There is no consensus on the etymology of the name of Khitan. There are basically three speculations. Feng Jiasheng argues that it comes from theYuwen chieftains' names.[5] Zhao Zhenji thinks that the term originated fromXianbei and means "a place where Xianbei had resided".Japanese scholarOtagi Matsuo believes that Khitan's original name was "Xidan", which means "the people who are similar to theXi people" or "the people who inhabit among the Xi people".[6]
Deciphering the name "Khitan" that is based on a study the monuments of Khitan writing system, is associated with the concept of “cold”, “chilly”, “frosty” in Mongolian dialects:Khorchin, Jalayt, Durbet,Gorlos, Arukhorchin,Baarin, Onnyut,Naiman — “khuten”;Kharchin, Tumut — “khiten”; Mongolian — “küyiten”. In the lands of the Khitans there were a number of places whose names included the word “cold”. For example, the Yinlianchuan River (lit.: dark and cold) is the Chinese translation of the Mongolian name of the Khuiten River (lit.: cold), which flows into the Shara Muren. Liu Xu reports that in the south of their domain lay the Lengxingshan Mountains, which means "cold". If we consider that the Khitan clans and tribes did not have surnames, but were known by the names of the places where they lived, it is not surprising that the name of the Khuiten River or the Lengxing Mountains could become a tribal designation.[7]
Khitans eating. Tomb mural, Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia
Due to the dominance of the Khitans during theLiao dynasty in Manchuria and Mongolia and later theQara Khitai in Central Asia where they were seen as Chinese, the term "Khitai" came to mean "China" to people near them in Central Asia, Russia and northwestern China. The name was then introduced tomedieval Europe via Islamic and Russian sources, and became "Cathay". In the modern era, words related to Khitay are still used as aname for China by Turkic peoples, such as theUyghurs in China'sXinjiang region and theKazakhs ofKazakhstan and areas adjoining it, and by some Slavic peoples, such as theRussians andBulgarians. TheHan Chinese consider the ethnonym derived fromKhitay as applied to them by the Uyghurs to be pejorative and the Chinese government has tried to ban its use.[8]
According to theHistory of Liao compiled in the 14th century, a "sacred man" (shen-ren) on a white horse had eight sons with a "heavenly woman" (tiannü) who rode in a cart pulled by a grey ox. The man came from the Tu River (Lao Ha river in modern-dayJilin,Manchuria) and the woman from the Huang River (modern-dayXar Moron river inInner Mongolia). The pair met where the two rivers join, and the eight sons born of their union became eight tribes.[9]
The earliest written reference to the Khitan is from an official history of theXianbei-ledNorthern Wei dynasty dating to the period of theSix Dynasties. Most scholars believe the Khitan tribe splintered from theXianbei, and some scholars believe they may have been a mixed group who also included former members of theXiongnu tribal confederation.[10][11] The Khitan shaved their heads, leaving hair on their temples which grew down to the chest, in a similar fashion to the relatedKumo Xi,Shiwei, and Xianbei whom they are believed to be descended from.[12]
During their early history the Khitan were composed of eight tribes. Their territory was between the present-dayXar Moron River andChaoyang, Liaoning.[13] The Khitan's territory borderedGoguryeo, theCentral Plains, and the lands of the Eastern Turks.[14]
Between the 6th and 9th centuries, they were successively dominated by theEastern Turkic Khaganate, theUyghur Khaganate, and theTang dynasty.[15] The Khitans were less politically united than the Turkic tribes, but often found themselves involved in thepower games between the Turks and theSui and Tang dynasties. It is estimated the Khitans had only around 43,000 soldiers – a fraction of the Turkic Khaganates.[14] In 605, the Khitans raided the Sui dynasty, but theEmperor Yang of Sui was able to convince the Turks to send 20,000 horsemen to aid Sui against the Khitans.[16] In 628, under the leadership of tribal chief Dahe Moui, the Khitan submitted to the Tang dynasty, as they had earlier submitted to the Eastern Turks. TheKhagan of the Eastern Turks,Jiali Khan, offered to exchange the rebelLiang Shidu for the Khitans, butEmperor Taizong would not agree to the exchange.[13]
