died 926, China
Pinyin Abaoji, posthumous dynastic name Liao T'ai Tsu, Pinyin Liao Tai Zuleader of the nomadic Mongol-speaking Khitan tribes who occupied the northwest border of China.
Elected to a three-year term as great khan of the Khitans, A-pao-chi refused to resign at the end of his term but made himself king of the Khitan nation. After the collapse in 907 of T'ang rule in China, A-pao-chi made himself emperor and by 916 had set up a Chinese-style dynasty, with his son as heir apparent. He organized his followers into fighting units known as ordos (similar to what Westerners later called a horde) and then joined 12 ordos into an administrative district.
In 926, in return for aiding the founder of the Later Chin dynasty (936–947) in the Chin ruler's conquest of North China, A-pao-chi was given the northeast corner of Hopeh province, an area inside the Great Wall encompassing the present site of Peking. After the death of A-pao-chi, the Khitans began to take on further Chinese mannerisms, and in 947 they proclaimed the Liao dynasty (947–1125), naming A-pao-chi as their dynastic founder with the posthumous title of T'ai Tsu (Grand Progenitor).
A-Mdo is also called Mdo-smad, one of three regions into which the area of central Asia inhabited by Tibetans is traditionally divided. During the 7th to 9th centuries, the central Tibetan kingdom was extended until it reached the Tarim Basin on the north, China on the east, India and Nepal on the south, and Kashmir on the west. The newly added dominions to the east and northeast were called Mdo-Khams. The A-mdo region, constituting the northeastern part of ethnic Tibet, reached from the Huang Ho (river) northeastward to Mchod-rten dkarpo (now in Kansu province, China). It passed under Ch'in g (Manchu) control in 1724 following the suppression of a Mongol revolt and was officially incorporated into the Chinese provincial system as part of Tsinghai province in 1928.
Read more Entry>>Labels: A-mdo, Mchod-rten dkarpo, Tarim Basin
born Sept. 7, 1717, China
died Oct. 10, 1797, Peking
Pinyin Agui general and official during the middle years of the Ch'in g dynasty.The scion of a noble family, A-kuei directed Chinese military expeditions that quelled uprisings in the western provinces of Szechwan and Kansu. He also conquered Ili and Chinese Turkestan, areas on China's northwestern frontier that are today part of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang. In addition, he helped subjugate Myanmar (Burma), making it a Chinese tributary state, and directed the campaign to stabilize China's position on the recently conquered island of Taiwan. He was one of the emperor's most trusted ministers, and he served until his 80th year as a senior member of the government's administrative cabinets, the Grand Council and the Grand Secretariat.
Labels: Burma, Ch' in g dynasty, Chinese Turkestan, Ili
