Qara Khitai

East Asia and Central Asia in AD 1142. The Qara Khitai (Western Liao) is highlighted in lime green in the northwest; the Jin dynasty in grey in the northeast; the Western Xia in turquoise; the Southern Song in orange; and the Dali Kingdom in dark green.

The Qara Khitai took on trappings of a Chinese state and inherited the dynastic name "Great Liao" (大遼).[8][14][15] Hence, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese historians generally refer to the empire as the "Western Liao" (西遼), emphasizing its continuation from the Liao dynasty.

The name "Qara Khitai" (喀喇契丹; commonly used by Central Asian tribes to refer to the dynasty) is also commonly used in Western scholarly works. The phrase is often translated as the Black Khitans in Turkish, but its original meaning is unclear today.[16] In Mongolian, "Kara-Khitan" is rendered "Хар Хятан" (Khar Kidan). Since no direct records from the empire survive today, the only surviving historical records about the empire come from foreign sources.

Black Khitans (黑契丹) has also been seen used in Chinese. "Qara," which literally means "black," corresponds with the Liao's dynastic color black and its dynastic element Metal, according to the theory of Five Elements (wuxing).[17] The Jurchens referred to the empire as Dashi or Dashi Linya (after its founder), to reduce any claims the empire may have had to the old territories of the Liao dynasty. Muslim historians initially referred to the state simply as Khitay or Khitai; they may have adopted this form of "Khitan" via the Uyghurs of Kocho in whose language the final -n or -ń became -y.[18] Only after the Mongol conquest did the state begin to be referred to in the Muslim world as the Kara-Khitai or Qara-Khitai.[19] Qara Khitai or Khitan is the origin of "Cathay", a foreign name for China.

The Khitans ruled from their capital at Balasagun (in today's Kyrgyzstan), directly controlling the central region of the empire. The rest of their empire consisted of highly autonomous vassalized states, primarily Khwarezm, the Karluks, the Kingdom of Qocho of the Uyghurs, the Kankalis, and the Western, Eastern, and Fergana Kara-Khanids. The late-arriving Naimans also became vassals, before usurping the empire under Kuchlug.

The Khitan rulers adopted many administrative elements from the Liao dynasty, including the use of Confucian administration and imperial trappings. The empire also adopted the title of Gurkhan (universal Khan). The Khitans used the Chinese calendar, maintained Chinese imperial and administrative titles, gave its emperors reign names, used Chinese-styled coins, and sent imperial seals to its vassals.[26] Although most of its administrative titles were derived from Chinese, the empire also adopted local administrative titles, such as tayangyu (Turkic) and vizier.

The Khitans maintained their old customs, even in Central Asia. They remained nomads, adhered to their traditional dress, and maintained the religious practices followed by the Liao dynasty Khitans. The ruling elite tried to maintain the traditional marriages between the Yelü king clan and the Xiao queen clan, and were highly reluctant to allow their princesses to marry outsiders. The Qara-Khitai Khitans followed a mix of Buddhism and traditional Khitan religion, which included fire worship and tribal customs, such as the tradition of sacrificing a gray ox with a white horse. In an innovation unique to the Qara Khitai, the Khitans paid their soldiers salary.

The empire ruled over a diverse population that was quite different from its rulers. The majority of the population was sedentary, although the population suddenly became more nomadic during the end of the empire, due to the influx of Naimans. The majority of their subjects were Muslims, although a significant minority practiced Buddhism and Nestorianism. Although Chinese and Khitan were the primary languages of administration, the empire also administered in Persian and Uyghur.[1]

In Chinese historiography, the Qara Khitai is most commonly called the "Western Liao" (西遼) and is considered to be a legitimate Chinese dynasty, as is the case for the Liao dynasty.[13] The history of the Qara Khitai was included in the History of Liao (one of the Twenty-Four Histories), which was compiled officially during the Yuan dynasty by Toqto'a et al.

After the Tang dynasty, non-Han Chinese empires gained prestige by connecting themselves with China, and the Khitan Gurkans used the title of "Chinese emperor",[27][28] and was also called the "Khan of Chīn".[29] The Qara Khitai used the "image of China" to legitimize their rule to the Central Asians. The Chinese emperor, together with the rulers of the Turks, Arabs, India and the Byzantine Romans, were known to Islamic writers as the world's "five great kings".[30] Qara Khitai kept the trappings of a Chinese state, such as Chinese coins, Chinese imperial titles, the Chinese writing system, tablets, seals, and used Chinese products like porcelein, mirrors, jade and other Chinese customs. The adherence to Liao Chinese traditions has been suggested as a reason why the Qara Khitai did not convert to Islam.[31] Despite the Chinese trappings, there were comparatively few Han Chinese among the population of the Qara Khitai.[32] These Han Chinese had lived in Kedun during the Liao dynasty,[33] and in 1124 migrated with the Khitans under Yelü Dashi along with other people of Kedun, such as the Bohai, Jurchen, and Mongol tribes, as well as other Khitans in addition to the Xiao consort clan.[34]

Qara Khitai's rule over the Muslim-majority Central Asia has the effect of reinforcing the view among some Muslim writers that Central Asia was linked to China even though the Tang dynasty had lost control of the region a few hundred years ago. Marwazī wrote that Transoxania was a former part of China,[35] while Fakhr al-Dīn Mubārak Shāh defined China as part of "Turkestan", and the cities of Balāsāghūn and Kashghar were considered part of China.[36]

• 
  The Khitans in the 10th century, forebears of the Kara-Khitans.
• 
  European maps showed the land of "Kara-Kithay" somewhere in Central Asia centuries after the collapse of the Qara Khitai. This 1610 map by Jodocus Hondius places it north of Tashkent.
• 
  Portrait of a Kara-Khitan man.

• Liao dynasty
• Northern Liao
• Eastern Liao
• Later Liao
• Qutlugh-Khanids
• Buraq Hajib
• History of the Khitans
• Kara-Khanid Khanate
• List of emperors of the Liao dynasty
• Proto-Mongols
• History of the central steppe