Qara Khitai

The Qara Khitai, also known as the Western Liao, was a kingdom ruled by the Yelü clan of the Khitan people. It was based in Central Asia and was a smaller part of the earlier Liao dynasty. The people there had strong Chinese influences, especially the leaders who had come from China.

The kingdom began when Yelü Dashi, a leader from the Liao dynasty, moved his people from Manchuria to Central Asia. They had to leave because the Jurchen people had taken over northern China. Later, in 1211, leaders from the Naimans took control, and this is often seen as the end of the Qara Khitai rule. The area was finally taken over by the Mongol conquest in 1218.

The lands of the Qara Khitai today are parts of modern China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Many nearby groups, like the Anushtegin dynasty, the Karluks, and the Kara-Khanid Khanate, were under the control of the Qara Khitai for a time. Chinese history books, such as the History of Liao, saw the Qara Khitai as a true Chinese dynasty.

Names

See also: Liao dynasty, Khitan people, Cathay, and Names of China

In 1124, the Qara Khitai was started by Yelü Dashi and used the Chinese name "Great Liao". But historians often call it the "Western Liao" or "Qara Khitai". The people of this state called themselves the "Great Liao Khitan", seeing themselves as continuing the Liao dynasty. The name "Western Liao" is from Chinese, while "Qara Khitai" is a Turko-Mongol name. The term "Qara Khitai" became common after the Mongol invasions, when Turko-Mongol speakers mixed up words and thought it meant "Black Khitans". This name appeared in Chinese too as "Black Khitans" (黑契丹).

Because of the Khitan people's rule in Northeast China and Mongolia, and later in Central Asia, the word "Khitai" came to mean "China" to nearby peoples. This name reached medieval Europe and became known as "Cathay". Today, words related to "Khitai" are still used for China by some groups like the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the people of Kazakhstan, and some Slavic peoples such as the Russians and Bulgarians.

The Khitans from the 10th century were the ancestors of the Qara Khitai.

History

See also: Timeline of the Khitans

Origin

The Qara Khitai empire, also known as the Western Liao dynasty, was the remaining part of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Between 1114 and 1125, the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty took over the Liao. In 1122, two groups of Khitans moved west to escape the Jin invasion. One group was led by Yelü Dashi, who joined the Liao emperor, Tianzuo, at the border of the Western Xia kingdom. Dashi was captured by the Jin in 1123 and forced to lead them to Tianzuo's camp, which resulted in the capture of the entire Liao imperial family except for Tianzuo and one of his sons. Dashi later rejoined Tianzuo, but the emperor was captured in early 1125.

Founding of the Qara Khitai

In 1124, Yelü Dashi moved northwest and set up his headquarters at the military garrison of Kedun (Zhenzhou) on the Orkhon River. Dashi gained the support of 20,000 garrison forces and declared himself gurkhan (universal khan). He conquered two Jin tribes in 1129. In 1130, Dashi led his forces further west in search of new territory, settling a town by the Emil river. Within a year, he established himself as the ruler of Qocho and gained control in Transoxiana. In 1131, he attacked the Karakhanids at Kashgar but was repelled. Later, he returned and expanded his authority in Qayaliq and Almaliq regions. In 1134 he conquered the Karakhanid city of Balasaghun (in modern Kyrgyzstan), bringing nearby groups under his control. Kashgar, Khotan, and Beshbalik. In 1137, he defeated the Western Karakhanids near Khujand and took over Fergana and Tashkent. Yelü Dashi's forces grew with 10,000 Khitans who had been subjects of the Karakhanids. They went on to conquer Kashgar, Khotan, and Beshbalik.

Battle of Qatwan

The Western Karakhanids were under the Seljuk Empire, and the Karakhanid ruler Mahmud II asked his Seljuk ruler Ahmad Sanjar for help. In 1141, Sanjar arrived in Samarkand. The Khitans were invited by the Khwarazmians to take lands from the Seljuks and responded to a request for help from the Karluks, who were in conflict with the Karakhanids and Seljuks.

