The Kitan-Liao and Jurchen-Jin

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Valerie Hansen

Published:

2018

Publisher:

Routledge

The Kitan rulers created a government with two branches, one for its Kitan subjects, and the other for its Chinese subjects. The Liao dynasty established by Abaoji lasted until 1125, when it was succeeded by the Jin dynasty. The Jurchens embraced Chinese language and customs so enthusiastically that almost no Jurchen-language records survive. The Jin dynasty recruited officials via separate exams in the Jurchen and Chinese languages. In contrast to the Kitan sources, hardly any materials survive in the Jurchen language from the time of the Jin dynasty. Nor have archeological finds prompted the same type of reassessment as for the Liao dynasty. The term Sinicization also implies that someone who had become more Chinese could not return to his or her native identity. One dynamic leader, known by his Chinese name, Abaoji, unified a loose grouping of Kitan tribes in the years immediately after the collapse of the Tang.

Türkçe sayfa →