摘要
Conventional treatments of Chinese history include a ＂Liao/Khitan dynasty＂ existing on the northern frontier from 907 to 1125, ruled by the ethnically distinctive Khitan （Qidan） people. As Pierre Marsone points out in the foreword to La Steppe et l＇Empire, in many histories discussion of this polity is absent or perfunctory. Indeed the work to which Marsone＇s title alludes, the classic 1938 L＇Empire des steppes by Ren6 Grousset,
Conventional treatments of Chinese history include a ＂Liao/Khitan dynasty＂ existing on the northern frontier from 907 to 1125, ruled by the ethnically distinctive Khitan （Qidan） people. As Pierre Marsone points out in the foreword to La Steppe et l＇Empire, in many histories discussion of this polity is absent or perfunctory. Indeed the work to which Marsone＇s title alludes, the classic 1938 L＇Empire des steppes by Ren6 Grousset,
