This paper presents a study for the Khitan-Liao Dynasty (907-1125) epitaphs unearthed since the last century, along with their current status in collection and related researches. The Khitan-Liao Dynasty, established by nomadic Khitan people, stood on the Mongolia steppes for more than two hundreds years, rulling vast territories within Inner Asia and occupying a significant place in global history. However, the extreme scarcity of extant historical documents had hindered study on this powerful steppe empire. Beginning in the 1920s, etapiphes from this dynasty had been discovered, particularly since the late 20th century, a considerable number of tom inscritions have been unearthed across regions in northern China. These invaluable cultural relics left behind by the Khitan-Liao reveal the realities of various aspects of social life at that time. With the continuous publication and the ongoing emergence of new discoveries, researchers need a comprehensive understanding of their collections and relevant research conducted to advance further in-depth studies. Thus, by field work with visits of museums and archaeological sites in Inner Mongolia and northern China, the research team for this study investiaged the status of the epitaphs both published and unpublished along with their respective repositories, then classified and analyzed them based on the characteristics of the epitaphs, such as owner’s ethnic background, locations to which they belonged, languages appeared, and the important historical topics involved. This study provides scholars with the latest information on the epitaphes and related studies, offering new avenues and sources for addressing important issues in study of Khitan-Liao.

Authors:
Ruowei Yang, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong

About the Presenter(s)
YANG Ruowei, Professor. Currently she is doing a resesrch project on study of history of Khitan-Liao dynasty(907-1125).

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