During the reign ofEmpress Wu, nearly one century later, theSecond Turkic Khaganate raided along northern China's borderlands. The Tang Empress, in what scholars consider a major strategic error, formed an ill-fated alliance with the Turkic leaderQapaghan Qaghan to punish the Khitan for raidingHebei province. Khitan territory was much closer to northernChina proper than Turkic lands, and the Turks used it to launch their own raids into Hebei.[17]
Like theTuyuhun andTangut, the Khitan remained an intermediate power along the borderlands through the 7th and 8th centuries.[18] The Khitans rose to prominence in a power vacuum that developed in the wake of theKyrgyz takeover of the Uyghur Khaganate, and the collapse of the Tang dynasty.[19]
Khitan falconers in a painting by Chen Juzhong, early 13th c.Depiction ofYelü BeiKhitan horsemenTheLiao dynasty in 1111 AD.TheQara Khitai empire in 1169 at its greatest extentMural fromInner Mongolia depicting young Khitan boys and girls
Abaoji, who had been successful in uniting the Khitan tribes, founded theLiao dynasty in 907. The Liao territory included modern day northern and northeastern China, Mongolia, and parts of Central Asia and Siberia. Although transition to an imperial social and political organization was a significant change for the Khitans, theKhitan language, origin myth, shamanic religion and nomadiclifestyle endured.[15]
China was in chaos after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907. Known as theWudai Shiguo period,Five Dynasties ruled northern China in rapid succession with only nominal support from theTen Kingdoms of southern China.[20] The Tang dynasty had been supported byShatuo Turks untilZhu Wen murdered the last Tang emperor and founded theLater Liang dynasty. The Shatuo Turks, who had been allied with the Khitans since 905, defeated the Later Liang and founded theLater Tang dynasty in 923, but by 926 the former allies had grown apart.[21] In 934Yelü Bei, Abaoji's son, wrote to his brotherEmperor Taizong of Liao from the Later Tang court: "Li Cong Ke has slain hisliege-lord, why not attack him?"[22] In 936, the Khitans supportedShi Jing Tang's rebellion against the Later Tang Emperor Li Cong Ke. Shi Jing Tang became emperor of theLater Jin dynasty and, in exchange for their support, the Khitans gained sixteen newprefectures.[23][21]
The Later Jin dynasty remained a vassal of the Khitans until the death of Shi Jing Tang in 942, but when the new emperor ascended, he indicated that he would not honor his predecessor's arrangement. The Khitans launched a military invasion against the Later Jin in 944. In January 947, the Emperor of the Later Jin dynasty surrendered to the Khitans.[24] The Khitan emperor left the conquered city ofKaifeng and unexpectedly died from an illness while travelling in May 947.[25]
Relations betweenGoryeo and the Khitans were hostile after the Khitans destroyedBalhae. Goryeo would not recognize the Liao dynasty and supported the fledglingSong dynasty, which had formed south of the Khitans' territory. Though the Khitans would have preferred to attack China, they invaded Goryeo in 993. Khitan forces failed to advance beyond theChongchon River and were persuaded to withdraw, though Khitan dissatisfaction with Goryeo's conquest of theJurchen prompted a second invasion in 1010. This time the Khitans, led by their emperor, sacked the capital cityKaesong. A third and final invasion in 1018 was repelled by Goryeo's forces, bringing an end to 30 years of war between the rivals.[26]
The Liao dynasty proved to be a significant power north of theChinese plain, continuously moving south and west, gaining control over former Chinese and Turk-Uyghur territories. In 1005Chanyuan Treaty was signed, and peace remained between the Liao dynasty and theSong dynasty for the next 120 years. During the reign of theEmperor Daozong of Liao, corruption was a major problem and prompted dissatisfaction among many people, including the Jurchens. The Liao dynasty eventually fell to theJin dynasty of theJurchen in 1125, who defeated and absorbed the Khitans to their military benefit. The Khitans considered theKhamag Mongols as their last hope when the Liao dynasty was invaded by the Jin,Song dynasty andWestern Xia Empires.
