Abstract

Khitan (契丹) was a dominant political power stretching from Manchuria to central Asia, had two different names, but didn’t leave history in writing with Khitan characters. As other historiographies of Far East Asia, Chinese characters were used to compile two historiographies under the name Khitan and Liao. China and Khitan were introduced to Europe by the people living along the Silk Road through the use of phonetic loan characters. They called the China as zhèndàn (震旦) and the people as hédàn (盍旦) who were the Mohe people in western China. They were Scythian governed by priestly leaders, had migrated along the Silk Road through the Gansu Corridor, settled in Manchuria, and built the Khitan Empire. Their ancestors invented the proto-Chinese character; the origin of Tangut script, Jurchen script and knife money characters. The semantics of Khitan is same as of Joseon, Balhae, and Nihon meaning bright sunrise.

Introduction

All of the regions surrounding ancient China used to be the homeland of ethnic minorities . They were mainly nomadic hunter-gatherers. As annexing these ethnic minority territories, renowned Chinese scholars of the day compiled scriptures with lots of phonetic loan characters (PLCs, 假借) and phono-semantic matching characters (PSMCs, 轉注). All themes relating to the ancient history of Far East Asia had been known through Chinese scriptures, crafted and interpreted under the influence of the Chinese imperial court and Confucian ideology. Later scholars faced difficulties interpreting the old scriptures. They compiled a dictionary by collecting local dialects, and developed a new field of study known as Chinese hermeneutics (訓詁學 ) which took a distinctive course and limited to only a few Chinese scholars for a long time.
As the Qing dynasty collapsed, a group of Chinese scholars spoke out against old Chinese hermeneutics . They asserted that certain pictographs relating to the history of ethnic minorities could have been misinterpreted. The ancient history related to minority
Issue ought to be reassessed and draw reasonable conclusion under the critical reading. Critical reading has been used for a long time to understand the true meaning of Buddhist scriptures . Yet, it is still considered ‘taboo’ for scholars studying ancient history written with Chinese characters. The exemplary citizen of London, John Snow, used a “dot map” to find out the cause of an unknown illness in 1854. It is the first step towards finding out causes and effects in order to resolve unknown events. However, the major obstacle to applying this method to the study of ancient Chinese history is the dots themselves, and elusive Chinese hermeneutics. Another obstacle is that ancient tribes who used to live in the place A had been moved another place B, C, and so on.

Evidence in History and Culture:

According to the Kangxi Dictionary, the name Khitan came from the Jin era dictionary, which originated from the Shuowen Jiezi – an era of the Later Han Dynasty . The Khitan was a confederal state of the “yí 夷” and “yóu 猶” people. The compound logogram “契” is the pictogram of engraver, has been pronounced three different sounds (qì qiè xiè,) and semantics relations; promise, engraving, and as the name of the founder of the Shang lineage. Koreans have been reading the name Khitan with three different pronunciations; “Geo-ran거란, Geul-an글안, Gyeo-dan계단.” The logogram Khi (契) has been read as “Gyeo계, Geol걸, Seol설 .” The person xiè (契) has been interpreted as the son of legendary Gāoxīn Shì (高辛氏.) He helped Yǔ (禹, Woo by Korean) the Great to control the historic flood . In Korean, those two Chinese characters Gāo and Woo (高, 禹) mean ‘high/above/on top of,’ connoting the ‘Sun, Hae/해 by Korea’. The same Chinese character is used to denote Khitan and being pronounced ‘xiè, 契’ in ancient Chinese, meaning the Sun and connotes God.
The ancestors of the Khitan people could be traced back to the origin of eastern civilization. The cradle of the Khitan people has been well described ;
“Liao took over old Joseon, where the Gija (箕子) had settled. His influences are still visible in the Liao culture.” “Khitan people were progeny of Donghu who survived in the Xianbei Mountain.”
Liao Shi reiterated that their ancestor originated from the marshland of the lower Liao River Valley where the Xianbei people used to live . The Xianbei Mountain is the most sacred mountain for them in the south western Manchuria. The Chinese scriptures describing the birth place and ancestors of the Khitan indicate that the legendary Gija went to Joseon which was in the current Beijing-Tangshan region with the elite Shang refugees. The Khitan and Korean people are the offspring of Donghu, who built Old Joseon in Manchuria.
Chen Shou (陳壽 233-297) summarized the relationship between the offspring of Donghu, Wuhuan, Xianbei, and other tribes related to ancestors of current Korean. They started to diversify soon after the Han invasion in 108 BC. Both Shiji and Hanshu described the details of Xiongnu customs. They are descendants of the legendary emperor who set up the Xia Dynasty (夏朝; c.2070-c.1600 BC) before the Shang dynasty. The proto-Khitan people have been described with many other names. They lived as many small groups under their own leaders. The area where they lived was described as “xī qī /Kai/ Kei 谿 ,” which means the valley of Xie (奚, 解, Hae by Korean) people who worship the sun . It is located around the current Xian Valley stretching to east of the Beijing region. The lyrical verse ‘June’ in the Shijing, which is known to be compiled during the era of King Xuan of Zhou (827–782 BC), contains the name of the proto-Khitan; Xian-yun . They lived around the “Xiechi Lake 解池” in the Shanxi Province. Those are evidences that ancestors of Khitan people had been very active from the beginning of Chinese civilization. They were the most powerful group during the 2nd century BC and made the first monarch of Western Han to sign the shameful Marriage Alliance(和親.)The Grand Historian renamed the offspring of “xiàhòushì 夏后氏” as “Xiongnu (匈奴), which is a PSMCs meaning ‘róng/ jung(戎) the slave’.

