BabelStone Blog

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

A Chronology of Khitan Inscriptions

There are three main questions that I ask when I look at Khitan monumental inscriptions: Who ?, When ? and Where ? Who is a very interesting question, which I would like to address in a future blog post, as the subjects of Khitan epitaphs are mostly mutually related members of the Khitan aristocracy. Where is a question that I have already attempted to answer here and here. This blog post attempts to answer the question "When ?" by gathering together in one place all the examples of dates from Khitan Large Script and Khitan Small Script monumental inscriptions that I can find, as well as dates mentioned in other primary Khitan sources such as on seals and in the recently-identified Khitan Large Script manuscript Nova N 176. A list of sources is provided at the bottom of this page ("KS" indicates a Khitan Small Script inscription; "KL" indicates a Khitan Large Script inscription).

At present this post includes 35 Khitan Large Script dates from 11 sources, and 74 Khitan Small Script dates from 15 sources. All the Khitan Small Script dates are Liao dynasty (907–1125) dates. 52 of the Khitan Small Script dates (from 13 sources) are Liao dyansty dates, and 22 Khitan Small Script dates (from 3 sources) are Jin dynasty (1115–1234) dates. The only source to include both Liao dynasty and Jin dynasty dates is the Epitaph for Xiao Zhonggong (KS23).

Khitan Large Script manuscript Nova N 176 leaf 9

V. P. Zaytsev, A Manuscript Codex Written in the Khitan Large Script from the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences (2011) page 135 fig. 4

"2nd month of the 14th year of the Chóngxī era" is on the second line from the left



Liao dynasty bronze official seal once in the possession of Imanishi Shunjū 今西春秋

Tōyōshi Kenkyū 東洋史研究 vol.3 no.4 (April 1938) plate 4

"A day in the 5th month of the 22nd year of the Tǒnghé era" is engraved on the back in Khitan Large Script.

　

A Daily Calendar for the Liao and Jin Dynasties

Khitan inscriptions date from the Liao dynasty (907–1125) and the following Jin dynasty (1115–1234), so in order to understand the chronology of Khitan inscriptions it is necessary to understand the calendars used during the Liao and Jin dynasties, as well as the calendar of the neighbouring Song dynasty (960–1279). So as a first step, in preparation for writing this blog post, I created a daily calendar covering the 373 years of the Song, Liao and Jin dynasties (907–1279). At 135,895 lines in length, the calendar is too long even for me to attempt to include in this post as an html table, but I have made it available for download as an Excel workbook or as tab-delimited text. At present the calendar covers the Liao, Northern Liao (1122–1123), Western Liao (1124–1218), Jin, and Song dynasties, but does not include calendrical information for any of the Five Dynasties or Ten Kingdoms (907–960). For each day from 960 to 1279, the calendar gives the corresponding date in the Julian calendar, the cyclical year and the cyclical day (common across all calendars), the calendrical date (i.e. era name and era year, calendrical month, and day of month) for each dynasty as appropriate, and certain astronomical information recorded in the dynastic histories (solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, and comets).

Calendrical dates are primarily derived from the DDBC Time Authority Database (時間規範資料庫), cross-checked against the calendrical data given in the dynastic histories. In a few places, where the date of a new month given in the DDBC Time Authority Database differs from the date given in one of the dynastic histories, I have corrected the date to follow the dynastic history.

The standard dynastic histories (History of the Song, History of the Liao, and History of the Jin) record dates by era year, calendrical month and cyclical day (e.g. 開泰九年七月庚戌 "gēngxū cyclical day in the 7th month of the 9th year of the Kaitai era"), but they do not normally give the ordinal day of the month (i.e. what day of the 7th month the gēngxū cyclical day is). As epitaphs usually refer to dates by the ordinal day of the month, it is necessary to be able to synchronize the sixty-day cyclical cycle with the lunar months in order to determine what ordinal day any given cyclical day is. It is also necessary to be able to synchronize calendrical dates between the Song, Liao and Jin calendars. Luckily the dynastic histories indicate if a given cyclical day is the day of a new moon, and as the first day of a month is the day of the new moon this information can be used to synchronize the sixty-day cyclical cycle with the lunar months.

Solar and lunar eclipses are also systematically recorded in the dynastic histories, and they can be used to synchronize the Song, Liao and Jin calendars with each other and with the Julian calendar. My daily calendar provides the NASA catalogue numbers of solar and lunar eclipses that are recorded in the dynastic histories.

The daily calendar of Liao and Jin dynasties underpins the annual Liao and Jin chronological tables given further down in this blog post.

