The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 06. Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368
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THE REIGN OF MU-TSUNG 8l
sent envoys to congratulate the Liao on their victory, perhaps still hoping for
the elusive alliance. In the winter of
950
Shih-tsung himself led another foray
into Hopei.
The situation in China now underwent a major change. The rickety Han
regime at K'ai-feng collapsed at the beginning of 951, when its second
emperor was murdered and replaced by the chief general of his imperial army,
Kuo Wei (904—54), who was enthroned as emperor of
the
Chou. At the same
time Liu Ch'ung in T'ai-yuan broke away and established himself
as
ruler of
an independent state of Northern Han in Ho-tung. Once again the Khitan
faced two separate powers on their frontier with China.
The Chou got off to a bad start in their relations with the Liao. Their
envoys who came to inform the Liao of the change of dynasty brought with
them a letter, whose wording offended Shih-tsung, who promptly impris-
oned them. Later in the year the Chou attacked Liu Ch'ung, who sent an
envoy asking for Liao assistance and bearing a letter in which he humbly
called himself Shih-tsung's "nephew," thus accepting Liao superiority. Shih-
tsung sent envoys to invest Liu Ch'ung as emperor to cement their lord and
vassal relationship. The importunate Southern T'ang also renewed their re-
quest for an alliance against the Chou.
In the late autumn of
951
Shih-tsung took personal command of
a
south-
ern expedition against the Chou. But before the army set out, he fell victim
to yet another conspiracy, this time hatched by sons of A-pao-chi's younger
brothers, seeking once again to assert the claims to the succession of junior
lines of the royal family. The emperor, like many of the Khitan nobles, was
much addicted to drink, and when he and his entourage were helplessly
drunk after having sacrificed to his deceased father in preparation for the
expedition, Ch'a-ko, a son of A-pao-chi's younger brother An-tuan, mur-
dered him. The conspirators, however, had neglected to gain the support of
the courtiers and thus were summarily executed.
Shih-tsung was only thirty-three, and because he had no grown son, the
succession passed to the eldest son of T'ai-tsung, Ching (931-69; Khitan
name Shu-lii), who is known by his posthumous temple name Mu-tsung.
The southern campaign was abandoned.
THE REIGN OF MU-TSUNG, 95 I-969
The new emperor was not a distinguished monarch. Like his predecessor,
Mu-tsung was a heavy drinker who would sleep off his excesses for much of
the day, and his attention to public affairs was at best spasmodic. The
Chinese spoke of him as the "Sleeping Prince."
Problems with dissident members of the royal family continued. In 952
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
82 THE LIAO
Lou-kuo, a younger brother of Shih-tsung, hatched a conspiracy, and one of
his uncles and a prominent Chinese official plotted to defect to the Chou.
The plot was crushed and Lou-kuo was executed. In 953 another conspiracy,
led by a son of Li-hu named Wan, came to light. Several of the plotters were
executed, though Wan himself was pardoned. In 959 Ti-lieh, one of Lou-
kuo's co-conspirators, again plotted rebellion; and in 960 Wan's elder
brother Hsi-yin, the eldest son of Li-hu, was arrested for plotting a rebellion.
This time Li-hu himself was implicated and died in prison. For the rest of his
reign Mu-tsung's relatives were quiet.
Mu-tsung was not only inattentive to public business and self-indulgent,
spending inordinate time even by Khitan standards in the hunting field. He
was also violent, cruel, and capricious toward the members of
his
entourage,
especially when drunk. Indeed, toward the end of his reign, he ordered one of
his great ministers not to execute the sentences he passed when he was drunk
but to let him review them when he had sobered up. The annals of
his
reign
in the
Liao shih
are a sorry catalogue of casual cruelties.
