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The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical Eurasian nomads from East Asia and parts of North Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East.
As a people descended from the proto-Mongols through the Xianbei,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 Jishou 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." Khitans spoke the now-extinct Khitan language, a Para-Mongolic language related to the Mongolic languages.Janhunen, Juha (2006). "Para-Mongolic". In Janhunen, Juha (ed.). The Mongolic Languages. Routledge. p. 393 of pp. 391–402. The Khitan people founded and led the Liao dynasty (916–1125), which dominated a vast area of Siberia, Mongolia and Northern China. The Khitans of the Liao dynasty used two independent writing systems for their language: Khitan small script and Khitan large script.
After the fall of the Liao dynasty in 1125 following the Jurchen invasion, many Khitans followed Yelü Dashi's group westward to establish the Qara Khitai or Western Liao dynasty, in Central Asia, which lasted nearly a century before falling to the Mongol Empire in 1218. Other regimes founded by the Khitans included the Northern Liao, Eastern Liao and Later Liao in China, as well as the Qutlugh-Khanids in Persia. The modern-day Daur people, a recognized minority ethnic group in Northeast China, are the genetic descendants of Khitans.
The historical Europe name for China, Cathay, originates from the word Khitan.
During their early history the Khitan were composed of eight tribes. Their territory was between the present-day Xar Moron River and Chaoyang, Liaoning. The Khitan's territory bordered Goguryeo, the Zhongyuan, and the lands of the Eastern Turks.
Between the 6th and 9th centuries, they were successively dominated by the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, the Uyghur Khaganate, and the Tang dynasty. The Khitans were less politically united than the Turkic tribes, but often found themselves involved in the power games between the Turks and the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasties. It is estimated the Khitans had only around 43,000 soldiersa fraction of the Turkic Khaganates. In 605, the Khitans raided the Sui dynasty, but the Emperor Yang of Sui was able to convince the Turks to send 20,000 horsemen to aid Sui against the Khitans. 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. The Khagan of the Eastern Turks, Illig Qaghan, offered to exchange the rebel Liang Shidu for the Khitans, but Emperor Taizong would not agree to the exchange.
During the reign of Empress Wu, nearly one century later, the Second 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 leader Qapaghan Qaghan to punish the Khitan for raiding Hebei. Khitan territory was much closer to northern China proper than Turkic lands, and the Turks used it to launch their own raids into Hebei.
Like the Tuyuhun and Tangut people, the Khitan remained an intermediate power along the borderlands through the 7th and 8th centuries. The Khitans rose to prominence in a power vacuum that developed in the wake of the Yenisei Kyrgyz takeover of the Uyghur Khaganate, and the collapse of the Tang dynasty.
China was in chaos after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907. Known as the Wudai Shiguo, Five Dynasties ruled northern China in rapid succession with only nominal support from the Ten Kingdoms of southern China. The Tang dynasty had been supported by Shatuo Turks until Zhu Wen murdered the last Tang emperor and founded the Later Liang dynasty. The Shatuo Turks, who had been allied with the Khitans since 905, defeated the Later Liang and founded the Later Tang dynasty in 923, but by 926 the former allies had grown apart. In 934 Yelü Bei, Abaoji's son, wrote to his brother Emperor Taizong of Liao from the Later Tang court: "Li Cong Ke has slain his Li Conghou, why not attack him?" In 936, the Khitans supported Shi Jing Tangs rebellion against the Later Tang Emperor Li Cong Ke. Shi Jing Tang became emperor of the Later Jin dynasty and, in exchange for their support, the Khitans gained sixteen new prefectures.
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. The Khitan emperor left the conquered city of Kaifeng and unexpectedly died from an illness while travelling in May 947.
Relations between Goryeo and the Khitans were hostile after the Khitans destroyed Balhae. Goryeo would not recognize the Liao dynasty and supported the fledgling Song 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 the Chongchon River and were persuaded to withdraw, though Khitan dissatisfaction with Goryeo's conquest of the Jurchen people prompted a second invasion in 1010. This time the Khitans, led by their emperor, sacked the capital city Kaesong. A third and final invasion in 1018 was repelled by Goryeo's forces, bringing an end to 30 years of war between the rivals.
The Liao dynasty proved to be a significant power north of the Chinese plain, continuously moving south and west, gaining control over former Chinese and Turk-Uyghur territories. In 1005 Chanyuan Treaty was signed, and peace remained between the Liao dynasty and the Song dynasty for the next 120 years. During the reign of the Emperor Daozong of Liao, corruption was a major problem and prompted dissatisfaction among many people, including the Jurchens. The Liao dynasty eventually fell to the Jin dynasty of the Jurchen people in 1125, who defeated and absorbed the Khitans to their military benefit. The Khitans considered the as their last hope when the Liao dynasty was invaded by the Jin, Song dynasty and Western Xia Empires.
To defend against the Jurchens and Khitans, a Long Wall was built by Goryeo in 1033–1034, along with many border forts.
One of the causes of the Jurchen rebellion and the fall of the Liao was the custom of raping married Jurchen women by Khitan envoys, which caused resentment from the Jurchens. 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. Song envoys among the Jin were similarly entertained by singing girls in Guide, Henan. 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. The Jurchens and their Manchu descendants had Khitan linguistic and grammatical elements in their personal names like suffixes. Many Khitan names had a "ju" suffix.
Following the fall of the Liao dynasty, a number of the Khitan nobility escaped the area westwards towards Western Regions, establishing the short-lived Qara Khitai or Western Liao dynasty. After its fall, a small part under Buraq Hajib established a local dynasty in the southern Iran province of Kerman Province. These Khitans were absorbed by the local Turkic and Iranian populations, Islamized and left no influence behind them. As the Khitan language is still almost completely unintelligible, it is difficult to create a detailed history of their movements.
During the 13th century, the Mongol invasions and conquests had a large impact on shifting ethnic identities in the region. Most people of the Eurasian Steppe did not retain their pre-Mongol identities after the conquests. The Khitans were scattered across Eurasia and assimilated into the Mongol Empire in the early 13th century.
Fleeing from the Mongols, in 1216 the Khitans invaded Goryeo and won several battles, even reaching the gates of the capital, but were defeated by Goryeo General Kim Chwi-ryeo who pushed them back north to Pyongan Province, where the remaining Khitans were finished off by Goryeo forces in 1219.
There were two writing systems for the Khitan language, known as the large script and the small 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 on epitaphs and monuments, although other fragments sometimes surface. The Khitan scripts have not been fully Decipherment and more research and discoveries will be necessary for a proficient understanding of them.
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, near Rehe Province.
Khitan tents always faced east, and they revered the sun, but the moon did not have a large role in their religion. They also practiced a form of divination where they went to war if the shoulder blade of a white sheep cracked while being heated (scapulimancy).
A 2020 study published in Cell analyzed the DNA of 3 Khitan burials from Bulgan Province, located in Northern Mongolia. 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 the West Eurasian paternal haplogroup J2. All three specimens carried maternal haplogroups associated with Northeast Asia, including haplogroups A24, D4 and haplogroup Y1. During the Khitan and Mongol empires, a male bias for East-Asian related ancestry is observed in the eastern steppe region. "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.
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."Two early genetic studies established a certain genetic relationship between the modern Daur group and the ancient Khitan, which is one of the most significant findings of ethnic studies in China 15,." Another group of 100,000 descendants are found in some Blang people and Yi people in Baoshan and Ruili in southwestern Yunnan 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.
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