Khitans forces, ranging from 20,000 to 700,000 depending on the source, fought Seljuk forces of 100,000. The Khitans attacked the Seljuks, surrounded them, and forced the Seljuq center into a wadi called Dargham, about 12 km from Samarkand. The Seljuq army was destroyed, and Sanjar barely escaped. The Seljuk defeat meant the loss of all of Transoxiana to the Khitans.

After his victory, Yelü Dashi spent 90 days in Samarkand, accepting the loyalty of Muslim nobles and appointing Mahmud's brother Ibrahim as the new ruler of Samarkand. Dashi allowed the Muslim Burhan family to continue ruling Bukhara. After this battle, Khwarazm became under the control of the Khitans. In 1142, Dashi sent Erbuz to Khwarazm to demand tribute, which forced Atsiz to agree to pay 30,000 dinars each year.

Territorial extent

The Qara Khitai in 1143 covered a large area roughly equal to modern Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and south Kazakhstan. The region around their capital, Balasagun, was directly ruled. Around it were subject kingdoms of Qocho, the eastern and western Karakhanids, Khwarazm, and the Karluk tribes. Its western border was the Amu Darya, but the Khitans were active in Khorasan until the 1180s while Balkh remained under their rule until 1198. In the north they bordered the Yenisei Kyrgyz north of Lake Balkhash until 1175 when they moved further south. The southern boundary stretched from Balkh to Khotan to Hami. The eastern boundary is hard to define, but the Khitans had some control over the Naimans east of the Altai Mountains until 1175.

Conflict with Jin

At the same time as invading Central Asia, Dashi also sent forces to attack the Jin and take back Liao territory, but these efforts failed and ended in defeat. Yelü Dashi had hoped to recapture northern China from the Jin dynasty and restore the territories once held by the Liao dynasty. However, he soon realized the weakness of his empire compared to the Jin dynasty and gave up the idea after a failed attack on the Jin dynasty in 1134. The Western Liao continued to challenge Jin control in 1146, and continued sending scouts and small military units against the Jin in 1156, 1177, 1185, 1188. This shows that for the first 2 generations there was still interest in reconquest.

Xiao Tabuyan (r. 1143-1150)

When Yelü Dashi died, his wife and paternal cousin, Xiao Tabuyan (1143-1150), became regent for their son. Tabuyan used the titles of empress Gantian, Gurkhan, and Dashi. Her successors kept the titles of Gurkhan and Dashi. While the History of Liao says that Tabuyan was only a regent, Muslim sources say that she held full power over the realm.

Taking advantage of Dashi's death, the Oghuz invaded Bukhara but were likely driven off sometime before 1152, when they were located in Khuttal and Balkh. In 1143, the Seljuk sultan Ahmad Sanjar attacked Khwarazm and took over Khorasan. Although Atsiz became a Seljuk subject again, in practice he continued to pay tribute to the Qara Khitai. According to Ibn al-Athir, Atsiz was only spared because Sanjar feared the Khitans. Sanjar may have also had power in Transoxiana until his death, as shown by a coin minted in Bukhara in 1148. In 1144, Qocho offered tribute to the Jin. The Jin sent a messenger named Niange Hannu to the Qara Khitai. When he met Tabuyan in 1146, he refused to dismount in her presence and said he came from a superior court as an emissary of the Son of Heaven and demanded that she show respect to the Jin court. When he threatened that the Jin were ready to send an army to invade their lands, the empress executed him. His fate only became known to the Jin in 1175 as a result of deserters from the Qara Khitai.

Yelü Yilie (r. 1150-1163)

The son, Yelü Yilie, ruled from 1150 to 1163. The only known act he was involved in during his 13 year reign was taking a census of people over 18 years old. The result was 84,500 households in total. The small number, less than Samarkand's 100,000 households in the pre-Mongol era, was likely because it was limited to only Balasagun and the surrounding area that the Khitans directly ruled. It is unknown if even the settled population was counted in the census.