Events elsewhere in China made this an unfortunate time for the Liao to be
under the rule of such an incompetent monarch, which virtually paralyzed
the dynasty. The new Chou regime, first under Kuo Wei (r. 951—4) and then
under the competent Ch'ai Jung (Shih-tsung, r. 954-9), was an altogether
better-organized and more powerful state than the earlier of the Five Dynas-
ties.
They finally broke the power of the provincial governors and firmly
reestablished strong central authority.
At the beginning of Mu-tsung's reign in 952 Liu Ch'ung, emperor of
Northern Han, asked for Liao assistance against the Chou. A force was sent
under Kao Mu-han that helped repel the Chou invaders. In 954 the Chou
again attacked Han, and a Khitan force was once more sent to their aid. The
Liao clearly valued their alliance with the Northern Han, for in that same
year they returned some Han troops who had been taken captive by mistake
and also assisted the Han in putting down local uprisings against the Han in
districts bordering the Liao. On more than one occasion, envoys from the
Han came to Liao to discuss strategic matters.
At the end of 958 the Han sent several envoys to report renewed invasions
by the Chou. Then in early summer of 959 the Chou attacked the Liao in
force. Their armies took the vital I-chin, Wa-ch'iao, and Yii-k'ou border
barriers in the fourth month and then in the fifth month recaptured Ying-
chou and Mo-chou, the southernmost of the Sixteen Prefectures (see Map 4).
The Liao armies retreated in the face of the onslaught. Mu-tsung roused
himself to come south to the Southern Capital to take command, and the
defenses were strengthened to await the Chou army. The confrontation did
not occur, however. The Chou emperor fell sick and had to return to K'ai-
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE REIGN OF MU-TSUNG
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The Khitan and north China,
A.D.
959
feng, where
he
died
in
the sixth month. The Chou invaders withdrew,
and
Mu-tsung returned to the Supreme Capital.
Whether because of Mu-tsung's lack of spirit or whether the Khitan were
anxious not
to
repeat the mistakes of 947, the Liao seem
to
have pursued
a
purely passive defensive strategy throughout his reign. This was not only the
case on the Chinese frontier with the Chou and their successors the Sung. The
same
is
true
on the
northern frontiers, where
no
activity
is
reported apart
from minor troubles with the Wu-ku and Shih-wei tribes
in
965.
In 960 the Chou were replaced as masters of northern China by the Sung.
By degrees
the
new dynasty restored
a
level
of
stability that China had
not
known since the mid ninth century. For many years after their accession
to
power, the Sung were concerned with consolidating their regime and restor-
ing central authority over
the
various independent kingdoms that
had di-
vided China since the collapse
of
the T'ang. This reunification had already
begun under
the
Chou, who
had
defeated
the
Shu kingdom
in
Szechwan,
recovering
all of
its territory north
of
the Chin-ling Mountains, and
in
957
had inflicted
a
crushing defeat
on
the Southern T'ang and recovered
all the
territory north of the Yangtze River. But much remained to be done.
In the north the attention of the Sung court was focused not
so
much on the
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84
THE
LIAO
Liao
as on the
small
but
stubbornly independent Northern
Han
state
in
Shansi. The rulers of Northern Han, as we have seen, had already established
good relations with Shih-tsung
in the
early 950s, and the Liao continued
to
support them against
the
Sung.
For the
Liao their state was
an
invaluable
buffer zone and a strategic stronghold from which any attempt by the Sung
to
strike into
the
occupied prefectures
of
northern Ho-pei could easily
be out-
flanked. When
in
963
the
Northern
Han
were attacked
by the
Sung, they
immediately appealed
for aid
from
the
Khitan.
In 964 a
Liao army
was
dispatched, which helped repel
the
Sung invaders.
The
Liao also reacted
against attempts
by the
Sung
to
consolidate
the
border gains that had been
achieved
by the
Chou armies
in
959.
In
963
and
again
in 967
there were
minor skirmishes on the border to prevent the Sung from fortifying the I-chin
pass that
had
been overrun in 959.
But
there were no major hostilities.
