North of Dai: Armed Communities and Military Resources in Late Medieval China (880-936)

Abstract

This article discusses various aspects of the formation of the Shatuo as a complex constitutional process from armed mercenary community to state founders in the waning years of Tang rule and the early tenth century period (880-936). The work focuses on the territorial, economic, and military aspects of the process, such as the strategies to secure control over resources and the constitution of elite privileges through symbolic kinship ties. Even as the region north of the Yanmen Pass (Daibei) remained an important pool of recruits for the Shatuo well into the tenth century, the Shatuo leaders struggled to secure control of their core manpower, progressively moving away from their military base of support, or losing it to their competitors.

Keywords

• Daibei. Frontier clients. Khitan-led Liao. Shatuo. Tang-Song transition