Liao Calendar

遼、漢、周、宋，俱行夏時，各自為曆。國史閏朔，頗有異同。遼初用《乙未元曆》，本何承天《元嘉曆》法，後用《大明曆》，本祖沖之《甲子元曆》法。

— 《遼史》卷四十四　志第十四　曆象志下

The Liao, [Later] Han, [Later] Zhou and Song dynasties all used Xia time, but they all created their own calendars, so that in the dynastic histories there are considerable differences between the intercalary months and dates of the new moon. At the start of the Liao dynasty, the Yǐwèi Yuánlì, based on He Chengtian's Yuánjiā Lì, was used; but later the Dàmíng Lì, based on Zu Chongzhi's Jiǎzǐ Yuánlì, was used.

— History of the Liao vol. 44

The calendar used during the Liao dynasty (907–1125) seems to have been aligned with the calendars used by other dynasties and kingdoms during the Five Dynasties period (907–960) up until the second half of the Later Zhou dynasty (951–960). However, the Liao calendar was not identical to the calendar used during the Song dynasty (960–1279), and differences in calculating the date of the new moon and the dates of solar terms meant that Liao and Song months were not always synchronized. That is to say, although cyclical days are always the same across all calendars, the calendar day that corresponds to a given cyclical day may not always be the same in the Liao and Song calendars. For example, the 17th January 1002 in the Julian calendar corresponds to the cyclical day wùchén 戊辰 "earth dragon" in both the Song and Liao calendars, but in the Song calendar this is the 1st day of the intercalary 12th month, whereas in the Liao calendar the same day is the 2nd day of the 12th month. It is obviously very important to be aware of these calendrical differences when comparing Liao and Song historical records.

Months are either 29 days or 30 days in length, and in most cases Liao and Song months start on the same cyclical day and are the same length. However, occasionally a month in the Liao calendar starts one day earlier or one day later than the corresponding month in the Later Zhou or Song calendar, with the result that two consecutive months (and on one occasion three consecutive months) have different number of days in the Liao calendar compared with the Later Zhou calendar or Song calendar (e.g. the Song calendar has a month of 30 days followed by a month of 29 days, whereas the Liao calendar has a month of 29 days followed by a month of 30 days). This situation occurs three times during the Later Zhou, and thirty-five times during the Song dynasty, resulting in seventy-six Liao months with different lengths compared with the Later Zhou or Song calendar between 955 and 1121. This also results in thirty-nine Liao months starting on a different cyclical day (plus or minus one day) compared with the Later Zhou or Song calendar. These anomalous months are shown in the table below. Liao months with an offset of zero start on the same cyclical day as the corresponding Later Zhou or Song month, whereas Liao months with an offset of +1 or -1 start one day later or earlier respectively compared with the corresponding Later Zhou or Song month.