In
969
Mu-tsung
was
murdered.
He had
spent
the
whole
of the
first
month
of
the year
in a
furious drinking bout during which he again abused
members of
his
entourage.
In
the second month he attended
to
business long
enough
to
invest as his vassal the new ruler of Northern Han, Liu Chi-yiian.
But he then again began to act violently and irrationally, butchering some of
his bodyguards. Finally, driven
to
extremes,
six of
his personal attendants
murdered him during the night. The Liao were well rid of a bloodthirsty and
totally unpredictable tyrant.
The succession this time passed
off
without incident.
All of
A-pao-chi's
brothers were now dead,
and
the energies
of
their descendants seem
to
have
been exhausted
in
the round of conspiracies earlier in the reign. No objection
was raised when the throne passed back
to
the senior royal line. Shih-tsung's
eldest son was already dead,
and
the succession went
to
his second son Hsien
(948-82; Khitan name Ming-i) who reigned from 969
to
982
and is
known
by his temple name Ching-tsung.
THE REIGN OF CHING-TSUNG, 969-982:
CONFRONTATION WITH SUNG
By
the
time
the new
emperor Ching-tsung came
to the
Liao throne,
the
situation
in
China
had
been completely transformed.
The
Chou dynasty,
which
had
made rapid strides toward reestablishing political stability
in
China, had been crippled by the unexpected death of
its
emperor, Shih-tsung
(Ch'ai Jung),
in 959 and the
succession
of
a six-year-old boy.
The boy was
toppled
in a
military coup led by
a
general named Chao K'uang-yin (known
by his temple name T'ai-tsu;
r.
960—76), who in 960 set up a new dynasty of
his own, the Sung. Sung T'ai-tsu finally broke the local power of
the
provin-
cial commanders, who had been the real power holders in China since the late
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THE REIGN OF CHING-TSUNG 85
ninth century, and gave his new dynasty a strong central government under
firm civilian control. One by one T'ai-tsu eliminated and brought under
Sung control the independent states that had divided up China south of the
Yangtze; in 963 Ch'u in the central Yangtze basin, in 965 Later Shu in
Szechwan, in 971 Southern Han in Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and in 975
Southern T'ang in Kiangsu, Anhwei, and Kiangsi. When in 976 his younger
brother K'uang-i (temple name T'ai-tsung, r. 976-97) succeeded him to the
throne of Sung, there remained only two independent regimes still to be
incorporated into the empire: Wu-Yiieh in Chekiang and Northern Han in
Shansi. Wu-Yiieh surrendered to the Sung in 978. Only the Northern Han
remained.
The Northern Han, the last remnant of
the
Sha-t'o Turkish domination of
Shansi, had been closely involved with the Liao since its foundation in 951,
when the first Northern Han emperor had been invested with his title by
Shih-tsung of the Liao. Even the indolent Mu-tsung had understood the
importance of the Han to the Liao's defensive strategy and had bestirred
himself to help the Han beat off a Sung attack in the early 960s. An
independent Han was greatly to the advantage of the Liao. It reduced the
Liao—Sung frontier to a comparatively short stretch in the Ho-pei plain and
gave Liao an ally that could threaten any attempt by the Sung to strike north
at
Liao
across the Ho-pei plain by outflanking them from an almost impregna-
ble base in the highlands of northern Shansi. The Northern Han was, how-
ever, a small state and quite unable, in spite of the professionalism and
bravery of its troops, to withstand a full-scale war with Sung, except by
relying on its alliance with the powerful Liao empire.
The Han carefully cultivated this alliance. In 971, soon after Ching-
tsung's accession, they began to send regular monthly courtesy missions to
the Liao court to ensure support. The Sung, nevertheless, were determined to
conquer the Northern Han and in 974 began negotiations with the Liao to
prepare a peace treaty, so as to ensure the Liao's neutrality when they attacked
the Han.