During Yilie's reign, the Oghuz rebelled against Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan. The Khitans were at least partly responsible for this because they displaced the Oghuz in Transoxiana and pushed them into Balkh, where they were heavily taxed by Sanjar due to his losses at Qatwan. The Oghuz rebellion was caused by the governor of Balkh, Amir Qumach, who had enlisted Oghuz support against the Ghurids in 1152. However the Oghuz switched sides to the Ghurids, allowing them to temporarily take Balkh. After retaking the city, Qumach increased the taxes on the Oghuz. In 1153, the Oghuz killed a Seljuk tax collector and Qumach attacked them in response. In the conflict that followed, Qumach and his sons were killed, and Sanjar was defeated and captured. The Oghuz looted Khorasan, while Sanjar escaped captivity in 1156 but failed to restore his former authority. He died the following year.

There is no evidence that the Khitans were directly involved in the conflict in Khorasan, but the Turkic leaders all paid tribute to them to gain their favor during this time. The lack of Khitan involvement may be due to conflict with the Jin to the east. In 1156, a Jin army led by Po Longdun met with a Qara Khitan raiding group several hundred strong at Kedun. The Khitan force withdrew after negotiations. Khitans under Jin rule rebelled in 1161. One of the rebel leaders, Saba, planned to defect to the Qara Khitai, but was killed by another Khitan leader, Yelü Wowo, who declared himself the new Khitan emperor. Wowo was killed by the Jurchens in 1163.

The Qara Khitai played a key role in the conflict between their vassals: the Karluks, Karakhanids, and Khwarazm. In early 1156, the Karluks killed Ibrahim Tabghach Khan, the Western Karakhanid ruler of Samarkand. Ibrahim was succeeded by his son, Mahmud, for a year before Ibrahim's brother, Ali Chaghri Khan, took power. Ali wanted to avenge his brother and soon after his accession, killed one of the Karluk leaders. In early 1156, the Karluks fled to Khwarazm and sought help from its ruler, Il-Arslan, who sent an army against Samarkand. Ali asked for help from his ruler, the Qara Khitai, who instructed the ruler of the Eastern Karakhanids to come to his aid. The Eastern Karakhanids sent 10,000 riders to reinforce Samarkand, but the Khwarazmian force was too large to fight easily, and a truce was made with the help of religious leaders. The Karluks were restored to their former positions and Il-Arslan returned to Khwarazm. The Karluks continued to cause trouble for Samarkand until the Qara Khitai ordered the Western Karakhanids to drive them from Bukhara and Samarkand to Kashgar. Mas'ud Tabghach Khan, the brother of Ibrahim, took the chance to remove the Karluks from Transoxiana.

Yelü Pusuwan (r. 1164–1177)

Yelü Pusuwan (r. 1164–1177) was specifically chosen for succession by her brother, Yelü Yilie. Known as Empress Chengtian, Pusuwan turned the Qara Khitai's focus westward. In 1165, the Qara Khitai helped Mas'ud Tabghach Khan invade Balkh and Andkhud, then under Oghuz control, and brought Balkh under Qara Khitai rule until 1198. In 1172, the Qara Khitai crossed the Amu Darya to attack Khwarazm, whose ruler Il-Arslan had failed to pay tribute. Il-Arslan fell ill on the way to battle and let a Karluk commander lead his forces while he stayed behind. The Khwarazmian army was defeated and Il-Arslan returned to Khwarazm where he died in March 1172. However no new tribute agreement was made, possibly because of the spoils the Qara Khitai had already taken from their victory.

Il-Arslan's death led to a power struggle between his two sons in which the Qara Khitai were involved. The younger son, Sultan Shah, was put on the throne with the help of his mother, Terken Khatun, who ruled in his name. The older brother, Tekish, fled to the Qara Khitai court and asked for their support to become the new ruler of Khwarazm in return for a share of its treasures and annual tribute. Pusuwan sent her husband, Xiao Duolubu, with a large army to support Tekish's claim. Sultan Shah and his mother fled Khwarazm and Tekish was crowned on 11 December 1172. Terken Khatun sought help from Mu'ayyid al-Din Ai-Aba, a former Seljuk amir, to fight for their cause. However he was defeated and executed in Khwarazm in July 1174. Sultan Shah and his mother then fled to Dihistan, which Tekish then conquered and killed Terken Khatun. Sultan Shah fled to Tughan Shah, the son of Mu'ayyid, in Nishapur, and then to the Ghurids.

