The Liao Khitan Mongols seize control of Chinese border areas in 907 and establish rulership there.

(Cathay, the ancient name for China, coined by the early travelers from the Middle East, is derived from Khitan or Khitai.)

The Khitan reside on the east slope of the Greater Khingan Mountains (Xing'an).

West of the mountains are other nomadic pastoral tribes such as the Shiwei, and the Xi, along with the Turkic Uyghur tribe, which have intermarried with the Khitan.

East and northeast, all the way to the Amur river, live the Jurchen tribe, residing in small villages and subsisting by hunting and fishing.

Across the Liao River to the east and southeast to the Yalu River are the Bohai people, the majority of which are a settled agricultural society.

The Bohai rule over a population of Koreans and Chinese that they had subjugated.

The Yaolian clan had dominated the leadership of the Khitan tribes since the 750s, maintaining good relations with the Tang Dynasty of China to the south.

However, by the end of the ninth century, leaders of the powerful Yila Tribe were expressing dissatisfaction with the Yaolian khans.

Abaoji's father had been the elected chieftain of the Yila Tribe.

As surnames are considered a marker of Chinese culture, they are not used by the Khitan people outside of the Yaolian imperial clan.

Abaoji had become chieftain of the Yila tribe in 901 and in 903, was named the Yuyue, Commander of all Khitan military forces.

This had the effect of making him second only to the great khan in the hierarchy of the Khitan nation.

He had started making a name for himself in 905, when he led seventy thousand cavalry into Shanxi to in support of Li Keyong against Zhu Wen, demonstrating his willingness to be to be more aggressive than the Great Khan.

He appears at the triennial council in 907 and demands to be named the khaghan, the Khan of Khans.

His successes against the Chinese in the north, who he has been raiding since 901, lead to receiving the support of seven tribal chiefs and even the acquiescence of the last Yaolian Great Khan himself.

Emperor Taizong had been on campaign in China when he died in 947.

His nephew Ruan had accompanied him on this campaign, allowing him to quickly gain the support of army leaders.

While returning to the capital, his grandmother, the empress dowager Yingtian, had plotted to have her third son, Prince Lihu, ascend to the throne, and had sent an army to intercept her grandson.

She had denounced Ruan in her campaign to support her son.

However, the Khitan nobles, knowing that Prince Lihu was entirely unfit for the throne, had refused to support her this time as they did previously with the ascension of Deguang as Emperor Taizong.

Fortunately, the strong support the court gave to Ruan’s claim had prevented a civil war among the Khitans.

Shizong is known both for his generosity as well as for his martial prowess.

This generosity is not extended to either his grandmother or his uncle (Prince Lihu) both of whom had been sent far from the capital by Shizong.

Both had died soon afterward, Prince Lihu in rebellion and Yingtian of old age.

Shizong takes to the field in 951 in a successful effort to resist Chinese advances from the south.

However, later this year, a mere four years after his ascension as emperor, he i killed by a rebellious nephew who is part of an effort within the imperial clan to usurp the throne.

Incursions by the Western Xia and the threat of further Liao Dynasty military actions against the Song Dynasty force an increase in tribute payments to the Liao.

The central Song court remains politically divided and focused upon its internal affairs until alarming new events to the north in the Liao state finally come to its attention.

The Jurchen, a subject tribe within the Liao empire, have rebelled against the Liao and formed their own state, the Jin Dynasty.

The Song official Tong Guan (1054–1126) advises Emperor Huizong (1100–1125) to form an alliance with the Jurchens, and their joint military campaign topples and completely conquers the Liao Dynasty by 1125.

However, …