Beginning in 975 the Sung and Liao began to exchange regular diplomatic
missions. In 977 the Sung even established five official border marshals to
supervise trade with the north. Sung T'ai-tsung may have hoped to stabilize
the border and also to cause a rift between the Liao and their Northern Han
vassal, but if
so
his efforts were a failure.
In the last year of T'ai-tsu's reign, 976, the Sung had invaded Northern
Han. The Han asked the Liao court for assistance, and an army was sent that
enabled the Han to repel the invasion. The next year saw a renewed Sung
attack on the Han that brought another request for assistance. The Khitan
again sent troops and cavalry to help the Han defense.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
86 THE LIAO
In 979, after the surrender of Wu-Yiieh, Sung T'ai-tsung mounted a large-
scale invasion of the Han, now the last remaining independent state. The
Liao sent an envoy to the Sung court demanding an explanation and were told
bluntly to stay out of the conflict or they too would be attacked. In the early
spring of 979 the Liao sent armies to the assistance of the Han, but the Sung
armies intercepted them. The Liao suffered crushing defeats and heavy casual-
ties.
In the sixth month the Sung armies took T'ai-yiian, and the Northern
Han emperor surrendered to them. The last of the independent states had
been crushed and annexed.
Sung T'ai-tsung, in the full
flush
of victory, now, however, made
a
most im-
prudent decision. Going against the advice of all his commanders and without
giving his already exhausted and overextended forces any chance to recover
their strength and consolidate their position, he turned east through the passes
in the T'ai-hang range and invaded the Khitan territory in northern Ho-pei,
intent on recovering the Sixteen Prefectures taken by the Khitan in 937.
Advancing to besiege the Liao Southern Capital (at modern Peking) Sung
T'ai-tsung won some preliminary battles with the Khitan forces, but then in
the seventh month the main Sung and Liao armies met in a crucial pitched
battle on the Kao-liang River southwest of the capital.** It was a total
disaster for the Sung, who suffered enormous casualties. The Liao took many
prisoners and captured huge quantities of weapons and armor, baggage,
equipment, money, and provisions. The unfortunate Sung emperor, who had
been wounded, lost contact with his army, fled the battlefield alone, and
made his way south to safety riding in a donkey cart. Some of his generals,
thinking he was dead, wondered whether they should enthrone the son of the
Sung founder in his place. What had begun as a victorious invasion of
Northern Han ended in an ignominious rout.
For the time being the Liao had the initiative. In 980 Ching-tsung took
command in person of an offensive against the Sung in Ho-pei that recap-
tured the Wa-ch'iao barrier and defeated a Sung army. In 982 he launched
another campaign, but this time the Liao armies were defeated, and Ching-
tsung was forced to withdraw.
The result of these events was a complete change in the relationship
between the Liao and the Sung, which no longer revolved around the buffer
state of
Han.
The two great empires now faced each other along a continuous
frontier stretching from the sea to the upper elbow of the Yellow River. And
the Liao continued in possession of the Sixteen Prefectures, which continued
to provoke revanchist feelings at the Sung court. It was only a matter of time
before warfare broke out again.
24 On this battle, see Fu, Liao shih
ts'ung
k'ao,
pp. 29—35.
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THE REGENCY OF EMPRESS DOWAGER CH'ENG-T'lEN 87
These troubles with the Sung were not the only military problems of
Ching-tsung's reign. There were border problems with the Tanguts in 973,
and with the Jurchen in the northeast, who invaded and looted Liao territory
in 973 and again in 976. Both peoples were to cause trouble for the Liao for
many years to come.
In 981 there was an attempted coup aiming to enthrone a son of Hsi-yin,
the son of Li-hu who had been imprisoned under Mu-tsung but later par-
doned when Ching-tsung came to the throne. A group of captured Chinese
soldiers managed to enthrone Hsi-yin's son, but the plot failed. Hsi-yin was
forced to commit suicide, and his son was executed.