To defend against the Jurchens and Khitans, aLong Wall was built byGoryeo in 1033–1034, along with many border forts.[27]
One of the causes of the Jurchen rebellion and the fall of the Liao was thecustom of raping married Jurchen women by Khitan envoys, which caused resentment from the Jurchens.[28] The custom of having sex with unmarried girls by the Khitans was itself not a problem, since the practice of guest prostitution – giving female companions, food and shelter to guests – was common among Jurchens. Unmarried daughters of Jurchen families of lower and middle classes in Jurchen villages were provided to Khitan messengers for sex, as recorded by Hong Hao.[29] Song envoys among the Jin were similarly entertained by singing girls in Guide, Henan.[30] There is no evidence that guest prostitution of unmarried Jurchen girls to Khitan men was resented by the Jurchens. It was only when the Khitans forced aristocratic Jurchen families to give up their wives as guest prostitutes to Khitan messengers that the Jurchens became resentful. This suggests that in Jurchen upper classes, only a husband had the right to his married wife while among lower class Jurchens, the virginity of unmarried girls and sex with Khitan men did not impede their ability to marry later.[31] The Jurchens and their Manchu descendants had Khitan linguistic and grammatical elements in their personal names like suffixes.[32] Many Khitan names had a "ju" suffix.[33]
Following the fall of the Liao dynasty, a number of the Khitan nobility escaped the area westwards towardsWestern Regions, establishing the short-livedQara Khitai or Western Liao dynasty. After its fall, a small part underBuraq Hajib established a local dynasty in the southernPersian province ofKirman. These Khitans were absorbed by the local Turkic and Iranian populations,Islamized and left no influence behind them. As theKhitan language is still almost completely unintelligible, it is difficult to create a detailed history of their movements.
During the 13th century, theMongol invasions and conquests had a large impact on shifting ethnic identities in the region. Most people of theEurasian Steppe did not retain their pre-Mongol identities after the conquests. The Khitans were scattered across Eurasia and assimilated into theMongol Empire in the early 13th century.[34]
Fleeing from theMongols, in 1216 the Khitans invaded Goryeo and won several battles, even reaching the gates of the capital, but were defeated by Goryeo GeneralKim Chwi-ryeo who pushed them back north toPyongan,[35][36] where the remaining Khitans were finished off by Goryeo forces in 1219.[37][38]
Zhuoxie tu, a 10th-century painting of a rest stop for a Khitan khan
There were two writing systems for the Khitan language, known as thelarge script and thesmall script. These were functionally independent and appear to have been used simultaneously in the Liao dynasty. They were in use for some time after the fall of that dynasty. Examples of the scripts appeared most often onepitaphs andmonuments, although other fragments sometimes surface. The Khitan scripts have not been fullydeciphered and more research and discoveries will be necessary for a proficient understanding of them.[42][43]
Nomadic Khitans originally engaged instockbreeding,fishing, andhunting.[44] Looting Chinese villages and towns as well as neighboring tribes was also a helpful source ofslaves, Chinese handicrafts, and food, especially in times of famine. Under the influence of China, and following the administrative need for a sedentary administration, the Khitans began to engage in farming,cropcultivation and the building of cities. Unlike the Chinese andBalhae farmers, who cultivatedwheat and sorghummillet, the Khitan farmers cultivatedpanicled millet. The ruling class of the Liao dynasty still undertook hunting campaigns in late summer in the tradition of their ancestors. After the fall of the Liao dynasty, the Khitans returned to a more nomadic life.
