A shining moment for the north

However, according to Xu, "it was the spirit of internationalism that must have counted as Tang's single most important bequest to Liao".

Pointing to the agate bracelets and amber necklaces, as well as crystal and glassware, that are on view at the exhibition, the curator says: "Some of them may have come from the Baltic Sea region, the Middle East or the Byzantine Empire. Many of these exchanges were conducted along what's known today as the Steppe Silk Road which, extending westward across the Eurasian Steppe, linked Liao with other cultures along the way."

The same hybridity could be found in the spiritual realm. While the gilt silver crown that had accompanied the Princess of the State of Chen in death features a Taoist deity on top, the pair of turquoise-embedded gold earrings from that suspected sister of Abaoji were Makarashaped. Makara is a dragon-headed, fish-bodied mythical animal first introduced into China along with Buddhism. The latter was also believed to be a female shaman, her identity indicated by, among other things, her gold headband that was typically worn by Liao shaman priests.

Forty-four years after Liao's birth, the Northern Song Dynasty(9 6 0-1 1 2 7) emerged from all the chaos following Tang's fall to gain large tracts of land south of the Liao rule. An agricultural society steeped in Confucianism and populated largely by the Han Chinese — China's largest ethnic group then and now, the Northern Song for almost its entire duration faced serious threat from its Khitan neighbor.