In the autumn of 982 Ching-tsung, though still a young man, suddenly
fell sick during a hunting trip and died in his camp. In his dying testament
he left the throne to his eldest son Lung-hsii (r. 982—1031; temple name
Sheng-tsung). The new emperor was only eleven years old, and so his
mother, Ching-tsung's empress Jui-chih (later entitled Empress Dowager
Ch'eng-t'ien), was appointed regent.
THE REGENCY OF EMPRESS DOWAGER CH'ENG-T'lEN
Empress Jui-chih was another of the succession of remarkable women who
played a notable role in Liao public life.
25
One of the reasons for this was the
most unusual marriage structure of the Liao royal family, who took their
wives from a single consort clan, the Hsiao, who also provided consorts for
royal princesses and enjoyed the hereditary right to various influential of-
fices.
26
The royal brides, therefore, always came from families deeply in-
volved in government and politics. Jui-chih was no exception. She was the
daughter of Hsiao Ssu-wen (d. 970), appointed the northern commissioner
for military affairs
(pet-yuan shu-mi shih)
and northern prime minister
(pei-fu
tsai-hsiangY
1
at the beginning of Ching-tsung's reign, and she was made
empress only two months after his appointment. The empress had already
been influential in politics during Ching-tsung's life. Now she was left in
control of the Liao empire. Although empress dowager, she was not a middle-
aged lady, as the title suggests. She had just turned thirty years old.
The real power during the first half of Sheng-tsung's long reign, until her
death in 1009, was in the hands of the empress dowager and three remark-
25 For his biography, see LS, 71, p. 1201-2.
26 On this sytem, see Karl A. Wittfogel and Feng Chia-sheng, History of
Chinese
society,
Liao (907—
112)),
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., vol. 36 (Philadelphia, 1949), pp.
191-2,
206—12 (hereafter cited as Wittfogel and Feng); and Jennifer Holmgren, "Marriage, kinship
and succession under the Ch'i-tan rulers of the Liao dynasty (907-1125)," Young Poo, 72 (1986),
pp.
44-91.
27 LS, 8, pp. 90. For his biography, see LS, 78, pp. 1267-8.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
88 THE LIAO
able ministers, two of whom were Chinese. All three had been in power since
the Sung invasion of 979, and the empress was accustomed to working with
them.
The senior figure was Shih Fang (920-94), *
8
a native of Chi-chou in
northern Hopei. He had been a scholarly prodigy, who was given the degree
of
chin-shib
about 938, as the first "graduate" recorded under the Khitan. His
"degree" in fact was almost certainly a personal honor, as the examination
system was not permanently established for another half-century. When T'ai-
tsung occupied K'ai-feng in 947, he was given charge of ritual and drafting
edicts and subsequently held a succession of posts at the Southern Capital
broken by more than a decade as a Han-lin scholar under Mu-tsung. He was
highly regarded by Ching-tsung and was steadily promoted until in 979 he
became northern prime minister. On Sheng-tsung's accession in 983 he
attempted to retire but was refused and was given the additional post of head
of the secretariat
(chung-shu
ling).
Shih Fang became an important figure,
setting the tone for a series of reforms covering the recruitment of officials
and the easing of the tax burden on the people and winning wide respect. In
990 he again requested leave to retire and was permitted to reside perma-
nently at the Southern Capital. In 993 he selected Han Te-jang as his own
successor and was made honorary viceroy of the supreme capital. He died
shortly afterward.
