1. What does the word "Khitan" mean?
The Khitan people are a great nation in Chinese history, and the word "Khitan" is the name for China in some countries. For example, Russian, Arabic, Persian, and Slavic all use the Khitan (Qitai) to represent China. Written in the late thirteenth century, the Arabic military book "Equestrian and Ordnance" refers to gunpowder as "Khitan flowers", and tubular firearms as "Khitan muskets", "Khitan rockets", and so on. It can be seen that the Khitan people at that time were famous and recognized by the world, equating the rich and prosperous China in the East with the Khitan, and making the Khitan people and the Khitan Empire an important part of the Chinese nation.
The word "Khitan" should be the self-name of the Khitan people, and people generally interpret it as "iron", which means that the Khitan people are as hard as steel and so on. This ** in the "Three Dynasties and Northern Alliance" quoted Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguta said: According to legend, "Liao is called by iron", and I have always been skeptical of this conventional interpretation.
The famous Liao history (Khitan history) expert stated the analysis of the old gentleman: "Book of Sui" recorded: "Murwei, Khitan and the like, the south is the Khitan, and the north is the Murwei", the Murowei, Mongolian language is the meaning of the forest, and the Khitan people at the same time Kumo Xi people, Kumo Xi is the meaning of "sand or desert", which seems to be somewhat related to the characteristics of its place of residence, "Qi" and "Xi" are interconnected, and the Khitan can be written Xi Dan, and the Xi people and the Khitan people are like brothers, it can be said that they are almost a nation, with the same ancestor. The meaning of Khitan seems to be related to forests, grasslands, and deserts, which is closer to historical facts. This reminds me that some countries in Central Asia have the word "Stan", which is quite close to the word "Khitan", and "Stan" can be interpreted as "the country", so "Qi" refers to it, does "Dan" mean "the country"?
There is the word "Qita" in Mongolian, which originally referred to "Khitan", but later, the interpretation of the word "Qita" changed, and gradually evolved into the meaning of "Han'er", and it was also written as "Han people, Qitati".
The author believes that the legendary ancestor of the Khitan people is named "Qishou", is it the name of the tribe in the name of "Qishou", and the pronunciation of "Qi" of "Qidan" and "Qishou" is similar and can be communicated, and subtle changes have occurred in the process of oral transmission? Much history is in the fog and has become an unfathomable science.
The Khitan people founded the country, and its Chinese country name is Liao, is this the Chinese translation of the Khitan? Liao is the meaning of openness, long-term, boundless, and by extension, vast, vast desert, generally referring to grasslands or forests should be closer to the original meaning of Khitan.
Some experts, following the idea of "iron", interpret the Khitan as a sword or cut off, which is very far-fetched and farther from the origin of the word "Khitan".
The correct explanation of the Khitan has always been a mystery to be deciphered, and I only have a hole in it.
2. The legend of the green ox and white horse
It is recorded in the Liao History: Yingwei Zhi: "The Khitan first said that the first Khan of Qishou gave birth to eight sons, and then the clan gradually flourished, divided into eight divisions, and lived between the pine deserts. ”
Liao History, Geographical Chronicles" said: Yongzhou Muye Mountain, there is the Khitan ancestor temple, "Qishou Khan in the South Temple, Kedun in the North Temple, painted two saints and eight sons of the gods, according to legend, there are gods on a white horse, from the Ma Yu Mountain floating earth river to the east, there is a heavenly girl driving a green ox cart, from the flat pine forest Pan Huang River down, to the Muye Mountain, the two rivers converge, meet for the spouse, give birth to eight sons, and then the clan gradually flourishes, divided into eight parts, each march and the spring and autumn sacrifice, must use the white horse and green ox, show not to forget the cloud. ”
This record is actually a beautiful legend: there is a handsome fairy handsome man named Qishou who lives in Mayu Mountain, riding a neighing white horse, along the Tuhe River all the way to the east, when he arrived at the confluence of the Tuhe River and the Huang River, he happened to meet a beautiful and generous fairy driving a Lele cart pulled by a green ox, this fairy came from the flat pine forest, and came out along the bank of the Huang River to "enjoy" the scenery.
