The
Liao Dynasty was established by the nomadic tribe—Khitan that lived in the grassland in north China. The culture of Liao Dynasty is worth paying attention to. We can make a table of the selected works of Liao literati on the basis of poems and essays collected in the local records written by the past dynastic scholars. There are some distinctive points in the table. Firstly, the literati who could stand for the greatest
achievements of Liao Dynasty were the Kuitan nationality. They were the
main body of Liao Dynasty. Secondly,
Kuitan literati had an obvious property—their ancestors got the ruling power of half China by using military forces. They paid more attention to ruling the country than to developing culture, but from their attitudes toward Chinese culture, they supported and admired Confucianism of the Central Plains greatly. In these better
cultural surroundings, their offspring went on working and got greater achievements. At last, women writers of the Khitan tribe had outstanding performance. These women such as Xiao Guanyin, Xiao Sese are good representatives of Liao literature. Literature is closely related to the cultural policy, which provides and guides the trend of literature. At the same time, literature shows and promotes implementing the cultural policy. Liao took such measures to develop culture. First, it created Kuitan language .The ruler of Liao—Apoki ordered his ministers and some Han intellectuals to create big Khitan characters. Apoki's younger brother created small Khitan characters according to their needs afterwards. Second, it set up prefectural academies or national university to train Khitan people. These schools used Confucian classics and history books to educate Khitan students. Third, the imperial examination system also brought about great influences. Fourth, many books written in Chinese were translated into Khitan language. The rulers and Khitan intellectuals translated many Han books, which encouraged the development of Khitan's culture. Fifth, they began to respect Confucianism and other religions. The rulers advocated Confucianism strongly, and helped develop Taoism and Buddhism. Through translating, issuing and studying Buddhist scriptures, the overall development of Liao culture was promoted.In short, the Liao Dynasty witnessed the full development of its literature, especially the rising of kuitan
literati, whose outstanding achievements brought great influence over non-Han literati during the Jin and Yuan dynasties established by nomadic ethnic groups.
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