After the Emperor Wu of Han demolished, the remnants of Xiongnu remained under different names. Proto-Khitan tribe was recognized as a significant political entity in North East Asia towards the end of the later Han period. Yet, Chen Shou set up a separate section under the name of a leader instead of the name of the tribe. Kebineng (軻比能傳 , died 235) was a chief of the Xianbei tribe during the later Han and Three Kingdoms period, active along the Eastern End of the Great Wall. He rose to power after the founder of the Cao Wei (曹魏, 220–265) defeated the Wuhuan tribe in Northern China. The progeny of Donghu wrestled each other often. Kebineng unified most of the old Donghu tribes and took over old Xiongnu territory. The same region and tribe had been under Dansukgoe (檀石槐, 138-181) who was much more famous than Kebineng.
By cross-referencing Sangouzhi and the account of Cao Pi (曹丕,) the Xianbei tribe, under the warlords Dansukgoe and Kebineng, were the Dan Xi/Qi (丹谿,) which appears to be reversed word of Khitan. Their custom was to select a new leader on account of their abilities every three years. The previous leader steps down to become a commoner in the tribe again. By the end of the Tang dynasty (唐咸通末, 874 AD,) Xi er(習爾 ) and then Gi De (欽德) was king. They expanded the proto-Khitan territory. The name of Khitan appears even before those two leaders. Around 405 AD, King Murong Xi (慕容熙; 385–407 AD) of Xianbei state became emperor of the Later Yan and attacked the Khitan tribe in the north of his capital, but realized that Khitan was too big for him to attack; he retreated. The place where Murong Xi arrived is recorded as Jingbei (陘北) around the Great Wall, not far from Beijing. The Tongdian also states that the Khitan invaded near the Beijing region in the era of Wu Zetian (則天武后; 655-683 AD.) It was two centuries before ‘Xi er’ was recognized as king of the proto-Khitan in 874 AD. While China proper was undergoing political turmoil near the end of the Tang dynasty, lots of Chinese people came to the Khitan territory. The first ruler of the Khitan Empire, Yehlu Apaoji (耶律 阿保機, r. 907–926, meaning father Yehlu) refused to step down. He instead consolidated his power base by convincing five division chiefs of the Xie clan to join with him, annexed them, and became the first Emperor in 907 AD . Legend has that “the first ruler met his wife at the Mu Xie Mountain (木葉山 ) and buried there.”
Khitan initially shared the border with Balhae in the east and Xianbei in the south. The first king came from “Mòhé, 靺鞨” tribe, one of the many tribes of ‘Xie, 奚, he/해 by Korean’ people. Lots of Han Chinese moved up to the north, disturbed the power balance. He built a new nation, and expanded his territory by taking over the old Yan territory in the south. Later, he annexed the Xianbei and Wuhan tribes, extended to the west, and built the mighty Khitan Empire in the old Xiongnu and Donghu territory. The Shanyuan Treaty with the third emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty was signed in 1005. Khitan also pressed down (993,1010,and 1018) Goryeo (高麗) in the Korean peninsula. Southern Song and Goryeo made friendly alliance to depend the northern nemesis. Khitan was destroyed in 1125 by the north-eastern neighbor, Jurchen, who built the Jin dynasty (金朝1115–1234) . Frictions among the chiefs were the cause of the sudden demise of the Khitan Empire. With the empire being stretched too thin, one of the Khitan generals Huilibao (回離保, 和勒博) declared himself as the “Emperor of The Nation of Xie, 奚國皇帝, 奚王, literally Emperor of Sun Nation ” in 1123, but was killed soon. Another member of royal family built Hala-Khitan in the farther west. The Khitan Empire started amongst the Xie tribes and the name Xie had been used till the end. One group of Khitan tribe invaded Northwestern border of Goguryeo in 391. King Gwanggaeto of Goguryeo (r. 391–413 AD) punished the Khitan in the north and Baekjae in the south as soon as he was enthroned. Baekjae was in the coastal region of Manchuria at that time. The Beili (碑麗) on the Gwanggaeto Stele appears to be the Khitan people living around the Fushan (富山,) which is most likely the same place as Fuzhishan (鳧之山 ) in the Guanzi. It is in the Western shore of Bohai bay around the North of Tianjin. Khitan initially had three capitals. Once the territory expanded, they increased to five capitals .
The Xianbei Mountain should be the most sacred mountain, so does the hèshan (黑山.) Those two names are the same mountain that is Yiwulü Mountain (醫巫閭山) in the North East of the first capital.
By reviewing Korean and Chinese historiographies, it is apparent that the Khitan people had lived along the Taihang Mountains and the Greater Hinggan Range in the south western part of Manchuria. They spread up to the north during the era of the “Sixteen Kingdoms, 304-439 AD” to the era of “Southern and Northern Dynasties (南北朝; 220 -589).” They regrouped under their new leader, moved down to the South Western Part of Manchuria around Beijing, and built the largest empire ever before.
This contrasts with the general perception of Khitan. The nominal phrase “Dai Liao 大遼” is an elusive pseudonym meaning the big country in the far away land.
The birth of Khitan wasn’t well recorded in western literature. The reason may be because the people living in the western end of the Khitan Empire would not have known the original birth place. The name of the country has been described with phonograms by many countries in the west and central Asia under similar phonetics as Khitan.
The Khitan Empire had two lines of governing systems : the supreme leader adapted the Chinese governing system, but local governments remained old custom, which were influenced by the female shaman and run by tribal leaders. They changed the name to Liao (遼) back and forth few times. It might be related to their dual government system, strong resentment against shrewd Chinese influence, and faith to the God. Northern tribes were egalitarian society. The supreme leader was not in the hereditary position, but selected among the group leaders (Khan 汗). The most senior lady in the family or female shaman had strong voice in the process of selecting the group leader.

Khitan developed their writing system under the first monarch. Yet, they didn’t use the Khitan characters to record their history. Rather, Chinese characters were used. Khitan history had been compiled under two different dynasties. The first official historiography of Khitan, “Records of the Khitan Empire” was compiled in 1180 by a Southern Song scholar. Two centuries before, the Northern Song dynasty already had compiled the Taiping Guang Ji in 978. It has a section named “Nan Zhao 南詔 ,” which described the Khitan with a great deal of sorrow by quoting lyrical verse. A direct translation would be:
“While we were living in the Zhen Dan (震旦,) the heavenly mandated ruler was called Zhen Dan.”
They used the same nominal phrase for both the land and the supreme leader of the land. This serves as an example of where Chinese hermeneutics can be very confusing. Nevertheless, the phrase clearly reveals the emotions of southerners who lost vast swathes of territory to the Northern enemy. One of the Confucian scriptures compiled by “Cai Yong (蔡邕 , 133–192) provided the reference to the heavenly mandated ruler. The title ‘Tianzhi天子’ is originated from the yidi (夷狄). It is equivalent to the ‘huang di皇帝’ in Chinese, which means the King of Kings. People living in the Northwestern and Eastern Barbarian territory used to call the supreme leader as ‘the Son of Heaven.’ They used the phrase Zhen Dan as a metaphorical expression connoting the ‘land of Heavenly God’ and ‘Heavenly Mandated Ruler came down by the lightning and thunder’ the land. The Emperor of Khitan also impersonated the name of his country at the ritual service for the winter solstice. The phrase “言契丹死,literally Khitan dead” is the question . It is the most important piece of evidences to unveil the etymology of Khitan Empire. It will be explored in detail later.

