding horse industry guaranteed the supply of army horse and the fighting power of cavalry.State-owned animal husbandry under the management of herding grazing system was the important foundation of economic development and the guarantee of military strength in Liao Dynasty.Even in the late Liao Dynasty,herding horses could still become the capital of Yelu Dashi's westward migration to establish Kara-Khitan Khanate,and had a profound impact for the herding grazing system of Jin Dynasty.However,the lack of the supervisory grazing of Northern Song Dynasty had a direct impact on the combat effectiveness of the army,but its relatively complete system still had a certain impact on the later founding of the Western Xia regime.