Tekish soon disagreed with the Qara Khitai. Despite owing his crown to them, Tekish found the behavior of their messengers insulting and their demands too high. In the mid 1170s, Tekish killed the leader of the messengers who was part of the Qara Khitai royal family, and ordered the Khwarazmian leaders (ayan) to kill every Qara Khitai who entered Khwarazm. Pusuwan summoned Sultan Shah, who had been in contact with the Qara Khitai court after realizing the Ghurids would not challenge Tekish for his claim, and sent a large army with him led by her husband to remove Tekish.

During the conflict with Khwarazm, the Qara Khitai also faced rebellions by tribes to the north and east. In the early 1170s, the Qara Khitai sent an imperial son-in-law named Abensi against the Yebulian and other tribes in the north. Abensi could not defeat them and the conflict lasted until 1175. In the same year, the Naimans and Kangly surrendered to the Jin. In 1177, the Qara Khitai sent spies into Jin territory and news of them reached the Jin court. In response, the Jin moved the Khitans in the northwest to the northeast. In addition, the border market of Suide was closed because it was feared to be used as a spy hub.

While her husband was away, Pusuwan developed a relationship with his brother, Xiao Fuguzhi. She planned to get rid of her husband to spend more time with his brother, but her father-in-law found out about her plans and carried out a coup. Xiao Wolila surrounded the palace with his troops and killed both his son and the empress.

Yelü Zhilugu (r. 1177-1211)

Khwarazm war

Xiao Wolila put Yelü Zhilugu (r. 1178–1211), the second son of Yelü Yilie, on the throne.

At the time of Zhilugu's rule, a large Qara Khitai army under the command of the late empress's husband, Xiao Duolubu, was accompanying Sultan Shah to Khwarazm. Tekish managed to stop the Qara Khitai advance by flooding the Amu Darya's dikes and blocking their path. Xiao Duolubu decided to retreat but Sultan Shah offered him a large sum to leave some of his troops behind. These troops accompanied Sultan Shah to fight the Oghuz in Khorasan. In 1181, they helped him take Merv, Sarakhs, Nasa, and Abiward.

In 1181, the Kipchaks under Qara Ozan Khan, in a marriage alliance with Tekish, attacked Talas in Qara Khitai territory.

In 1182, Tekish attacked Bukhara. According to his own description, the city people preferred rule by non-believers to his Muslim army. Tekish captured the city but it is unclear how long he held it. The lack of references and dismissive portrayal of his time there, called "the business in Transoxania", probably means it was short. By 1193, Bukhara was again ruled by the Karakhanid vassal of the Qara Khitai. Praises of Ibrahim Arslan Khan, the Karakhanid ruler, were sung by the Bukharan sadr around this time.

The conflict between Tekish and his brother Sultan Shah continued in Khorasan until 1193 when Sultan Shah died. Although Tekish took steps to protect the Amu Darya against Qara Khitai support of his brother during the conflict, the Qara Khitai gave no further responses. It is likely that there was a reconciliation between Tekish and the Qara Khitai court before 1194 and at the latest before 1198, when the Qara Khitai helped Tekish against the Ghurids. The end of hostilities was probably a financial agreement as several Muslim sources say that Tekish dutifully paid tribute to the Qara Khitai and ordered his son to continue doing so.

Tribal conflict

In the east, there is some vague evidence from Song dynasty spy reports that the Qara Khitai tried to team up with the Tangut Western Xia dynasty to attack the Jin in 1185. Although nothing came of it, the Jin clearly saw the Qara Khitai as a threat. In 1188, Wanyan Xiang, a leading Jin official, returned from a tribute-collecting mission among the northern tribes and presented to the emperor a detailed plan and map to prevent their subjects from switching to the Qara Khitai. Wanyan Xiang was promoted for his work. In 1190, one of the Qara Khitai subject tribes surrendered to the Jin, which may have been the result of this new policy.