Is it the handsome guy who sees the beauty first, or the beauty who sees the handsome guy first, maybe the resonance of the heart, the heart collides with the eyes, the heart sounds call the heart sounds, they discover each other's existence almost at the same time, and the water converges. The handsome guy pulled the big white horse, his eyes radiated the flame of love, the beauty stopped the green ox cart, and the vivid eyes sent a wisp of soft water, so, the sun of love shone on the grassland, this is clearly a godsend, the two of them set up camp in front of the Konoha Mountain, opened the newlywed secret month, this handsome man is the odd head, this beauty is Ke Dun, also called Qing Niu Fei, in fact, this is not the name of the beauty, "Ke Dun" Queen means, Qing Niu Fei is the meaning of the woman sitting in the green ox cart. Later, they had eight boys, and later, their eight sons each owned the tribe, forming the eight-part alliance of the Khitans.
In fact, in the great system of the Chinese nation, the origin of every nation has myths and legends, although we cannot believe it all, but "the old things of the past and the past, passed on by word of mouth", must have their basis, and have a profound connotation.
During the reign of Xingzong of Liao, Zhao Ying, an official of the Liao State, surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty and changed his name to Zhao Zhizhong (赵志忠). At that time, the ** people who were repairing the history of the Northern Song Dynasty were still very interested in the ** of the Khitan people, so they asked Zhao Zhizhong, and Zhao Zhizhong told the story of the green cow and white horse. However, the people who revised the history of the Song Dynasty still had doubts about what Zhao Zhizhong said, according to the record of Fan Zhen of the Northern Song Dynasty who wrote the "Actual Record":
Before the Khitan, there was a man riding a white horse, a woman riding a gray ox, met Liaoshang, then became a husband and wife, and gave birth to eight sons. This matter has to be obtained from Zhao Zhizhong, and Zhizhong tastes as a Khitan historian, and it must be true. Although the prehistory contains eight men and is not as good as the gray cow and white horse, the Khitan worships the sky, and so far uses the gray cow to taste the book in the "Actual Record: Khitan Biography", Wang Yuyu is afraid that it is not true, and deleted it. When he was in Chenzhou, Zhizhong knew Fugou County, and when he asked his eight men when he was long, he was the Central Plains, and Zhizhong couldn't answer, and Yun "was slightly Qin and Han Dynasty", I'm afraid it wasn't.
Fan Zhen, whose name is Jingren, is a famous historian in the Northern Song Dynasty, a politician and a writer, and is the author of "Dongzhai Chronicle", which talks about the ** of the Khitan people.
Wang Yuyu, a politician and historian, was also a politician and historian mentioned in Fan Zhenwen, who was the prime minister for 18 years during the time of Shenzong, and was known as the "Prime Minister of the Three Decrees", that is, he took the holy decree, received the holy decree, and had obtained the holy decree, and wrote the "History of the Song and Song Dynasties".
The meaning of this passage is that Fan Zhen believes that Zhao Zhizhong once served as a Khitan historian in the Liao State, and the legend he told about the Khitan people's green ox and white horse should be true, and the Khitan oral tradition is believed in it. However, Wang Yuyu thought that "fear is not true" and did not believe in this legend, at that time Wang Yuyu was the superior leader of Fan Zhen, and Wang Jue deleted the legend that Fan Zhen had written into the "Song Dynasty Record Khitan Biography" about Qishou and the green ox and white horse. Then Fan Zhen explained: Zhao Zhizhong said, he also half-believed, because it is not the same as the prehistory (this prehistory should be the relevant history of the five dynasties or the early Song Dynasty) is not the same, "although the prehistory is not as good as the gray cow and white horse", therefore, on the relevant issues, he also asked Zhao Zhizhong in a letter, Zhao Zhizhong could not explain clearly, only said that this legend "is about the Qin and Han dynasties", he also thinks that "I am afraid of it", but now the Khitan people worship the sky, "still use the gray ox and white horse", it seems to have something to do with the legend of their ancestors.
This so-called prehistory record should be the story of "Seven Horsemen of Yinshan Mountain" and "Red Lady".