Evidence in ideograms and the writing system

The Khitan writing system has emerged in 920. Mr. Han from Yan in Northern China could have persuaded Apaoji (阿保機) to create Khitan characters. It said;
“Since Balhae had already gone, Khitan made over three thousand characters” . Large villages built a shrine called ‘Tianxiong-si 天雄寺, literally temple of the Heavenly Hero, where a statue of the founding father is now installed .”

The phrase “since Balhae had already gone” merits closer consideration. I would like to interpret this phrase as evidence that the Balhae had their own form of writing system or script. The Samguk Sagi says that Goguryeo had kept one hundred volumes of records known as Liuji (留記, literally kept record,) which were rearranged into five volumes of Sin-Jip (新集, literally new assemble/rearrangement) in 600 AD. The Old Joseon in Manchuria also had records but their characters were very primitive. Clear evidence is in the introductory note (序契丹國志 宋 葉隆禮 撰 ) that “xī /hei奚” people who troubled Han Chinese for long time, had left some kind of scriptures, but he couldn’t interpret them correctly. The Song scholars also left evidence in a ninth-century script (高麗圖經 ) that the Manchurians had engraved on wood to make promises. The logogram qiè (鍥) in one particular message, is a compound pictograph with the “qiè契” from Khitan as the key element. This message could be referring the phrase written in the Liao Shi: “they were twenty tribes, engraved on the wood as to make promises.” The character “qiè契” has been used to denote promises in the Northern part of China for a long time and still in use.
>Koreans used the word with Gye (契) for a solemn promise made in writing (契約書.) Korean called Khitan as “Geul-an글안,” the opening sound of “Geul-an글안” means ‘scratch, 긁다’ and also ‘line,금’ in current Korean language. Korean said “Geul ilk da,글 읽다” means reading the script.

Khitan people worshipped the Son of the Heavenly Hero, which is the same conceptual semantics of the figure of Hwanung Cheonwang in Korean mythology, as described in the Samguk Yusa. As remnants of Goguryeo built a new nation, they called Zhen Guo (震國), which has the same opening sound and meaning as Zhen Dan (震旦) and changed to Balhae . This is a local Tungusic/Korean word “밝은 해, literally meaning bright sun.” It has the same semantics as Joseon. The Khitan which had been spread from Manchuria to the west, near the Tien Shan Tengri-Altai Mountain region eventually fragmented into three pieces. Each region developed its own writing system. The most western region adapted a phonogram(表音文字) from their west. The middle part of Khitan empire developed Tangut script (西夏文 , literally western Xia script) and Jurchen logograms in the far east, Manchuria. Those three different sets of logograms emerged in a short period of time. It supports speculation that some kind of logograms or means of making new logograms had been in existence in the wide region amongst the Tungusic-speaking “xī /hei奚” people. In fact, “qiè 契” has a brother who is the forefather of the proto-Tangut (西夏,大夏.) He should know the engraving as well. It is conceivable to conclude that his descendants carried on their way of promises and invented the Tangut script.
The evidence is in their custom also. The October ritual service was one of the most solemn ritual services . They used their ancient characters on a piece of paper and burnt it to the God of the “hè Mountain 黑山”. This is the same custom that Koreans used to perform at home called “신(神)께 소지 올리다.” Both Khitan and Korean are descendants of Donghu. The utensil they used for the ritual service is called hugui (胡簋 ) which has the same logogram and phonetic ‘hu’. The phrase “in the winter solstice” is very confusing, but important in unveiling the etymology of Khitan.
Brief summary of ritual service during the winter solstice follows .
“On the day of the winter solstice, the people of the country kill white sheep, white horses, white geese, and take blood from them and use them with alcohol beverages for the ritual service. The leader of the country (the emperor as high priest) presides the ritual service by saying ‘Khitan dead, be the Spirit of Khitan be under the jurisdiction of the hè Mountain God’. Legend also has it that if an ordinary person died, their spirit would dwell under the hè Mountain God. The hè mountain of Khitan is similar to the Daizong mountain of China. Some say that when Northerners die, their spirits return to that mountain. Every year, five capital cities provide over ten thousands paper dolls of soldiers and horses for the ritual service to the mountain god and burn them. This ritual service was so serious that without the ritual service no one could approach the hè Mountain. A well-known person died the same as well.”

My interpretation of the phrase “言契丹死” could be in dispute. Free translation of this phrase could be; “Mr. Sun of the year faded away, 햇 님이 사라졌다in Korean ,” which means the sun of the year ended. Nevertheless, the key point is that the Emperor of Khitan impersonated the sun as the name of his country.

The origin of the most ancient writing system in the Far East Asia is described in the Shangshu . They gave credit to Yi Yin (ca. 1600 B.C. -1549 B.C) who lived in between the era of Xia (夏) and Shang Dynasty. “Mr. Bao (保氏) taught the children of the Zhou elite class the six principles of the script (六書).” Since they named the most ancient logogram in Far East Asia as the Xie wen (契文, literally xie character) also known as “Oracle Bone Script” and the logogram “Xie契” is a compound character with symbols of engraving, knife, and man, it is safe to conclude that the Khitan ancestors invented the most ancient logogram. It is also safe to claim that the Xie character (契文) is the origin of the Khitan scripts (契丹文字,) the Tangut script (西夏文, script of Western Xia,) and current Chinese characters. Although original logograms had been engraved on hard objects, as the proto-Khitan people moved from barren land to the east, and encountered different terrain and natural products, the shape of their logograms also changed to what is known as ketou wenzi (蝌蚪文字; literally tadpole shaped character) because they had to use a brush and bamboo instead of a knife. The custom of engraving remained with them in the north. The Rong Di people living in the north developed a stone monument with engraving on it. The Southern Song dynasty prohibited the customs of their northern nemesis. A few characters found in the knife money could well be the characters used by the Donghu (xī /hei奚)people in the north.

Another way of describing the Khitan Tribe.

By exploring the name of the country and custom, the phonetics and logogram “qì qiè xiè 契” is another PSMC related to the sun and engraving. The next subject is the phonetics of Tan (丹), or Dan in Korean. This subject will be discussed along with the noun phrase hédàn (盍旦) and other pseudonyms of Khitan.
As being said, ancient Chinese scholars used many PLCs and replaced the original PLC with PSMCs. Names of their enemies had been described by using many different names with lots of derogatory connotations, ignored, or even concealed.