In the early 1190s, the khan of the Keraites, Toghrul, fled to the Qara Khitai seeking military help after being ousted by his own family. When no help came, Toghrul returned to Mongolia in 1196 seeking Temüjin's help. Toghrul later allied with the Jin, through which he received his other title, Ong Khan, in 1197.

Ghurid war

In 1198, Muhammad of Ghor, one of the Ghurid rulers, took Balkh from the vassal of the Qara Khitai. The Qara Khitai were asked by the Khwarazm Shah Tekish (who was also fighting the Ghurids) not to allow this, as the other Ghurid ruler Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad would take Khwarazm and Transoxiana. The Qara Khitai invaded Ghurid lands around Kurzuban (around modern Taloqan). At first they were successful, killing and capturing many Ghurid soldiers, but they were surprised by a night attack. When Ghiyath al-Din's reinforcements arrived in the morning, the Qara Khitai army was badly defeated, losing 12,000 soldiers. The Qara Khitai asked Tekish for compensation for the damage and sent Xiao Duolubu to Khwarazm to collect. Tekish asked the Ghurids for help. Ghiyath al-Din agreed to help with the compensation if Tekish obeyed the Caliph and gave back territories taken earlier by the Qara Khitai. As a result, Khwarazm managed to provide some compensation to the Qara Khitai for their losses against the Ghurids, using Ghurid money. Tekish died in 1200 and his son Muhammad II of Khwarazm began his rule as a tributary of the Qara Khitai.

The Ghurids used Tekish's death to conquer parts of Khorasan, including Merv and Sarakhs, where they put Hindu Khan, Muhammad II's nephew, as their subject. In September 1201, Muhammad II marched on Merv. Hindu Khan tried to escape to the Qara Khitai, but was killed before reaching them. Muhammad II's conflict with the Ghurids in Khorasan continued for several years. In 1204, Muhammad of Ghor attacked Khwarazm directly. Muhammad II hurried back to Khwarazm and opened the dikes and burned the meadows to slow the Ghurid advance. The Khwarazmian forces were heavily defeated by the Ghurids near a canal east of Gurganj and Muhammad II fled to the Qara Khitai. The Qara Khitai sent a force of 10,000 or 40,000 led by Tayangu and the Karakhanid rulers Uthman ibn Ibrahim and his cousin Taj al-Din Bilge Khan, the ruler of Otrar. The Ghurids retreated south after hearing of Qara Khitai reinforcements.

The events after the Ghurid retreat are unclear. One account has the Ghurids being chased by Khwarazmian forces until they fell into Qara Khitai hands. Another says the Ghurids first won against the Qara Khitai before being overtaken by exhaustion. According to another version, the Ghurids split their forces while fleeing from the Khwarazmian army and the Qara Khitai caught them in the desert. The Qara Khitai then attacked the Ghurids with 20,000 horsemen while a strong wind blew towards the Ghurids, leading to a Qara Khitai victory. All versions agree that the Qara Khitai pursued the Ghurids to Andkhud, a village between Merv and Balkh, where Muhammad of Ghor took refuge in a castle. As the Qara Khitai were about to capture him, Uthman intervened and negotiated the Ghurids' surrender. This act has been seen as solidarity between Muslim leaders. According to one account, Uthman advised the Ghurids to move their forces in and out of the castle at night to look like reinforcements were arriving, improving their negotiating position. Tayangu and the Qara Khitai agreed to let Muhammad of Ghor go in return for a ransom. One account says the payment was everything Muhammad of Ghor had, while another says it was much smaller, consisting of one elephant and an additional payment. The Ghurids kept Balkh and the Amu Darya was set as the border between the two realms.