Han Te-jan (941
—1011)
29
was also Chinese and also from a Chi-chou
family, but his background was very different from that of Shih Fang. His
grandfather, Han Chih-ku,
3
° had been captured by the Khitan as a child and
became a member of the household of A-pao-chi's empress. He soon gained
A-pao-chi's confidence. The Khitan leader put him in charge of an office to
control his Chinese subjects
{Han-erh ssu)
and gave him responsibility for
court ceremonial. He and another surrendered Chinese, K'ang Mo-chi,
3
' who
advised A-pao-chi on the establishment of Chinese cities, were each given
high-sounding titles,
tso
p'u-yeh
and
tso
shang-shu,
respectively, and remained
influential throughout A-pao-chi's reign. After K'ang's death in 926, Han
Chih-ku, now president of
the
Secretariat (Chung-shu ling), held high office
until he died early in T'ai-tsung's reign. He was the founder of the most
powerful Chinese family in the Khitan state.
28 For his biography, see LS, 79, pp. 1271—2.
29 For his biography, see LS, 82, pp. 1289—91, under his later name Yeh-lu Lung-yiin. He appears in the
histories under a series of names. In 1001 the emperor gave him the new personal name Te-ch'ang. In
1004 he was given the imperial surname Yeh-lii and in 1010, just before his death, the new personal
name Lung-yiin. He had no son, and the descendants of
his
brothers, who remained influential until the
fall of the Liao, continued to bear the surname Han. On his family, see Li Hsi-hou, "Shih lun Liao tai Yii-
t'ien Han shih chia tsu te li shih chi wei," Sung Liao Chin shih lun
U'ung,
1 (1983), pp. 251-66.
30 For his biography, see LS, 74, p. 1233.
31 LS, 74, p. 1230.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE REGENCY OF EMPRESS DOWAGER CH'ENG-T'lEN 89
His son Han K'uang-ssu (d. 98i)
3S
was
a
favorite of A-pao-chi's widow,
the empress dowager Ying-t'ien, and became the director {hsiang-wen,
a
Khitan tribal title) of A-pao-chi's ancestral temple. He was closely involved
with the royal family, survived participation
in
Hsi-yin's conspiracy under
Mu-tsung in 960, and became an intimate of Ching-tsung in the 960s while
he was still heir apparent.
On his
accession
to
the throne Ching-tsung
appointed him viceroy, first of the Supreme Capital and then of the Southern
Capital, and also commissioner for military affairs
{shu-mi
shih). During the
Sung invasion
of
979 Han K'uang-ssu was defeated and abandoned
his
troops. Ching-tsung wished to execute him, but the empress and her family
interceded
to
save him.
In
981 Han K'uang-ssu was appointed "commis-
sioner for chastisement" of the southwest and died shortly afterward. He not
only enjoyed strong personal influence with Ching-tsung; he also was
an
immensely powerful nobleman, with his own private fortress city, which
later became
a
regular prefecture in 991. He also left five sons, who laid the
foundation of
a
century of political power for the Han family.
33
Han K'uang-ssu's two eldest sons, Han Te-yiian (d. ca. 980) and Han Te-
jang (941-1011), both had served
in
Ching-tsung's princely household
before his succession. Han Te-yiian held various offices between 960 and
979 and made for himself something of a reputation for corruption before
his death around 980.
34
Han Te-jang
35
was chosen
by
Ching-tsung
to
succeed his father Han K'uang-ssu as viceroy of the Supreme Capital and
later of the Southern Capital. He distinguished himself in the defense of the
Southern Capital against
the
Sung invaders
in
979 and was appointed
commissioner for military affairs {shu-mi shih) of the Southern Administra-
tion. When Ching-tsung died, he and Yeh-lii Hsieh-chen received his will
and were responsible for enthroning the young Sheng-tsung. The empress
dowager favored and respected him greatly, and Han Te-jang steadily be-
came the most powerful individual in the Liao empire. Sung sources, proba-
bly maliciously, suggest he was the empress dowager's lover. Eventually
in
1004 he was given the royal Yeh-lii surname. His three younger brothers
also filled high positions. The most important of them was Han Te-wei,
a
general who succeeded his father as punitive commissioner for the south-
west and from 983 until the end of the century was mainly responsible for
dealing with the Tanguts.'
