The Founding Year of the Khitan Dynasty: A Textual Investigation Based on Primary Sources

This article is an investigation into the founding of the Khitan empire based on a diverse collection of historical documents from both the Northern and Central Plains regions. These sources include the official history of the Liao dynasty, Liaoshi, written during the year of dynasty’s foundation in 907, the Qidan guo zhi from 916, as well as a variety of documents ranging from as early as the late 8th century to the mid 10th century. Some historians go as far as to say that Yelü Abaoji, who ruled the Liao dynasty from 907–926, never assumed the title of emperor. Although today’s scholarship on the Liao dynasty tends to fundamentally agree that Yelü Abaoji, who is known in history books as Taizu, the first emperor of the Liao dynasty, officially proclaimed the founding of the dynasty with himself as emperor in the first year of Shence in 916, no one has yet undertaken a proper investigation as to the details of the historical source material which has led to this assumption. This article is based on primary source research and investigates these critical pieces of historical evidence surrounding the founding of the Liao dynasty to better clarify events surrounding this major historical moment.