Muhammad of Ghor later returned to fight the Qara Khitai. In the summer of 1205, the Ghurid viceroy in Balkh took Tirmidh and destroyed a Qara Khitai army there. Plans were made to build a bridge across the Amu Darya to help a Ghurid invasion of Transoxiana. However before this could happen, Muhammad of Ghor was killed on 13 March 1206 and the Ghurid invasion ended.

Rise of Khwarazm

Muhammad II of Khwarazm convinced the governor of Tirmidh to surrender and gave it back to Qara Khitai control. In return, the Qara Khitai recognized the Khwarazm Shah's control over all of Khorasan.

Muhammad II saw the Qara Khitai's recognition of his claims as a sign of weakness and began interfering in Transoxiana in 1207 when Sanjar, son of a shield maker, rebelled against local leaders in Bukhara. Representatives of the Burhan family, who were in charge of taxes, went to the Qara Khitai court for help. While the Qara Khitai supported the Burhan family's position, they did not offer concrete help. Without Qara Khitai support, the leaders of Bukhara and Samarkand asked Muhammad II for help. Before challenging the Qara Khitai, Muhammad II made deals with the Ghurids on some areas and got help from the Karakhanid ruler Uthman ibn Ibrahim, who had been insulted by the Qara Khitai's refusal to give him a royal princess in marriage.

In 1207, Muhammad II entered Bukhara and sent Sanjar to Khwarazm in exile. The Qara Khitai sent an army against him and fighting continued for some time before Tort-Aba, the new Khwarazmian commissioner in Samarkand, and the isfahbad of Kabud-Jama (in Tabaristan) switched sides to the Qara Khitai. Both sides withdrew but the Qara Khitai took many prisoners. There are accounts that Muhammad II was actually captured at one point but was not recognized and released.

During Muhammad II's absence, his brother Ali Shah (viceroy in Tabaristan) and Kozli (commander in Nishapur) tried to make themselves rulers of Khorasan. When Muhammad II returned, Kozli fled and both he and his son were killed soon after, and Ali Shah fled to Firuzkuh. Muhammad II restored his control in Khorasan by taking Herat and Firuzkuh. In 1208-9, Ali Shah was executed. Khwarazm returned to paying tribute to the Qara Khitai in 1209-10 when Muhammad II was planning a campaign against the Kipchaks. Not wanting to cut ties with the Qara Khitai at that time, Muhammad II left the tribute matter to his mother, who welcomed the Qara Khitai messengers with great respect. However Mahmud Tai, the Qara Khitai's chief vizier, was not convinced and reported that Muhammad II was unlikely to pay tribute again.

Late in this period, the empire expanded far to the south as the Khwarezmian Empire until it was conquered by the Mongols in 1220, two years after the Qara Kitai. In the south, the Kara-Khanid vassals were loosely controlled and fought among themselves, the Qara Kitai, Khwarezm, and the Gurids.

Rebellions in the east

In 1204, the Qara Khitai crushed a rebellion in Khotan and Kashgar. In 1209, Qocho rebelled against the Qara Khitai. The Qara Khitai commissioner was chased into a tall building where he was killed. The Uyghur ruler, Barchuq Art Tegin, reported the incident to the Qara Khitai, but by then people in Qocho had already started joining the Mongols. When Genghis Khan's messengers arrived in Qocho, the Uyghur ruler offered his loyalty to the Mongol khan. Genghis gave Barchuq his daughter in return for attending court and paying tribute. In late 1209 or early 1210, when Merkit refugees arrived in Qocho, Barchuq attacked them and drove them away. He quickly reported his loyalty to Genghis, bringing tribute. In 1211, the Uyghur Idiqut met Genghis on the Kerulen River. The same year, another Qara Khitai vassal, the Karluk Arslan Khan, surrendered to Genghis.