3. The Seven Horsemen of Yinshan and the Red Lady
Wang Yi, the minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, sent two envoys to the Khitan in the second year of Qingli and the fourth year of Huangyou as He Zhengdan's deputy envoy, and in his "Yanbei Lu" (some experts now question that Wang Yi's "Yanbei Lu" was actually plagiarized from the Khitan to the Song Dynasty. According to the record in the manuscript of the Song Society: "Wu Qi, a northerner, is the servant of the palace after work, and the above painting "Khitan Guangpingdian Receiving Gifts". Wu Qi is a native of Zhenzhou, has been imprisoned for many years, knows a lot about the captivity, and is the commander of the pacification division along the border, so he is because of the dedication of Tute Lu. It records things about the etiquette, legal system, customs and other aspects of the Khitan people, mentioning the Yinshan and Chiniang people of the Khitan people, saying that the Liao Daozong Emperor held a firewood book ceremony in the fourth year of Liao Qingning, which should worship the god of Muye Mountain, worship the red lady, and say that "the red lady is said to plunder Hu Aoruo, and it is said that a woman flows in the Huang River from the seven horsemen of Yinshan, because of the birth of its race", so it has a supreme position in the minds of the Khitan people, and the "wood carving and color dress" is enshrined in the ancestral temple of Muye Mountain, which should be "Kedun", and, This is also the most primitive legend about the ancestors of the Khitan people, which is widely spread among the Khitan people.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a Khitan painter named Hu Bi, who was good at depicting the life scenes and spiritual worship of the Khitan people in the north, and also left us clues about the origin of the Khitan. In the eighth volume of the Northern Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Painting", it is said that "the cover (Hu) preface is passed down to the world with the seven horses of Yinshan, the lower journey, the horse stealing, and the eagle shooting." "The Secret Mansion of the Northern Song Dynasty" has "Pingyuan Shooting and Hunting Seven Horses" and so on. The "Seven Horses" in this painting is not arbitrary, but its profound meaning, which is directly related to the legend of the ancestors of the Khitan people, compared with the legend of the green ox and white horse, it is more rough and simple, and it is passed on by word of mouth among the Khitan people, and it is also transmitted to the Song Dynasty, so the historians of the Northern Song Dynasty have doubts about the legend of the Khitan people's green ox and white horse told by Zhao Zhizhong.
Regarding "Yinshan", it is very important for the Khitan people, and Mr. Li Xihou, an expert in Liao history, believes that "Yinshan is the birthplace of the Khitan people. ”
Although we can hardly see the words about Yinshan from the "History of Liao" and the "Khitan National Chronicles", the envoys and literati of the Northern Song Dynasty have repeatedly appeared "Yinshan" in the poems and texts related to the Khitans, and this Yinshan does not refer to the Yinshan (Daqing Mountain) in western Inner Mongolia today, but should refer to the legendary Muye Mountain of the Khitan ancestors. In the author's opinion, the mountain in the legend of the ancestor of the Khitan people, called Muye Mountain by the Khitan people, and called Yin Mountain by the Han people in the Northern Song Dynasty, is actually the same mountain, one is Khitan and the other is Chinese.
The relationship between Yinshan and the ancestral origin of the Khitan people can also be corroborated from the unearthed epitaph of Li Guozhi, the leader of the Shu Huo Department of the Khitan people in the Tang Dynasty (who was named the governor of the Song Desert and the deputy envoy of the Jiedu of Tongyouzhou, the king of Beiping County). In "Li Guozhi's Epitaph", Li Guozhi is called "the seed of his Xianyin Mountain King". Li Guozhi is the leader of the Khitan Shu tribe, isn't this "seed of the king of Yinshan" alluding to the Khitan ancestor Qishou Khan? , that is, the Yin Mountain of the Seven Horses of the Khitan Ancestor Yin Mountain, the Yin Mountain of the birthplace of the Khitan people, this Yin Mountain is actually Muye Mountain, which is the different name of the Khitan people and the Han people.
Ren Aijun Li Yuexin's "Spring and Autumn of Leaves" said: "In the Northern Song Dynasty, people used to use 'Yinshan' to refer to the Khitan and Khitan people, which has become a historical topic that can be traced back to the Five Dynasties. ”
Fourth, a few poems about "Yin Mountain" made Liao
The so-called Liao poems are written into poems by the Northern Song Dynasty to envoy the Liao Dynasty (Khitan) on the way, and several of them are written to the Yin Mountain of the Khitan.