The phrase Qie Dan (竊丹 ) appears to be a pseudonym of Khitan. It is a derogatory name meaning ‘Dan the thief.’ The dictionary states:
“Written in the Shan Hai Jing; a mystical bird (Peacock) lay an egg in the cave of Dan, also Dan the thief.”
Yet, this phrase isn’t in the current Shan Hai Jing. The tribal name Khitan was also recorded in reverse order as Dan qi/xie (丹溪, 丹谿.) Han dictionary cited that Dan qi/xie (丹溪) is the place where Taoist Sages live. A renowned Taoist Sage known as “Mr. Ping” came from the region of “Danxie .” It means that the home land of Khitan people was primarily in the mountain range along the Great Wall to the north of Beijing. They used to live along the Gansu Corridor to the North East of Xiechi in the Shanxi Province. Their leader “Dan zhou (丹朱, literally Red Dan) is one of four legendary emperors in the east of the Kunlun mountains”. It is apparent that Dan was a tribal leader and wise man living in the far western part of China and moved through the Gansu Corridor to “Dan Xie/Qi 丹溪 , 丹谿” . Dan as a priest had to provide the ritual services. It could be described as the altar with either logogram “壇, or臺.” Hence, he got the title “Dangun壇君 , literally person in charge of the altar.” The “顏氏家訓 書證” left evidence that Wanggeom(王儉) was the brilliant leader of Xie tribe (謝炅) during the era of Xia夏. They replaced the pictogram Dan (旦) which has a connotation of a wise man, sage, or priestly leader to “Dan 丹, cinnabar ” and with another PSMC “Dan 檀, literally sandal wood,” and replaced again as “Dan tree丹木, literally cinnabar colored wood.”
Ancient scriptures reveal many names with Dan as an adjective or as family names as in Dan seokgoe. By the second to the fourth century, many Xie clans had moved to east and settled around the Taihang and Mount Chang (常山, 恒山) region. The first emperor of the state of Cao Wei (曹魏; 220–265) in the Three Kingdoms period assessed the “Dan Xie” people very highly. He said;

“It is appropriate to call the country Danxie wouldn’t be disappeared.
They are the group of people wandering around, united or separated. ”
He used metaphorical expression meaning that ‘The Danxie people did have some ups and downs in their history. However, they wouldn’t be disappeared. Soon or later they will emerge again.’ It is a description of the nomadic tribe which was discussed already under Kebineng and Dansukgoe. It is apparent that the Chinese phrases “竊丹, 丹溪 , 丹谿, 但谿” are few of many pseudonyms of proto-Khitan.

Issues related to hédàn (盍旦):

I would like to present the imaginary bridge under the spatial-temporal sense; connecting Khitan (契丹) to hédàn (盍旦) by incorporating Chinese hermeneutics to clarify my argument. The people in Central Asia called the Middle Kingdom zhendan and also hédàn . The Chinese called the westernmost feudal state as Qin (秦,) which was also called the Yong Province (雍.) The same region was described with a different name and different logograms (雍,邕) pronounced as longxi (隴西) . The most important mountain in the Yong Province was the Yuè Mountain (嶽山,) which has the same phonetic sound as of “Yuezhi月氏” about 80 miles west of Xian. The phrase hédàn is in the Book of Rites, the section “Records of surrounding neighbors” has the following text:
“Confucius (子) said: No two suns in the sky. No two Kings on the land. No two masters in the family. Do not serve two masters. Demonstrate to the people that ruler and subjects are different. Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋) didn’t mention the funeral service of the king Chu and Yue. According to the social custom, the ruler of a state does not call himself the mighty ruler, and a great officer does not call himself as the ruler of the state. It is all because of possibility that the people might get confused.”
The point Confucius addressed is clear. There ought to be one ruler and a social order of rank to keep the peace and harmony.
The key element “詩》云：「相彼盍旦，尚猶患之」” that Confucius, the dictionary, and The Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era cited from the Shijing isn’t in the current Shijing. Moreover, this phrase and the phrase quoted by Confucius appears to be not had been interpreted correctly.
By reading over the section of “Records of surrounding neighbors,” the phrase should be interpreted as:
“Look at those hédàn people. They are always in trouble and still suffering,” Because there was not a strong leader, but many chiefs.
The logogram yóu (猶) has been misinterpreted as well. The evidence is in the Shuowen Jiezi, which used two different characters to interpret the same issue . They described the people living in the current Gansu region (old Rong Di territory, Yuezhi月氏國地) with the logogram yóu (猶), which has to be interpreted as the son of Quan Rong (犬戎.) Another scripture also provided the evidence connecting the relationship between an ideogram契 and the Quan Rong (犬戎 .) They described ‘a unwanted yóu (猶, division chief of Quan Rong’ with the PSMCs “瘈, meaning sick/ crazy(疒) kai (契).”
This logogram was clarified with different PSMCs “stray/crazy dog 狾犬, 狂犬,瘈狗”. Since the mystical Cong River is the western border of Zhen Dan; the hédàn could have related to the Zhen Dan and the most western region of Middle Kingdom. It is apparent that the nominal phrase “hédàn盍旦” refers the people who came from the western part of China through the Gansu Corridor. The logogram yóu (猶) referring a leader of a small group of “hédàn盍旦” people. They dislike yóu (猶),hence replaced with “瘈,” which is pronounced as “gae/gye, meaning dog in by Korean”. It is the most widely used and well accepted derogatory word in use toward someone whom they dislike or hate. Having challenged traditional interpretation about the phrase “hédàn盍旦,” the characters “hé 盍” and “dàn 旦”ought to be explored in depth.

Slippery slope of Chinese hermeneutics:

The pictogram “hé kě/ hɑp 盍” has the same phonetics as of the pictogram “he盇,” which is the utensil for the collection of blood from a sacrificial animal and also been recorded with another pictograph “gài gě hé蓋” with the same or similar phonetics. Both pictograms evolved from the sunray58 and meaning of cover. The pictogram hé (盍) without the grass radical (艹, 艸, 草) was used by the slave living in the barren land. Yet, the pictograph “蓋”with grass radical was used the ordinary people in the fertile terrain. It is conceivable to assume that the people who used to live in the barren land had been caught and worked as a slave and engraved the “Large Seal Script.” It is the story behind the origin of Clerical Script(隸書) .
The utensil “he盇” could have been used to cover some other objects. Hence, the pictogram “hé kě 盍” had been pronounced with two different phonetics from the beginning. Yet, the Song era dictionary interpreted this noun as an adverb; “Why, How come” which remains as current interpretation by Chinese dictionaries. It doesn’t match the original meaning of the logogram. The original phrase “朋盍簪 , meaning a group of hé kě people extend like bamboo” might have been tempered. The Kangxi dictionary left evidence that someone had replaced a character during the early period of the Tang dynasty. Mencius said; “Another word, revolt is the nature of hé/kě tribe.”

