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Perceptions of Liao urban landscapes. Political practices and nomadic empires

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2011

Hu Lin
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Abstract

In traditional models, nomadic empires are often depicted as ‘parasitic’ on the neighbouring sedentary polities. Inspired by the development of anthropologies and archaeologies of colonialism, this paper adopts the political-landscape approach to address the emerging steppe urbanism of the nomadic Liao Empire. Perceptions of Liao urban landscapes are discussed from six viewpoints – settlement location, city walls, architectural orientation, camping sites, spatial segregation and sacred places – in order to understand the political practices of city making. I argue that the nomadic Khitan did not simply emulate spatial strategies of settled agricultural polities in the heartland of China, but rather produced a radically new form of urbanism that was brought forth as one of the creative instruments constitutive of authority, formed and transformed in the process of nomadic empire building in which traditions of nomadic pastoralism with ties to eastern Eurasia were manipulated and remade along with Chinese urban planning.

Keywords

political landscapepracticeperceptionurbanismnomadic empireLiaoChina
Type
Notes
Information
Archaeological Dialogues , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , December 2011 , pp. 223 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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