The Song Dynasty was founded in 960 AD, died in 1279 AD, and enjoyed the 320th year of the Reign of the People's Republic of China. If you don't count the Xia Shang Zhou, the Song Dynasty ranks second only to the Han Dynasty. However, the two Han Dynasties are not so consistent compared to the two Song Dynasties, because Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, is not a descendant of the Western Han Imperial Family, but a subordinate branch of the Han Jing Emperor. In contrast, the first emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Shuo, was the son of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty and the younger brother of Emperor Qinzong.
However, from the perspective of the territory of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was only modest and partial, and even claimed to the Jin State in the north, and in this state, it was obviously not a glorious thing to go to the second place of the state. Therefore, even if the Song Dynasty lasted for a long time, in the eyes of future generations, it is far less than the Han, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties that make us feel proud of Chinese.
Not only that, if the Southern Song Dynasty can be called orthodox, then why does the Western Liao, which is also partial to security, have no sense of existence in Chinese history? Is it because it is a minority regime that it is treated differently?
Also destroyed by Jin, the same corner of peace, the presence of the Western Liao in the Chinese history books is almost zero
Both the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty were destroyed by Jin, and after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhao became emperor and established the Southern Song Dynasty, which continued the imperial unity of the Song Dynasty. So what happened after the Liao was destroyed? Perhaps in the impression of many Chinese, the Liao Dynasty has completely become history, and even the Khitan people have disappeared in the long river of history. However, the real situation is far from this, and the Liao Dynasty also has its own continuation, that is, the Western Liao.
Like the Southern Song Dynasty, the Western Liao was a remote corner, except that the Southern Song Occupied Densely Populated Areas of Southern China, while the Western Liao Occupied desert land in northwestern China and parts of present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
In terms of territorial area, the territory controlled by the Western Liao was about 3.5 million square kilometers, and the Southern Song Dynasty was about 2 million square kilometers, and the territory of the Western Liao was obviously much larger than that of the Southern Song Dynasty. What is even more incredible is that after the establishment of the Western Liao, it once threatened the whole of Central Asia, in contrast, the Southern Song Dynasty has always been meticulous and stealing, with almost no praiseworthy martial arts achievements, and even to the next door Tojin.
In such a comparison, the Western Liao should not be so non-existent in Chinese history in any case, but the reality is like this, let alone know the great achievements of the Western Liao, even if the name of the Western Liao can be mentioned, in the Chinese, it is already very rare, what is the reason for this? The mere use of foreign regimes as a justification is certainly untenable.
The name is Western Liao, but in fact it is not in the same line as the orthodox Liao Dynasty
An important reason why the Western Liao is not valued by Chinese history books is that it is not a true continuation of the orthodoxy of the Liao Dynasty. If you really want to find a continuation for Daliao, then the Northern Liao, which has existed for less than two years, is the most appropriate.
The founder of the Northern Liao was Yelü Chun, his grandfather Yelüzong was really the seventh emperor of the Liao Dynasty, and the last emperor of the Great Liao, Yelü Yanxi, was his cousin, and with such a close blood relationship, he was fully qualified to take over the imperial system of the Great Liao. Moreover, two of the four emperors of the Northern Liao were the sons of yelü Yanxi, the last emperor of the Great Liao, so the Northern Liao was almost equivalent to the Southern Song dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, but the Northern Liao did not have such a good life, and it was destroyed by the Great Jin soon after its establishment. As soon as the Northern Liao was destroyed, the orthodoxy of the Great Liao was completely severed.
So what about the Western Liao? It was actually built by a courtier of the Liao Dynasty, Yelü Dashi. Although he is also surnamed Yelü, this Yelü Dashi can only be traced back to the founding emperor of the Liao Dynasty, Yelü Abaoji, who was his eighth grandson, and his lineage has been quite long. Even the Guangwu Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty was not comparable, and the good guys were only the seventh grandson of the Jing Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty.
Moreover, Liu Xiu was able to continue Han unification because he had conquered the territory of the Western Han Dynasty, but Yelü Dashi only achieved the western region of Peace, and the core territory of Daliao was not an inch, according to the traditional cognition of Chinese, of course, he was not eligible to inherit the orthodoxy of the Liao Dynasty. Therefore, the Western Liao is not orthodox, while the Southern Song Dynasty is orthodox, and this distinction is a major reason why the Western Liao is not valued in Chinese history.
The main influence of the Western Liao was in Central Asia, and there was little communication with the Central Plains
Another important reason why the Western Liao was not valued by Chinese history was related to its sphere of influence. Although a considerable part of its territory falls within the territory of today's China, before the Qing Dynasty, the exchanges between the Central Plains and The Xinjiang area were very small, and the central government's control over those areas was also very weak, so what happened in these places was generally not recorded in Chinese history books.
This has led to a very strange phenomenon, the existing historical materials about the Western Liao, almost all have to go abroad to find. As the ancestral homeland of the Khitan people, China's history books record very little about the Western Liao, and even many important events are not mentioned. This embarrassing situation is enough to show that the Western Liao is no longer largely Chinese history, but part of the history of Central Asia.
As long as the above two points are understood, we can understand the disregard of the Chinese history books for the Western Liao and the importance attached to the Southern Song Dynasty, which is also a remote corner. This is not only the result of the Han chinese view of history, but also the result of multiple factors such as Chinese's understanding of orthodoxy and the lack of influence of the Western Liao on the Central Plains.