The proper meaning of the phrase is written in the “Records of the Three Kingdoms, A Brief History of the Wei ” in the section of “三國志 – 魏書三十 -倭人傳”. It is the longest texts among the description of northern minorities. It appears that he summarized the trail of Xie (hé kě盍; 奚. 解) people in this section. It claims their ancestor is a kind of mystical dog (Panhu,槃瓠) and descendents spread all over the China including the current She people(畲族) in the south. The text has the followings;
“People living in the western region spread out in the valley. Swarm of worms ‘gài gě hé 蓋蟲’ are not a single tribe. They have their own leader and called each other hezhi (盍稚hé/kě chi, meaning guy in Korean). Many of them received a title from the Han court”.
The Di people (氐人) were proto-Japanese and trouble-makers. They moved around and set up camp wherever they wanted to in the Middle Kingdom.
Those characters (盍, 蓋, 犬子爲猶, 犬戎, 瘈狗, 狾犬, 槃瓠) are supporting evidence that the phrase Hédàn/kědàn (盍旦) refers a group of people living in the semi-desert, most likely the current Gansu region. The same group of people had been described in a derogatory fashion using the term Qie Dan (竊丹, Dan the thief) in Shan Hai Jing. The original pictogram of “dǐ dī zhī 氐” is an unknown pictogram, somewhat like “,” which has the same phonetics of Rong Di. It is a compound ideograph with a bow (弓) and a man (人.) It is the same as the term for an eastern barbarian, Yi (夷, meaning large bow/man with bow.) By analyzing the pictograms, it is clear that both of them were Scythian carrying the bow. They had moved from the west to the east.
The characters “蓋” and “盍” have the same origin and phonetics “hé kě,” those two logograms (盍 and蓋) had been used together and replaced each other; more often, the logogram ‘盍 for the person or tribe, 蓋 as a device to cover’ sun light.
The phrase “蓋云” appears in the Shijing “詩經 小雅 黍苗,” which is known to be compiled in the era of King Xuan of the western Zhu (周宣王; 827/25-782 BC.) For the purposes of this discussion, I would like to use the current English version found at “http://ctext.org.” The phrase “蓋云” has been interpreted as of negative meaning. They adapted the oldest surviving dictionary “Erya, 爾雅” which has explained the logogram “蓋” as; “Why, How come we are not.” Yet, the ctext.org version interprets it with a positive meaning; “we knew we should return.” I interpret the phrase “蓋云” as a simple sentence, same as the phase “子云, Confucius said” has been interpreted in the “Book of Rites.” Then, sentiment of the poet is clear– the leader of the hé/kě clan (蓋) sent a group of young men to Earl Shao promising that his people would return home as soon as the construction work was completed . According to Shi Shuo (詩說,) the Grand Recorder Zhou (太史籀) composed this verse under the King Xuan. The poet could have been from the Tungusic-language speaking tribe .
Some other supporting pieces of evidence are the story related to the ‘ran away sick dog,’ which was explored already. There is another historical event that took place two and half centuries after the Grand Recorder Zhou composed the verse. It is related to the Li Ji Unrest. The concubine of Duke Xian of Jin put her son Xiqi (奚齊; 665–651 BC) onto the throne of Jin. She suggested to the lord to hire the ‘Chief of hé/kě tribe’ and appoint him to work in the Jin court. Duke Xian of Jin ( 晉獻公; died 651 BC) refused. The Rong (驪戎, Scythian) invaded the Jin and killed the Duke. It is apparent that the ‘Chief of the hé/kě tribe君盍老 ’ was the leader of the Rong. The phrase “蓋云” in the Shiji could be referring to one of the chiefs of the hé/kě tribe (君盍.) The tribe under the ‘chief of the hé/kě tribe盍’ used to live in Northern China from the tenth to the fourth century BC. The phrase “蓋云” in the Shijing could be a replaced word of “hé, 盍.”

Chen Shou left lots of PSMCs in his description of the Buyeo (夫餘 ) confederacy, which is the ‘Mother of the Three Hans’ in Manchuria. The logogram hé/kě (蓋) is one example referring to the Yemaek people in Manchuria. They had lived together with ancient Shang refugees and flourished in the North until the Han invaded in 108 BC .
The character “渴, kě hé jié kài” was annotated as describing the Cao Wei general Muqiu Jian (毌丘儉 , d.255,) who advanced to the Goguryeo territory and encountered a big battle at the entrance to the River Liang 梁 , which is also pronounced “kě hé jié kài.” He used a local word (from the language of Manchuria/Goguryeo) to describe the current Taizi he or Hun River passing by the current Liaoyang city in Manchuria. The ruling class of the ancient Korean kingdoms; Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Baekjae were “He解, Hae 해” such as “解慕漱, Hae Mo-su of Buyeo in Korean,” who had been recorded as “高慕漱” with semantic translation of his family name. Another offspring of the “Buyeo 扶餘,” family name of Baekjae King has been described with “Hae 蓋 or 解.” The character “hé/kě 蓋” was used to describe many geographic locations in Manchuria .
It is apparent. Some of the hé/kě (盍/蓋) tribe had been living in Manchuria or moved from the Northern China into Manchuria.
Since the logogram “hé kě 盍,” which originated from the pictogram “hé 盇” has two different pronunciations for two different purposes and meaning of sun, it could have been replaced with many other PLCs such as “盖, 蓋, 契, 黑, 解.” Those PLCs had been interpreted by later scholars as a semantic expression or replaced with PSMCs . On the Gwanggaeto Stele, Jangsu of Goguryeo referred to his ancestor, the ‘he family’ as the Son of Mighty God .

