Lesson 7 The juxtaposition of Liao, Western Xia and Northern Song（537words）

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Khitan, who were nomads in the north, had increasingly close economic and cultural ties with the Han. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Han Chinese from the north fled the chaos and traveled north out of the Great Wall, bringing with them the advanced production techniques and lifestyles of the Middle Kingdom. By the late 9th century, the Khitan had already started farming, iron smelting and weaving, and had begun to build houses and cities, and in the early 10th century, the Khitan leader Yelu A Baoji unified the various Khitan ministries and established a regime with the capital at Shangjing Linzhufu. After the establishment of the state, Abogi developed production, created writing, and increased the power of the state.

The Dangxiang, who lived in the northwest of China, were originally part of the Qiang tribe. In the early 11th century, Yuan Hao, the leader of the Dangxiang tribe, became the Emperor of Daxia and set his capital at Xingqingfu, which was called the Western Xia. Following the system of Tang and Song, Yuan Hao established the official system, military system and laws, encouraged land reclamation, developed agricultural and pastoral economy, and created the Xixia script.

The peace and war between Liao and Northern Song

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty, the Liao occupied the 16 states of Yan Yun, and from then on, the conflict between the Liao and the Chinese dynasty intensified. During the late period of Emperor Taizong of Song, the Northern Song and Liao maintained friendly relations and exchanged envoys. After the reign of Emperor Taizong, the Song dynasty launched several wars against Liao and failed, so it adopted a defensive policy. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the Liao army attacked the Song Dynasty and reached the city of Caozhou on the bank of the Yellow River, threatening the capital city of Kaifeng. The chancellor Kou Zhun persuaded the emperor to go to Caozhou himself, but Song Zhenzong reluctantly came to Caozhou and the morale of the Song army was boosted. Afterwards, Liao and Song agreed to make peace and the Liao army withdrew, and Song Dynasty gave Liao annual currency. Caozhou was formerly known as Cao Yuan, so the Song-Liao alliance was called the "Cao Yuan Alliance". Since then, there was peace between Liao and Song for a long time.

Relations between Western Xia and Northern Song

After Yuanhao became the emperor, he led his own army to attack the Northern Song Dynasty many times, and the Song Dynasty was defeated and suffered heavy losses. The Song dynasty was defeated and suffered heavy losses. Although the Western Xia was victorious militarily, it suffered great losses and its people were in hardship due to the short period of time and limited human and material resources. Later, the Northern Song Dynasty made peace with the Western Xia and entered into the Song-Xia Peace Treaty, in which Yuan Hao submitted to the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty gave the Western Xia Dynasty annual currency. After the peace conference, the trade between Song and Xia flourished.（537words）