Yelü


The Yelü clan of the Khitan people assumed leadership of the Khitan state in 907 when Abaoji became khan of the Khitan people and maintained that leadership through the fall of the Liao dynasty in the 1120s. Even following this fall, members of the clan appear in history, most notably during the Mongols era of conquest in the thirteenth century.
The Yelü clan is notable for establishing numerous dynastic regimes in Chinese history: the Liao dynasty, Northern Liao, Western Liao, Eastern Liao, and Later Liao. In particular, the Liao dynasty and Western Liao were powerful empires that had significant impact on regional history.

Rise to power

, born in 872, was the son of the chieftain of the Yila tribe. At this time, the Yaolian clan had led the Khitan people since the mid-eighth century, and were the only Khitan family to have adopted a surname at this point as this was seen as a mark of Chinese culture and not befitting of peoples of the steppe.
In 901, Abaoji was elected chieftain of the Yila tribe and in 905 forged relations with Li Keyong of the Shatuo Turks. In 907, he was chosen leader of the Khitan, the first outside the Yaolian lineage to be chosen in more than a century and a half. From this, Abaoji and his successors developed the Liao dynasty, which would conquer all of Manchuria, the northern fringe of China known as the Sixteen Prefectures and adjacent areas of northern Korea, eastern Mongolia and parts of far-eastern Russia.

Liao dynasty

Every monarch of the Liao dynasty was from the Yelü clan, which adopted the surname sometime in the 930s, after the death of Abaoji. The clan directly governed the southern half of the empire while the Xiao consort clan governed the north. The Southern Chancellory was charged with governing the sedentary population of the empire, mostly ethnic Han and residents of the conquered kingdom of Balhae. As such, there is evidence of at least limited Sinicization on the part of the Yelü clan.
Even as late as 1074, a proposal was brought before the Liao emperors to adopt surnames throughout the empire. This was rejected as an idea that would disrupt the Khitan order.
The Liao dynasty fell to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1125, but a branch of the Yelü imperial clan survived and established another empire in the Western Regions known as the Western Liao, also called the Qara Khitai.

Yelü leaders

Liao dynasty

Western Liao dynasty