The main problem has arisen because the nominal phrase Hédàn had been interpreted as the name of a bird. It is one of the slippery slopes and an origin of confusion.
The dictionary has another PSMC giving “Qie Dan, 竊丹” as the name of a bird related to the peacock . Peacocks laid their eggs in the cave of Dan. Qie Dan is the name of a bird. The Song era encyclopedia Taiping Yulan mentioned lots of PSMCs to Hédàn/ kědàn. The opening sounds of the first character in those names have two or three variants of pronunciation; such as He, Jie, Zhi, Kan, Ke, Jing/zeng, and so on. It also stated that the phrase is the name of a bird. Yet, the Book of Dialects (方言) provides a very different pronunciation. The only name matching Hédàn in sound is “Jing Dan”. The people in the Gansu province and West of the Xian valley called the bird “he/jie dan.” It is the same region as being described ‘the place to the west of Xian Valley.’

The pictogram “旦 , Dan” is a compound character with two pictograms combined; “sun 日 above horizon一.” Hence, the original meaning of Dan should be “early morning, dawn.” It is one of the oldest pictograms, and had evolved in many directions . The dictionary cited three lyrical verses containing this pictogram from the Shijing: “昊天曰旦.” The pictogram “Hao昊” is a compound ideograph with ‘the Sun high above in the Sky.’ It connotes the pictogram ‘Dan 旦’ as the ‘Mighty one, the Super Being.’
Another highly regarded scripture interpreted as the Almighty God came from the Western Region of China . Laozi (老子) came from the west. Taoists believe that the Great Mighty God lives in the west, decorated with Gold, and used Gold/Metal to make an idol of Xiongnu known as Gold/Metal . Though pronunciation hasn’t been changed much, they changed the semantics of the original pictogram “Dan 旦” to many directions by replacing with many PSMCs.

Depending upon timing and location of the sunrise, the pictogram should be different. The logograms “亘 ”and “桓” are examples. The pictograms “亘” a compound ideograph of “一 horizon” and another pictogram of “dawn旦”. It was originally engraved as ‘’ and described as a sunray spreading up like coarse hair (from below the horizon). The pictogram桓is a compound ideographic pictogram of same phenomenon observed by the “three 木.” The same reason behind the local phonetics of “hé kě” with vegetations (蓋) and without (盍) vegetations in barren land were applied on these two logograms as well. That could be the reason the Kangxi stated that Wugen (烏亘) is the ‘name of a foreign country’. It is reasonable to assume that the “Wuhuan” tribe who used to live in the barren land (亘) moved to the fertile land (桓) in the east. Hence, all other scriptures have described as “Wuhuan 烏丸, 烏桓” by replacing the pictogram Gen (亘) to other PLCs “丸, 桓.” The logogram Wu (烏) came from the folkloric mystical bird; the three-legged crow (三足烏,) that is the messenger between the tribes who worshipped the “super being” and to the eternity.
A previous location of the Wugeng tribe is described in the Kangxi dictionary; “From (the hill of) Xi-qing is the origin of the Huan (桓水River.) It floated along the stream and arrived at Qian (潛水river,) and then crossed (the country) to the Mian 沔; it passed to the Wei (渭水river), and (finally) ferried across the Yellow River.”
It is the description of the Guanzhong plain watershed where the Nile of China, known as Wei River, passes through and drains into the Yellow River before the Hangu Pass to the east. The western slope is the western boundary of the Wei River watershed. The Cong River isn’t a tributary of the Yellow River. Those two pictograms (亘, 桓) are acronyms of the river/place related to the tribe who used to live over the watershed and worshipped the “super being 昊天,旦.” The Commentary on the Water Classic also supports my interpretation of the origin of Huan Shui. They came from the western slopes of China. There had been many names of place with those characters, even over the western slope of China spreading out to the west including the Pamir and Tengri mountains to the watershed of the Yellow River. As being discussed, the descendants of the Donghu survived by hiding in the “Wuhuan mountain 烏桓山, 烏丸山” and the “Xianbei mountain” in 208 BC . They built the Great Wall of China to protect Donghu who was living primarily around the north of the Beijing region .

The Kangxi dictionary revealed important information by citing ancient scriptures .
The Lüshi Chunqiu, which was compiled before Qin Shi Huang states that “a mystical bird egg (鳳之丸) was found in the west of the Barren Land, south of the Dan Mountain.” The mountain should be in the western part of the feudal state of Qin before China was unified. It also explained the egg:
“West of desert, south of a mountain of Dan, there is an egg of a peacock. Over the fortress, there is the mountain of Wuhuan. The logogram Huan (丸) is a pseudonym of a bird’s egg. It is a round shape, read as Wan/Huan. The bird is the same as a raven.”
It is reasonable to assume that the phrase “hédàn is the name of bird; 盍旦，鳥名” evolved to this phrase “mystical bird egg.” According to legend, a good number of founding monarchs came out from an egg (丸, 鳥卵). This is associated with the sun or sunrays and includes the ancestor of Shang called the “xiè契.”
The mystical bird with many different characters has been described as a phoenix, peacock, tripod crow, and “玄鳥 , literally bird of dark color.” The Chinese interpreted the bird as a swallow and thereby associated it with the “Yanshan Shan 燕山” and the feudal state Yan. They interpreted “Wan/Huan (丸) as a round shape” similar to an egg. An ancestor of Wuhuan’s (烏桓, 烏丸) tribe was the “Son of Heaven” and was said to have emerged from one of the mythical bird’s eggs. By assessing the trail of events, many PSMCs, and geographic terrain, it is safe to conclude that the mystical “Wuhuan Mountain” was in between the Western region and the Guanzhong plain. The current Heng Shan(恒山) in Shanxi Province is the most eastern mystical “Wuhuan mountain” from which the name “烏丸，烏桓”originated . As the same tribe were in the west under the name Wugen (烏亘, Yuèzhī月氏,) their sacred mountain was called yuè shan (嶽山) that was recorded as “Dan shān, 丹山” in the Lüshi Chunqiu. The phonetic of the pictogram Dan (旦) had been misinterpreted as being related to the province as written the Yong Province and Shen Zhou (神州 ,) which means “the land governed by the priests/shaman.” Lots of Central Asian countries have names ending with the same old Tungusic phonetic: xxTan.
In summary: Chinese scriptures described the division chief of “Quan Rong犬戎” with PSMCs; 猶, 契, 盍, and蓋. 亘 to桓, 丸,卵, 恒, 恆. 烏桓山 to 烏丸山, 恆山, which is 北嶽.”The mystical bird messenger from to the sun to hédàn (盍旦) tribe on earth was described with many characters such as “烏, 三足烏to鳥, 鳳凰, 玄鳥”. Meanwhile, Tungusic speaking people maintained their old pronunciation of “Sun, hé kě,盍.” Yet, Chinese described it with many PSMCs such as “盖, 蓋, 契, 黑, 解, 奚.” The priestly leader empowered by the Super Being Dan (旦) was called Dangun by Korean. Chinese replaced 壇 to檀 ,丹, 唐. They used so many PLCs and PSMCs that is very confusing for the people to get the clear meaning of Hédàn/kědàn (盍旦).
Kuang-ming Wu said well about the Chinese hermeneutics.
“This is a Russian doll of interpretation, one doll within another, ad infinitum to compose a labyrinth in which to lose our way, hermeneutics circles. Chinese hermeneutics is a matter of life and death.”
The Chinese Scholars who compiled the historiographies had to consider that their life would be in danger. Through the Chinese hermeneutics, China controlled the barbarians.