The Khitans practicedshamanism in which animals played an important role. Hunters offered a sacrifice to the spirit of the animal they were hunting and wore a pelt from the same animal during the hunt. There were festivals to mark the catching of the first fish and wild goose, and annual sacrifices of animals to the sky, earth, ancestors, mountains, rivers, and others. Every male member of the Khitan would sacrifice a white horse, white sheep, and white goose during theWinter solstice.[45]
When a Khitan nobleman died, burnt offerings were sacrificed at the full and new moons. The body was exposed for three years in the mountains, after which the bones would be cremated. The Khitan believed that the souls of the dead rested at a place called the Black Mountain, nearRehe Province.[46]
Khitan tents always faced east, and they revered the sun, but the moon did not have a large role in their religion.[47] They also practiced a form ofdivination where they went to war if the shoulder blade of a white sheep cracked while being heated (scapulimancy).[45]
Khitan women hunted, rode horses and practicedarchery. They did not practicefoot binding, which started becoming popular among the Han during theSong dynasty. The Khitan practiced polygamy and generally preferred marriage within the tribe, but it was not unknown for an Emperor to take wives from other groups, such as the Han,Koreans,[48] andTurkic tribes.[49]
A 2015 study postulated that Khitan males may have belonged to haplogroupsC3c orN1, based on the distribution of these haplogroups in modern-day Eastern and Central Asian populations.[50]
A 2020 study published inCell analyzed the DNA of 3 Khitan burials fromBulgan Province, located in NorthernMongolia. The Khitan burials were found to be of predominantly Northeast Asian origin, with less than 10% West Eurasian ancestry. The two male specimens belonged to theWest Eurasian paternal haplogroupJ2. All three specimens carried maternal haplogroups associated withNortheast Asia, including haplogroupsA24,D4 and haplogroupY1. During the Khitan and Mongol empires, a male bias for East-Asian related ancestry is observed in the eastern steppe region.[51]
Two studies found evidence of Khitan mtDNA ancestry in modern-day people of the Daur ethnicity. This was one of the most significant findings of ethnic studies in China.[52] Another group of 100,000 descendants are found in someBlang people andYi people inBaoshan andRuili in southwesternYunnan province, near Myanmar. These people with surnames of A., Mang and Jiang claim to be descendants of Khitans rather than Blang people or Yi people.[53]
^Xu Elina-Qian (2005).Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan. University of Helsinki. p. 99. quote: "According to Gai Zhiyong's study, Jishou is identical with Qishou, the earliest ancestor of the Khitan; and Shihuai is identical to Tanshihuai, the Xianbei supreme chief in the period of the Eastern Han (25–220). Therefore, from the sentence "His ancestor was Jish[ou] who was derived from Shihuai" in the above inscription, it can be simply seen that the Khitan originated from the Xianbei. Since the excavated inscription on memorial tablet can be regarded as a firsthand historical source, this piece of information is quite reliable."
^Janhunen, Juha (2006). "Para-Mongolic". In Janhunen, Juha (ed.).The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. p. 393 of pp. 391–402.
^"Восточная литература",Vostlit.info. Accessed Sep 06, 2025 (in Russian). "Этноним кидань на основании памятников киданьской письменности связывается с понятием «холодный», «студеный», «морозный» в монгольских говорах: хорчин, джалайт, дурбет, горлас, арухорчин, барин, оннют, найман — хутен; харчин, тумут — хiтен; монгольский küyiten [26, с. 247].В землях киданей был ряд мест, в названия которых входило слово «холодный». Например, р. Иньлянчуань (букв.: темная и холодная) является китайским переводом монгольского названия р. Хуэйтэн (букв.: холодная), впадающей в Шара-Мурэн. Лю Сюй сообщает, что на юге их владения лежали горы Лэнсиншань, что в переводе означает «холодные». Если учесть, что киданьские роды и племена не имели фамилий, а были известны по названию мест, где они жили [37, гл. 23, л. 1а], нет ничего удивительного, что название р. Хуэйтэн или гор Лэнсин могло стать племенным обозначением.."
^Twitchett, Denis C.; Herbert Franke; John King Fairbank (1978).The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and... p. 46.
^Balaresque, Patricia; Poulet, Nicolas; Cussat-Blanc, Sylvain; Gerard, Patrice; Quintana-Murci, Lluis; Heyer, Evelyne; Jobling, Mark A (October 2015)."Y-chromosome descent clusters and male differential reproductive success: young lineage expansions dominate Asian pastoral nomadic populations".European Journal of Human Genetics.23 (10):1413–1422.doi:10.1038/ejhg.2014.285.PMC4430317.PMID25585703. ""The signal of expansion spreads from East to West (from Mongolia to the Caspian Sea), as DC1 has its source in Inner Mongolia (hgC3[xC3c]), DC8 in the Oroqen (hgC3c) and DC10 in the Hezhe (hgN1)." [...] "Interestingly, the westward directions of expansions DC8 and DC10, their potential sources in northeast China, their geographic extents from China to Karakalpakia, and also the Altai-speaking populations associated with them, could also indicate involvement of the Imperial or elite lineages associated with the Khitan Empire."