6
The other most powerful persons
in
the first years of Sheng-tsung were
32 LS, 74, p. 1234.
33 See Lo Chi-tsu, Liao Han
ch'en
shih hit piao; repr. as no. 35 in vol.
4
of Liao shih hui pint, ed. Yang
Chia-lo (Taipei, 1973), item 35, pp. 2—4.
34 LS, 74, p. 1235.
35 For his biography, see LS, 82, pp. 1289—91.
36 On Han Te-wei's family and their semi-Khitan status, see Wittfogel and Feng, p. 220 and n. 420.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
90 THE
LIAO
both Khitan and members of the imperial clan. Yeh-lu Hsieh-chen
37
was the
grandson of the commander in chief
(yii-yiieh)
Yeh-lu Ho-lu and had been
recommended to Ching-tsung in 969 by the empress dowager's father, the
commissioner for military affairs
(shu-mi
shih),
Hsiao Ssu-wen. Ching-tsung
was greatly impressed by him and married him to a niece of the empress. He
distinguished himself
in
the war with Sung in 979 and won the respect of the
empress dowager. Shortly after Sheng-tsung's accession, she organized a most
unusual ceremony to ensure his loyalty. The child emperor and Yeh-lii Hsieh-
chen swore a pact of friendship in her presence, exchanging bows, arrows,
saddles, and horses.
38
The empress dowager subsequently gave Hsieh-chen
many important responsibilities, making him northern commissioner for
military affairs
(sbu-mi
shih).
He remained influential until his death during
the campaign against Sung in 1004. Another Khitan who helped stabilize
the leadership was Yeh-lii Hsiu-ko, the commander in
chief,
who held this
vital post from 984 until his death at the end of 998 and played a role in all
the campaigns of this period.
39
A measure of Han Te-jang's steadily emerging dominance can be seen in
the fact that when Yeh-lu Hsiu-ko died in 998, Han succeeded to his post as
yii-yiieh, and when Hsieh-chen died a year later he also took his post as
northern commissioner for military affairs, holding both of these posts in
addition to his original office as southern commissioner for military affairs.
From 999 to ion Han held more complete civil and military control over
the Liao government, both of its Chinese and Khitan components, than any
minister had before or after him.4°
But while Ch'eng-t'ien
was
alive, there was no question who
was
ultimately
in control; these great ministers were the empress dowager's men, and the new
emperor
was
thoroughly dominated by his mother,
who
continued to browbeat
and sometimes strike him in public even when he was
a
grown man. Immedi-
ately after the new emperor's succession she took an extraordinary step to
ensure her power as regent. Before his formal installation on the throne, a Liao
ruler normally went through the important Khitan religious ritual of "rebirth"
(tsai-sheng),
in the course of which he was symbolically reborn."" This con-
firmed the new emperor's right to rule in the eyes of the Khitan tribal aristoc-
37 For his biography, see LS, 83, p. 1302.
38 LS, 10, p. in.
39 For his biography, see LS, 83, p. 1299.
40 See WanSsu-t'ung, Liao la
ch'en
menpiao; repr. as no. 33 in vol. 4 of Liaoshib
hui-pien,
ed. YangChia-lo
(Taipei, 1973), item 33, pp. 8-9. Han held all three posts from 999 to the seventh month of 1002,
when another Chinese, Hsing Pao-p'u, became the southern shu-mi ihih.XJpon Hsing's death early in
1004,
however, this post reverted to Han Te-jang.
41 LS, 53, pp. 979-80; translated by Wittfogel and Feng, pp. 273-4. According toLS, 116, p. 1537,
it was supposed to be repeated every twelve years. See Shimada Masao,
Ryocbo
shi no kenkyu (Tokyo,
1979),
pp. 339—47; Wang Min-hsin, "Ch'i-tan te 'ch'ai ts'e i' yu' ts'ai sheng i," Ku kung t'u sbu cbi
k'an,
3, no. 3 (1972), pp. 31-52.
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