Bridge Connecting East and West.

Since revealed the imaginary bridge, I would like to walk over the bridge from the Yong Province in the west to the birthplace of the Khitan in Manchuria in the east, and conclude that the name of Khitan came from the Hédàn盍旦 in the Shijing.

Buddhism arrived in China in 67 AD. The word “Zhen Dan 震旦” is written in Buddhist scripture as a pseudonym of China. The people from the westernmost part of the Later Han territory who travelled along the Silk Road over boundaries could have been mediators and spread the names of the countries in the east to Europeans in the west. Later, Buddhist monks came to southern China via the sea. They were Hindustani-speaking people. As the Chinese described alien territories with many different characters, so did Hindustanis and westerners. They had described the western China with lots of different names. The Buddhist scriptures has the phrase “móhē摩訶,” which has the same phonetic as of the “Mohe, 靺鞨” in Chinese scriptures including Record of the Khitan Empire (契丹國志.) The same tribe was recorded as Sushen(肅愼), who originated from the Tengri Mountain range and spread across the Gansu Corridor in North Western China.92 It is as written in many scriptures before the Han invasion of Joseon in 108 BC . The Chinese logogram hè (黑 ) is a PLC meaning “Sun/sunray” In this scripture. The Buddhist scriptures have the evidence: “Tibetans call China huge, a land of hè people,” because the sun rises first from that region. The long bridge between the Sushen(肅愼), Mohe, 靺鞨” in Manchuria originated from the Kunlun mountain region is in the Song era scriptures. The editor of Record of the Khitan Empire (契丹國志) has that “according to the old historiographies, Qin which had been gone long time ago has resurrected in the east. They are the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty (金朝) and Abaoji of Liao.”
It means that from the west, Qin Shi Huang who conquered China has gone long time ago; another conquers emerged from the east in Manchuria.
Another evidence is in the name of Tangut Empire that is the western Xia (西夏 ;1038 to 1227 AD). They called their country “The great white and high nation, 大白高國, or白高大夏國)” which connotes the “sun high in the sky.” The mistranslation to ‘black’ is the result of the PLC “He/Hai/Hei 黑” being misinterpreted as a semantic translation. The “Mohe摩訶, 靺鞨, 肅愼 ” tribe lived near a mystical creek called the hè River (黑水,) which means the home land of hè people. The Yong Province has been described as the west of the descending segment of Ordos Loop which is part of current Shaanxi Province(峽西省) . The Shinshi (神市) in the “Samguk Yusa” should be somewhere between the Heavenly Lake around the Tengri Mountain, through the Gansu Corridor to the Xian Valley. Yong Province was the land of the priest (巫) who were leaders with a variety of skills, such as health care, administration and pottery making. They made good quality bows and arrows, chariots and leather and migrated through northern China to Manchuria. Along the way, they built the country called Hwan Nation (桓國, literally bright country before the morning sunrise,) which has the same meaning of Balhae and Joseon.

Some scholars claimed that Buddhism arrived before the Later Han era. The main obstacle to untangling this question is related to the elusive Chinese hermeneutics. One of the phrases is the opening sound of Buddha, such as “仿佛 ” in the Shiji. The Grand Historian used the phrase “仿佛”as an idiom, which means “resemble to” the sage, not the Buddha. The metal statue from the Xiongnu is another example. The Han army destroyed Xiongnu around Dunhuang and captured one of chiefs praying to the god with a metal statue. He prayed to the idol of his tribe, not the statue of Buddha. After China unified in 221 BC, the Qin Shi Huang made many gigantic metal statues with confiscated metals . Confucius noticed a metal statue in the Zhou court with its mouth stitched three times and a message engraved on its back. The text is named as the Metal Statue Engraving (金人銘 ), which is most likely the oldest version or the origin of Dao De Jing. He explained to his followers that the statue refers to a wise man in the west, which had been known as early as the beginning of the western Zhou before Buddhism had even emerged. Scripture states that Duke Dan of Zhou was more cautious than the wise man in the west. It is apparent that the “wise man in the west” meant the idol of Xiongnu , the proto-Khitan people. By compounding all the evidences, the metal statue could well be the legendary Hwanung Cheonwang, which has been described with PSMCs such as “ 桓, 旦, or 亘” in the west. The Grand Historian wrote that the western region began from Dunhuang in the northwestern Gansu Province, where the Yuezhi (月氏) tribe used to live. They salute the sun as the origin of every living creature and salute the moon in the evening. The Han chased them further west. Dictionary state that the mystical Cong River was the dividing line in the west of Dunhuang and described as followings:
“The current Gansu Province was the old Yuezhi Guo territory. It was the land of white and Sushen people who paid tribute to the Zhou Court.”
The name had changed in the Han era to (酒泉,) in the Later Wei era to (甘州,) and in the Sui dynasty to (肅州.) The Book of Shang (尚書) described as Suzhen(肅愼.)
The character “Su, suk, siuk肅” means “pay respects; reverently” and “Shen ,愼act with care, be cautious.” This logogram has an ultimate relationship with the “Xie, Hae 해, 解” which is the same as the Mohe tribe had with the connotation of priests/a shaman. It is apparent, Xiongnu called the High Priest as the Heavenly Mandated Ruled under the Sun (天子). The Grand Historian changed the meaning of priestly land by replacing with “xi,息,” which has the meaning of “rest, put a stop to.” The civilization around the Gansu Corridor ought to be older than the Xian Valley civilization. The relationship between the Gansu Province and Xiechi in the Shanxi Province is recorded in the “潛夫論志氏姓” and explains the original family name “苦城, literally Citadel of agony.” The Shanxi Province was the cradle of Chinese civilization. Scythians suffered in the Guanzhong Plain from the beginning of Western Zhou in 1046 BC. Some of them were caught and being used as slave. They were the Mohe tribe. Their descendents built the Khitan Empire in the old Joseon territory. The large confederate state called Bal Joseon (發朝鮮 ) in the Master Guan (管子), and Gyi Joseon (暨朝鮮) by the Grand Historian, was described as Yemaek Joseon after the Xiongnu invasion and as Buyeo after the Han invasion. Those two invasions permanently shattered the Old Joseon, also known as Donghu by the western scholars.
The Written History of Manchuria starts with the records of the Grand Historian who described the Han Invasion of Old Joseon, where many Hans used to live as a Confederal State. Emperor Wu of Han justified his invasion with three reasons. King Ugeo allured many Han Chinese, blocked the trade route, and didn’t communicate with local leaders (雍閼) in Manchuria . The third reason is the original wording of “three Hans,三韓.” Later historians changed the phrase using different PSMCs: “many town states in the direction of Zhenbo” was changed to “Jin Nation” and to the “JinHan” in the Book of Later Han and the Records of the Three Kingdoms. This is the origin of JinHan or Jinguk in Far East Asia. The PLC ‘Jin’ has been described with a few other PSMCs. JinHan has been interpreted in the south eastern part of the Korean peninsula. Yet, Emperor Taizong of the Tang who had invaded Manchuria in 645 to destroy Goguryeo left clear evidence in his imperial decree. The territory of “Three Hans and JinHan” was in the Manchuria. One senior official in the Southern Song described their northern enemy in Manchuria as ‘left-over Jin’ in his official report to the emperor of Southern Song . The Grand Historian replaced “yong雍” to another PLC “擁.” Hence, historians misinterpreted this whole segment of the text. The logogram Yong “雍,” has a connotation of priest. The Yan “閼 ” refers to a female leader or shaman. Manchuria had lots of town states under the male and female shaman. The Mohe tribe was the Sushen. They built Balhae Nation in Manchuria named as Jinguk (震國) in the beginning.