^Jeong, Choongwon; Wang, Ke; Wilkin, Shevan; Taylor, William Timothy Treal; Miller, Bryan K.; Bemmann, Jan H.; Stahl, Raphaela; Chiovelli, Chelsea; Knolle, Florian; Ulziibayar, Sodnom; Khatanbaatar, Dorjpurev; Erdenebaatar, Diimaajav; Erdenebat, Ulambayar; Ochir, Ayudai; Ankhsanaa, Ganbold; Vanchigdash, Chuluunkhuu; Ochir, Battuga; Munkhbayar, Chuluunbat; Tumen, Dashzeveg; Kovalev, Alexey; Kradin, Nikolay; Bazarov, Bilikto A.; Miyagashev, Denis A.; Konovalov, Prokopiy B.; Zhambaltarova, Elena; Miller, Alicia Ventresca; Haak, Wolfgang; Schiffels, Stephan; Krause, Johannes; Boivin, Nicole; Erdene, Myagmar; Hendy, Jessica; Warinner, Christina (2020)."A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe".Cell.183 (4): 890–904.e29.doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015.ISSN0092-8674.PMC7664836.PMID33157037. "Our study includes three Khitan individuals (ZAA003, ZAA005, ULA001) from Bulgan province, all of whom have a strongly eastern Eurasian genetic profile (Figure 2), with <10% west Eurasian ancestry (Figures 3F and and4B;4B; Table S5I). This may reflect the northeastern Asian origin of the Mongolic-speaking Khitan, but a larger sample size is required to adequately characterize the genetic profile of Khitan populations within Mongolia." Haplogroup information found in Table S2, S2C_SexHaplogroups, Supplementary Materials.
Cohen, Warren I. (2001).East Asia at the Center: Four Thousand Years of Engagement with the World. Columbia University Press.ISBN978-0-231-50251-1.
Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (1996).The World's Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 230–234.
Dudbridge, Glen (2013).A Portrait of Five Dynasties China: From the Memoirs of Wang Renyu (880-956). OUP Oxford.ISBN978-0-19-164967-7.
Ebrey, Patricia; Walthall, Anne (2013).Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Vol. I: To 1800. Cengage Learning.ISBN978-1-133-60651-2.
Kara, György (1987). "On the Khitan Writing Systems".Mongolian Studies:19–23.
Hung, Hing Ming (2013).Li Shi Min, Founding the Tang Dynasty: The Strategies that Made China the Greatest Empire in Asia. Algora Publishing.ISBN978-0-87586-980-3.
Grayson, James H. (2012).Myths and Legends from Korea: An Annotated Compendium of Ancient and Modern Materials. Routledge.ISBN978-1-136-60289-4.
Janhunen, Juha (2014).Mongolian. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 4.ISBN9789027238252.
Kim, Hyun Jin (2013).The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-06722-6.
Lee, Ki-Baik (1984).A New History of Korea. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.ISBN067461576X.
Middleton, John (2015).World Monarchies and Dynasties. Routledge.ISBN978-1-317-45157-0.
McMahon, Keith (2013).Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.ISBN978-1-4422-2290-8.
Mote, Frederick W. (2003).Imperial China 900-1800. Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-01212-7.
San, Tan Koon (2014).Dynastic China: An Elementary History. The Other Press.ISBN978-983-9541-88-5.
Seth, Michael J. (2010).A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.ISBN978-0-7425-6717-7.
Skaff, Jonathan Karam (2012).Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580-800. Oxford Studies in Early Empires. Oxford University Press.
Starr, S. Frederick (2015).Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland. Routledge.ISBN978-1-317-45137-2.
.jpg)
_from_Tomb_in_Aohan%2c_Liao_Dynasty.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