Song Chang of the Northern Song Dynasty served the Khitan as an envoy in the second year of Song Renzong Zhihe (1055 AD), and heard and witnessed the love story between the Khitan and a Khitan girl, and wrote a poem "Yinshan Girl's Song", in which the girl was called "Chanjuan Cuifa Yinshan Girl", this "Yinshan Girl" is also the Khitan girl, and "Yinshan" refers to the Khitan. This can't help but make people wonder: "Or is there another Yin Mountain in the Khitan"? Because the Yin Mountain in this poem is definitely not the Yin Mountain of Daqing Mountain in western Inner Mongolia, but the "Yin Mountain" in the Chifeng area of the Khitan people.
Planting jade is not enough to furrow, and planting flowers is easy to fill branches.
Yusheng parasitic stone has its own place, and how can Hua Fei know it with the wind.
Chanjuan is a girl with green hair in the Yin Mountain, and can speak Chinese for Han costumes.
I don't know who the heart of spring is, and I play the pipa at night and tears like rain. ......
Zhou Zhou's rank is like wings, and he is born to know each other.
Although it is not as good as it, the dust of the road is still regarded as a stone on the mountain.
Liu Chang also has a poem "Yin Mountain":
The yin mountain is dangerous, and the bird road is on the edge.
Bouldering thousand-year-old trees, cliffs with ice.
The foolish song leaned on the sword and walked timidly on the rope.
I feel that Chang'an is far away, and the morning light has not risen at noon.
Liu Chang's "Yin Mountain" in "Yin Mountain", is it real or fictional? It's thought-provoking. But why use "Yin Mountain", this must have its specific intentions.
The envoys of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote about Yinshan and Wang Anshi's "Yinshan athletes are in a hurry, and the trend can chase the north wind"; Chen Xiang's "Outside the Yin Mountain Desert, the Ascetic in June"; Mei Yaochen's "A few days to pass through Yin Mountain, the south and the geese are back"; Chao Buzhi's "Yin Mountain Shooting Tiger Side Wind Rush" and so on. The "Yin Mountain" in these poems refers to nothing more than the Khitan and the mountains and rivers in the Khitan territory.
So, will the Song people use "Yin Mountain" to refer to the Khitan? Implicit in this is the legend of the ancestors of the Khitan people, all of which are not fabricated, not conjecture, nor arbitrary, but originate from the true memory of the Khitan people's own inheritance of the legend of the ancestors from generation to generation, and passed on by word of mouth.
"Yinshan" can be said to be a Chinese word in the pen of the Song people, which also fully shows the importance of "Yinshan" in the minds of the Khitan people.
Yinshan Mountain Range, majestic and magnificent).
Fifth, Yinshan seven rode to the green ox and white horse
Kong Wuzhong of the Northern Song Dynasty once had a famous poem "Seven Riding Pictures of Yin Mountain:
The north wind is rustling, the clouds are yellow, and the flying sand is choking.
The crane is singing and the geese are not flying, and the seven horses are out of the Yin Mountain.
There is no sun in the mountains and dust, and the birds fly and the wings are stiff.
Committing a cold cross saddle knows how strong it is, so as to fight who can be it.
Kong Pingzhong, the younger brother of Kong Wuzhong, also has a poem "Seven Horses of Yin Mountain":
The green felt is made of hats and black medicine boots, and the wind and sand are sassy in advance and retreat.
Yi Song and Yi Dance knelt down and bowed, and asked what is the canal and even this?
The people of the elephant canal pretend to be ......
At that time, the hair was sacrificed to the wild, and who knew who was not Xin.
The Kong brothers' poem "Seven Horsemen of Yinshan" shows that the legend of the "Seven Horsemen of Yinshan Mountain" is deeply rooted in the Khitan people, so that the children and grandchildren can remember the difficulties of the ancestors when they started their business, and it is also a simple legend of the origin of the Khitan people that has not been whitewashed.