The western remnants of Khitan were described with a few other pseudonyms as well.
The English term “Tangut” is most likely another way of describing the ‘Land of Dangun.’ The Chinese scriptures used the word “Ixia 西夏,literally western Xia”. It means that the new kingdom of Tangut was built in the west of the legendary kingdom of Xia. The surname “Weaning 嵬名” is a PSMC, meaning ‘ghost on top of the mountain.’ It could well be related to “Dangun,” “嶽山, 丹山”, or the capital of the nomadic tribes. The same royal family name “Yalu 耶律”of the Khitan Empire started a new empire known as Kara-Khitan or Qara-Khitai Khanate in the most western part of disabled old Empire. They interpreted the adjective “Kara/Qara” as meaning “black.” It came from misinterpretation of the PLC “him/her 黑.” The evidence for this is embedded in the word itself. They referred to Kara Khitan as Hala Qidan. The meaning of the adjective Hala is derived from the logogram and connotes white or sunrays. By adding up all of this information , the Korean mythology about the birth of the first nation fits well on the dots found in Central Asia to Manchuria. They originated along the “Heavenly Mountains / Mountains of Tengri.” The Europeans believe that one of the ancestors of the Khitan Imperial house was born in the valley of Bardan Ghar (골, 고을 in Korean means valley, dale,) which is in present-day Afghanistan territory. Another branch of the sun worshipping “hédàn 盍旦” tribes moved to the west. They misinterpreted the semantics of the word Dan to Tan meaning the province; extant.

Conclusion

I have drawn lots of “dots on the map” as inferences. The sun-worshipping Mohe people moved from the Tengri mountain region through the Silk Road, Gansu Corridor, Xian Valley, Manchuria, Korean Peninsula, and the Japanese isles. This imaginary bridge built by connecting lots of dots was possible through the evidences found in non-conventional historiographies. Classic lyrical verses, word of emperors, poems, engravings on the Steles, and the Kangxi dictionary were the most important sources of reference.

The logogram Khi (契) was explored. It has meanings of engraver, and pronounced same as the sun which has been used as a metaphorical expression of God. The nominal phrase “hédàn 盍旦” was examined. It was derived from the pictogram “hé盇,” which came from a utensil to collect blood and to cover some other object, and had been described with “盍 or 蓋” by the people living in different terrains. Both pictograms had two distinctive purposes and phonetics related to the sun. The pictogram Dan (旦) is a pictogram of early sunrise and connotes the heavenly mandated ruler and the god. The logogram Khi (契) is a replaced PSMC of “hé kě盍” and the logogram Dan (丹) is a replacement of the pictogram Dan (旦.) The name of Khitan came from the Hédàn盍旦 in the Shijing.

Khitan was a confederal state that emerged from the old Joseon territory with many tribes. The royal family came from the Xianbei branch of the Xi people, who survived around the South Western region of Manchuria. They built the nation in the old Joseon territory. The Khitan’s most solemn ritual services were held in October and during the winter solstice in homage to the Son of the Heavenly God, Hwanung Cheonwang, who Manchu, Korean and Japanese legend worships and considers as a point of origin. By then, the traditional role of high priest had changed. Dan lost all of his political power and remained as a figure head of state, simple shaman, and medicine man.

By analyzing Chinese characters and Buddhist scriptures, the proto-Khitan people had been under priestly leaders called ‘Dan’ to whom the Mighty God entrusted authority to govern every creature on earth with harmony. The descendants of Dangun migrated in the easterly direction. One branch settled in Manchuria and founded the nation of Khitan.

This essay also concludes that the Dunhuang culture should be older than the Xian Valley Civilization. Although this essay concludes that the name Khitan came from Hédàn (盍旦,) this phrase cannot be found in the current edition of Shijing – neither does the phrase Qie Dan in the current Shan Hai Jing. The main confusion had arisen through the millennia old Chinese hermeneutic, which misinterpreted the phrase Hédàn as the name of a type of bird. This has obscured the etymology of the word Khitan.

By reviewing the emergence of ancient ideograms and writing systems in North East Asia, the proto-Khitan people are Scythians and invented the Xie characters. This is the origin of proto-Chinese characters, and could also be the origin of the Tangut script, Jurchen script, knife money characters, and ancient Hyangchal symbols in Korea. The semantic of Khitan is related to ‘the bright sunrise’, similar to Joseon, Balhae, and Nihon. Therefore legend has it that the Khitan nation was founded by the Son of Heavenly God.

End

Mailed JAS on 8/11/2015out to the. Revised manuscript on 9/3/2015