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The Liao Dynasty was a [[Khitan]] state which controlled an area of northern China during China's [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms]] and [[Northern Song Dynasty]] periods. Ruled by a nomadic steppes people, the Khitans, the Liao incorporated a combination of Chinese and Central Asian / steppe institutions and practices. Much evidence of their adoption of [[Tang Dynasty]] religious and artistic culture survives still today in the city of [[Datong]] and elsewhere in [[Shanxi province]]. A [[Timber Pagoda]] built by the Khitans in [[1055]] remains the oldest and tallest wooden pagoda in China today, and stands taller than the tallest wooden pagoda in Japan, that at [[To-ji|Tô-ji]] in [[Kyoto]].<ref>Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 309-311.</ref>

The Liao Dynasty was a [[Khitan]] state which controlled an area of northern China during China's [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms]] and [[Northern Song Dynasty]] periods. Ruled by a nomadic steppes people, the Khitans, the Liao incorporated a combination of Chinese and Central Asian / steppe institutions and practices. Much evidence of their adoption of [[Tang Dynasty]] religious and artistic culture survives still today in the city of [[Datong]] and elsewhere in [[Shanxi province]]. A [[Timber Pagoda]] built by the Khitans in [[1055]] remains the oldest and tallest wooden pagoda in China today, and stands taller than the tallest wooden pagoda in Japan, that at [[To-ji|Tô-ji]] in [[Kyoto]].<ref>Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 309-311.</ref>

The Liao government was divided into Northern and Southern Chancelleries, and controlled sixteen prefectures south of the [[Great Wall]]. Aspects of its political structures had significant impact in [[China proper]], as they were adopted by the [[Mongols|Mongol]] [[Yuan Dynasty]].

The Liao government was divided into Northern and Southern Chancelleries, and controlled sixteen prefectures south of the [[Great Wall]]. It maintained five capitals (one of which would later become the Mongol capital of Dadu, i.e. [[Beijing]]); the Liao emperor and his court, like most of his people, remained mobile (nomadic) even as they adopted elements of Chinese culture, moving seasonally from one hunting ground or pasture to another.<ref>Gallery labels, Royal Ontario Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/48532415621/in/dateposted/]</ref> Aspects of Liao political structures had significant impacts in [[China proper]], as they were later adopted by the [[Mongols|Mongol]] [[Yuan Dynasty]].

The Liao clashed violently with the Song on a number of occasions; after [[Emperor Taizong of Song]] (r. [[976]]-[[997]]) failed twice to take [[Beijing]] from the Liao, the Song began in [[1004]] to pay the Liao 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of cloth every year, in [[tribute]], in exchange for peace.<ref>Hansen, 265-267.</ref>

The Liao clashed violently with the Song on a number of occasions; after [[Emperor Taizong of Song]] (r. [[976]]-[[997]]) failed twice to take [[Beijing]] from the Liao, the Song began in [[1004]] to pay the Liao 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of cloth every year, in [[tribute]], in exchange for peace.<ref>Hansen, 265-267.</ref>