However, after the establishment of the Khitan Empire by Yelu Abaoji, his son Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang "ordered the division to compile the deeds of the ancestor Qishou Khan", which virtually beautified the legends and stories of the ancestors and was quite mythical "artificial packaging", which made the simple ancestor stories of the Khitan people more rich and vivid, and there were some changes.
The seven horsemen of Yinshan are said to be "white horse gods", and the red lady is said to be "green cow fairy", giving a distinct religious worship and totem worship, and the white horse and green cow are the symbol of "divine authority" and an important medium for Khitan people to communicate with the gods. The Khitan people believe in primitive shamanism, looking up to the sky, looking down on the earth, to the heaven and the earth metaphor men and women, and with the white horse metaphor of the sky, the green cow metaphor of the earth, from it, respect the heaven and the earth, the god and the gods, the green cow and the white horse are sacred and precious, which means that the Khitan people are all from the gods, by the Khitan people from generation to generation of solemn sacrifices, this is an evolutionary process from simplicity to the gods, but also the need for the ruler to rule.
Back then, Fan Zhen asked Zhao Zhizhong about "eight men were like each other for a long time", and Zhao Zhizhong's "slightly Qin and Han dynasties" was not groundless.
In 1992, the epitaph of Yelu Yu, a famous minister of the early Liao Dynasty, that is, the cousin of Liao Taizu, was unearthed in the Alukorqin Banner of Chifeng City, which traced the origin of the Khitan people: "Its ancestors divided their heads and poured out the stone acacia, and since the Han, Wei, Sui and Tang dynasties, the world has been the king." ”
Among them, the stone locust is the leader of the Xianbei tribal alliance at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and this head is the odd head, which is a tribal chief during the Tanshi Huai Alliance.
In the epitaph of Yelu Zongyuan, the concubine of Liao Shengzong, it is said: "The first grandmother of the Khitan" "The more from the immortals, the lower flow in the Huangshui, the knot Yaoyuan Shenhu, the dream hail in the Xuanjiao, there is the treasure of the Baoyin" and other words, which are precisely the masterpieces of the Red Lady after being deified.
In ancient times, people's consciousness was accustomed to resembling men with mountains and women with water (rivers or lakes). That is, the most primitive fertility cult of human beings: male root and female yin. From this, the woman under the Huang River, the red lady, is the ancestor of women; It is very appropriate that the strange head of the Seven Horses of Yinshan symbolizes Yinshan (Konoha Mountain).
"Geographical Chronicles" in the History of Liao: Yongzhou "was built by the Empress Dowager." Taizu placed the south building here, Qianheng for three years, and placed the state on the side of the tomb of the prince Han Ba. Donghuang River, Nantu River, two water confluence, so called Yongzhou. The winter crescent tent is mostly stationed here, which is called the winter bowl. There is Konoha Mountain, the Khitan ancestor temple is built on it, the Qishou Khan is in the south temple, the Kedun is in the north temple, and the statue of the two saints and the eight sons is molded. Legend has it that there is a god man riding a white horse, from the Mayu Mountain floating earth river to the east, there is a heavenly woman driving a green ox cart from the flat pine forest panhuang river down. To Konoha Mountain, the two rivers merged, met as spouses, and gave birth to eight sons. Later, the clan gradually flourished and was divided into eight divisions. Every march and spring and autumn sacrifice, must use green oxen and white horses to show that they will not forget their roots. This record also emphasizes that Qishou "Zima Yu Mountain", indicating that the mountain is very important to Qishou.
"History of Liao" said: Yelu Abaoji "climbed the capital of the mountain, touched the relics of the first Khan, wandered and sighed." ”
We put aside the rendering of mythology, we can determine that Konoha Mountain is the birthplace of the Khitan ancestors, so there is a Khitan ancestor temple, Qishou Khan is in the south temple, and Kedun (Red Lady) is in the north temple.
Regarding the origin of the Khitan, historians have commented and scholars have researched it, and there are also different opinions. The legend is beautiful, and it embodies the expectations and yearning of a nation. However, the wind on the plug cuts the wings of constant association, and the thoughts condense into dusty memories, Huangshui and Yin Mountain, green ox and white horse, full of charm.