Liao tartars
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The Liao Tartars are barely referenced in history and are noted in just about one work, the 12th century Chinese novel, Water Margin, attributed to Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong.
Before the events in Water Margin, a group called the Khitan Empire, also known as the Liao Dynasty, resided in northern China from 907 to 1125. In 936, the emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty in northern China, ceded 16 prefectures in the Youyun area (modern northern Hebei; Beijing) to the Khitans. Consequently, in 946, the Khitans sacked the Chinese capital, Kaifeng. The subsequent capitals were moved elsewhere until an uprising of the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao.
In this time period, the Chinese had often used the term Tartars (Tazi/Dazi in Chinese) as a derogatory manner, generalizing the non-Han groups that lived in the north. These groups included the Mongols and Jurchens/Manchus. This is especially true during the periods when China were either being invaded or harassed by these groups, such as the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.
Most likely, the arrogant Chinese court of the Song Dynasty put the two terms together, coining the phrase "Liao Tartars," who were not really Tartars at all, but the Liao peoples of the northwest.