Kuchlug's usurpation and end of the Khanate

Main articles: Kuchlug and Mongol conquest of the Qara Khitai

In 1208, a Naiman prince, Kuchlug, fled his home after losing to the Mongols. Kuchlug was welcomed by the Qara Khitai and allowed to marry Zhilugu's daughter. However, in 1211, Kuchlug rebelled and later captured Yelü Zhilugu while he was hunting. Zhilugu was allowed to stay as the nominal ruler but died two years later, and many historians see his death as the end of the Qara-Khitai empire. In 1216, Genghis Khan sent his general Jebe to chase Kuchlug; Kuchlug fled, but in 1218, he was captured and beheaded. The Mongols fully took over the former Qara-Khitai lands in 1220.

Aftermath

The Qara Khitais were absorbed into the Mongol Empire; some Qara-Khitan troops had already joined the Mongol army fighting Kuchlug. Another group of Qara-Khitans, in a dynasty started by Buraq Hajib, survived in Kirman as a vassal of the Mongols, but disappeared during the rule of Öljaitü of the Ilkhanate. The Qara-Khitans spread across Eurasia as part of the Mongol army. In the 14th century, they began to lose their ethnic identity, but traces of them can still be found as clan names or place names from Afghanistan to Moldova. Today a Khitay tribe lives in northern Kyrgyzstan.

Qara Khitai is shown on the Asia map of Nicolas and Guillaume Sanson from 1669.

Administration

The Khitans ruled from their capital at Balasagun in today’s Kyrgyzstan, controlling the central area directly. Other parts of their empire were made up of regions that had their own rulers, such as Khwarezm, the Karluks, the Kingdom of Qocho of the Uyghurs, the Kankalis, and the Western, Eastern, and Fergana Kara-Khanids. Later, the Naimans also became part of their empire before taking control under Kuchlug.

The Khitan leaders used many ideas from older rule, like Confucian ways of governing and special symbols of power. They called their ruler the Gurkhan. They followed the Chinese calendar, used Chinese titles, and even gave their emperors special names. Though they used Chinese styles, they also kept local titles like tayangyu and had a vizier.

The Khitans kept many of their own traditions, even far from home. They lived as nomads, wore their traditional clothes, and practiced the same religions as before. They mixed Buddhism with their own beliefs, which included fire worship and special customs. One new idea they had was paying their soldiers regularly.

The people they ruled were mostly farmers, but later many became nomads when new groups arrived. Most of these people were Muslims, but some followed Buddhism or Nestorianism. Though the Khitan language was used for official work, Chinese was also important. The Uyghur language may have been used too. Letters to Muslim areas were written in Persian using Muslim styles.

Association with China

In Chinese history, the Qara Khitai is often called the "Western Liao" and is seen as a true Chinese dynasty, just like the Liao dynasty. Its history is recorded in the History of Liao, which was written during the Yuan dynasty.

After the fall of the Tang dynasty, many rulers who were not Han Chinese tried to show they were the rightful rulers of China. The leaders of the Qara Khitai used the title of "Chinese emperor" and were known as the "Khan of Chīn". They used many Chinese ways to show their power, like using Chinese coins, titles, writing, and customs. Even though there were not many Han Chinese in the Qara Khitai, they kept many Chinese traditions. This helped them rule over Central Asia, where most people were Muslim. Some writers from that time thought of Central Asia as part of China because of the Qara Khitai's rule.

The idea of the Khitan being linked to China left a lasting mark. The name "Cathay" comes from Khitai and is how some European countries referred to China. Even today, some languages use names derived from Khitai to call China, though in some places this is not considered polite.

Seals

Further information: Seal (East Asia)

In 2019, a bronze seal was found near an old building called a Caravanserai close to the Ustyurt Plateau. The seal weighed 330 grams and was about 50 by 52 by 13 millimeters, with a handle 21 millimeters tall. It had writing in the Khitan large script with 20 characters. Experts think this seal was made in the year 1197 during the rule of Emperor Yelü Zhilugu. This discovery shows that the Qara Khitai Khanate used Chinese ways of managing their government, since seals like this were often used in China.

As of 2020, it is still not known if the rules for seals in Qara Khitai were the same as in China or if all their seals were made the same size.

Sovereigns of Qara Khitai

For a more comprehensive list, see List of emperors of the Liao dynasty.