View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository PAGODAS, POLITIES, PERIOD AND PLACE: A DATA LED EXPLORATION OF THE REGIONAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF LIAO DYNASTY ARCHITECTURE by JONATHAN S. DUGDALE A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham January 2019 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract: The Liao dynasty (907-1125) was a dominant force in the political landscape of East Asia for a period of over two centuries. Despite this, when placed within the framework of Chinese history, the Liao polity and its associated architecture are forced to the periphery. This study aims to re-centre the Liao by exploring the pagodas constructed under this polity within a wider regional and chronological framework. To achieve this end, extant pagodas from China, North Korea, South Korea and Japan were recorded together in a database for the first time. The HEAP (Historical East Asian Pagoda) Database logs the date, location and feature set of each pagoda it contains and provides a means to compare Liao examples to those from other polities, places and periods. Through analysis and visualisations of this data, the Liao are identified as a polity that produced unique pagoda designs and a distinct visual style. While Liao pagodas played a major role in the wider design trends of the period, it is the influence they had at a more local level that may be of most significance, potentially making us rethink the way we frame and construct histories of architecture in China and East Asia. Acknowledgements: This thesis could not have been completed without the indefatigable help of a huge cast of people and organisations that have supported me throughout my studies. Funding was gratefully received from a Taiwan MOFA Huayu Enrichment Scholarship prior to the commencement of my PhD and from the AHRC during my time in Birmingham. Thanks also go to a Universitas 21 PhD Scholarship that funded my exchange to McGill University and to the Understanding Cities Project for allowing me to complete a photographic survey of Liao pagodas in Inner Mongolia and North-East China. I will always be grateful to my lead supervisor - Naomi Standen, for her constant support, her patience with my writing, and for consistently challenging me to develop and improve. I would also like to offer thanks to both my second supervisor - Dominik Maschek, and my supervisor at McGill – Gwen Bennett for all of their feedback and enthusiasm for this project. The creation of the HEAP database owes a huge debt to the work of my uncle - Chris Heal, who has managed to make Microsoft Excel carry out functions that I would never have believed were possible were he not to have achieved them. Much of the analysis in this thesis is reliant on the nine-thousand lines of code that he has written operating in the background. The vibrant network of postgraduate groups at the University of Birmingham have been a constant source of inspiration and ideas I would like to thank the organisers of the Eastern Eurasia group, EMREM and Rosetta for all of their time and hard work. Particular thanks also go to my fellow pagodateers – Lance Pursey and Callan Ross Shephard, and to Geoff Humble for his help in preparing this thesis for submission. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their endless support and patience in the many years this thesis has taken to complete (and especially for the crunch period of the final few weeks before submission). Table of Contents: Introduction: ............................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 - The Liao in Chinese and East Asian history: .......................................................... 5 1.1. Who were the Liao? ........................................................................................................ 9 1.2. The Historical Sources: ................................................................................................. 23 1.2.1. The Kitan script - surviving examples and translation: ......................................... 24 1.2.2. Chinese language sources - the Liaoshi: ................................................................ 27 1.2.3. Dynastic Cycles - the ‘Mandate of Heaven’ and the ‘Five Elements’ theory: ...... 31 1.2.4. The Jiu wudaishi (舊五代史 - Old History of the Five Dynasties): ...................... 38 1.2.5. The Cefu yuangui (冊府元龜): .............................................................................. 40 1.2.6. The Xin wudaishi (新五代史 – New History of the Five Dynasties): ................... 41 1.2.7. The Zizhi tongjian (資治通鑑 – Comprehensive Mirror to the Aid of Government): ................................................................................................................... 44 1.2.8. The Qidan Guozhi (契丹國志 – Records of the Kitan State): ............................... 46 1.2.9. After the Liaoshi - secondary material and the continued side-lining of the Liao dynasty: ............................................................................................................................ 47 1.2.10. The Liao and concepts of ‘China’:....................................................................... 60 1.3. The Liao in a regional context: ..................................................................................... 71 1.3.1. Liao-Balhae: ........................................................................................................... 74 1.3.2. Liao-Koryŏ:............................................................................................................ 79 1.3.3. Liao-Heian: ............................................................................................................ 89 1.3.4. Liao-Western Xia: .................................................................................................. 92 1.3.5. Liao-Kara-Khanid: ................................................................................................. 98 1.3.6. Liao-Tibet: ........................................................................................................... 101 1.3.7. Liao-Uighur: ........................................................................................................ 102 1.3.8. Liao-Wuyue: ........................................................................................................ 103 1.3.9. The Liao and East Asian Buddhism: ................................................................... 104 Chapter 2 – Pagodas, Ta (塔) and a HEAP of challenges: .................................................... 109 2.1. Chinese architectural history and the Liao: ................................................................ 113 2.2. The Historical East Asian Pagoda (HEAP) Database: ................................................ 123 2.2.1. What is a ‘pagoda’? ............................................................................................. 126 2.2.2. What is a ta（塔）? ............................................................................................. 130 2.2.3. Pagoda as a translation of ta: ............................................................................... 136 2.2.4. Key elements of the pagoda: ................................................................................ 138 2.2.5. Common types of ta/pagoda: ............................................................................... 140 2.2.6. Pagoda ‘features’ included in the HEAP Database: ............................................ 149 2.2.7. Location, visibility and date in the HEAP Database: .......................................... 156 2.3. Functions and analytical tools available in the HEAP Database: ............................... 161 2.3.1. Statistics worksheet:............................................................................................. 162 2.3.2. Scatter diagrams: .................................................................................................. 163 2.3.3. Comparison table: ................................................................................................ 164 2.3.4. ‘Single feature’ map:............................................................................................ 164 2.3.5. ‘Spread over time’ map:....................................................................................... 165 2.3.6. ‘Spread by similarity’ map: ................................................................................. 166 2.3.7. ‘Feature connectivity’ map: ................................................................................. 167 2.3.8. ‘Venn diagram’ maps:.......................................................................................... 168 2.3.9. ‘Potential influence’ tables and maps: ................................................................