Julian Year	Later Zhou or Song Calendar			Liao Calendar
Julian Year	Era Year	Month	Days	Era Year	Month	Days	Offset
955	顯德二年 Xiǎndé 2	七月 7th	30	應曆五年 Yìnglì 5	七月 7th	29	0
955	顯德二年 Xiǎndé 2	八月 8th	29	應曆五年 Yìnglì 5	八月 8th	30	-1
958	顯德五年 Xiǎndé 5	八月 8th	30	應曆八年 Yìnglì 8	八月 8th	29	0
958	顯德五年 Xiǎndé 5	九月 9th	29	應曆八年 Yìnglì 8	九月 9th	30	-1
959	顯德六年 Xiǎndé 6	十一月 11th	30	應曆九年 Yìnglì 9	十一月 11th	29	0
959	顯德六年 Xiǎndé 6	十二月 12th	29	應曆九年 Yìnglì 9	十二月 12th	30	-1
964	乾德二年 Qiándé 2	三月 3rd	30	應曆十四年 Yìnglì 14	三月 3rd	29	0
964	乾德二年 Qiándé 2	四月 4th	29	應曆十四年 Yìnglì 14	四月 4th	30	-1
964	乾德二年 Qiándé 2	五月 5th	29	應曆十四年 Yìnglì 14	五月 5th	30	0
964	乾德二年 Qiándé 2	六月 6th	29	應曆十四年 Yìnglì 14	六月 6th	29	+1
964	乾德二年 Qiándé 2	七月 7th	30	應曆十四年 Yìnglì 14	七月 7th	29	+1
965	乾德三年 Qiándé 3	四月 4th	30	應曆十五年 Yìnglì 15	四月 4th	29	0
965	乾德三年 Qiándé 3	五月 5th	29	應曆十五年 Yìnglì 15	五月 5th	30	-1
973	開寶六年 Kāibǎo 6	三月 3rd	30	保寧五年 Bǎoníng 5	三月 3rd	29	0
973	開寶六年 Kāibǎo 6	四月 4th	29	保寧五年 Bǎoníng 5	四月 4th	30	-1
986	雍熙三年 Yōngxī 3	正月 1st	30	統和四年 Tǒnghé 4	正月 1st	29	0
986	雍熙三年 Yōngxī 3	二月 2nd	29	統和四年 Tǒnghé 4	二月 2nd	30	-1
986	雍熙三年 Yōngxī 3	六月 6th	30	統和四年 Tǒnghé 4	六月 6th	29	0
986	雍熙三年 Yōngxī 3	七月 7th	29	統和四年 Tǒnghé 4	七月 7th	30	-1
993	淳化四年 Chúnhuà 4	十二月 12th	30	統和十一年 Tǒnghé 11	十二月 12th	29	0
994	淳化五年 Chúnhuà 5	正月 1st	29	統和十二年 Tǒnghé 12	正月 1st	30	-1
1000	咸平三年 Xiánpíng 3	十二月 12th	30	統和十八年 Tǒnghé 18	十二月 12th	29	0
1001	咸平四年 Xiánpíng 4	正月 1st	29	統和十九年 Tǒnghé 19	正月 1st	30	-1
1001	咸平四年 Xiánpíng 4	九月 9th	30	統和十九年 Tǒnghé 19	九月 9th	29	0
1001	咸平四年 Xiánpíng 4	十月 10th	29	統和十九年 Tǒnghé 19	十月 10th	30	-1
1001	咸平四年 Xiánpíng 4	十二月 12th	30	統和十九年 Tǒnghé 19	閏十一月 + 11th	29	0
1001	咸平四年 Xiánpíng 4	閏十二月 + 12th	29	統和十九年 Tǒnghé 19	十二月 12th	30	-1
1012	大中祥符五年 Dàzhōng Xiángfú 5	二月 2nd	29	統和三十年 Tǒnghé 30	二月 2nd	30	0
1012	大中祥符五年 Dàzhōng Xiángfú 5	三月 3rd	30	統和三十年 Tǒnghé 30	三月 3rd	29	+1
1020	天禧四年 Tiānxǐ 4	四月 4th	29	開泰九年 Kāitài 9	四月 4th	30	0
1020	天禧四年 Tiānxǐ 4	五月 5th	30	開泰九年 Kāitài 9	五月 5th	29	+1
1021	天禧五年 Tiānxǐ 5	十一月 11th	30	太平元年 Tàipíng 1	十一月 11th	29	0
1021	天禧五年 Tiānxǐ 5	十二月 12th	29	太平元年 Tàipíng 1	十二月 12th	30	-1
1024	天聖二年 Tiānshèng 2	十一月 11th	29	太平四年 Tàipíng 4	十一月 11h	30	0
1024	天聖二年 Tiānshèng 2	十二月 12th	30	太平四年 Tàipíng 4	十二月 12th	29	+1
1025	天聖三年 Tiānshèng 3	六月 6th	29	太平五年 Tàipíng 5	六月 6th	30	0
1025	天聖三年 Tiānshèng 3	七月 7th	30	太平五年 Tàipíng 5	七月 7th	29	+1
1031	天聖九年 Tiānshèng 9	八月 8th	29	景福元年 Jǐngfú 1	八月 8th	30	0
1031	天聖九年 Tiānshèng 9	九月 9th	30	景福元年 Jǐngfú 1	九月 9th	29	+1
1039	寶元二年 Bǎoyuán 2	五月 5th	29	重熙八年 Chóngxī 8	五月 5th	30	0
1039	寶元二年 Bǎoyuán 2	六月 6th	30	重熙八年 Chóngxī 8	六月 6th	29	+1
1040	康定元年 Kāngdìng 1	四月 4th	29	重熙九年 Chóngxī 9	四月 4th	30	0
1040	康定元年 Kāngdìng 1	五月 5th	30	重熙九年 Chóngxī 9	五月 5th	29	+1
1040	康定元年 Kāngdìng 1	十一月 11th	30	重熙九年 Chóngxī 9	十一月 11th	29	0
1040	康定元年 Kāngdìng 1	十二月 12th	29	重熙九年 Chóngxī 9	十二月 12th	30	-1
1044	慶曆四年 Qìnglì 4	十月 10th	29	重熙十三年 Chóngxī 13	十月 10th	30	0
1044	慶曆四年 Qìnglì 4	十一月 11th	30	重熙十三年 Chóngxī 13	十一月 11th	29	+1
1045	慶曆五年 Qìnglì 5	二月 2nd	29	重熙十四年 Chóngxī 14	二月 2nd	30	0
1045	慶曆五年 Qìnglì 5	三月 3rd	30	重熙十四年 Chóngxī 14	三月 3rd	29	+1
1049	皇祐元年 Huángyòu 1	十一月 11th	30	重熙十八年 Chóngxī 18	十一月 11th	29	0
1049	皇祐元年 Huángyòu 1	十二月 12th	29	重熙十八年 Chóngxī 18	十二月 12th	30	-1
1053	皇祐五年 Huángyòu 5	正月 1st	29	重熙二十二年 Chóngxī 22	正月 1st	30	0
1053	皇祐五年 Huángyòu 5	二月 2nd	30	重熙二十二年 Chóngxī 22	二月 2nd	29	+1
1056	至和三年 Zhìhé 3	五月 5th	29	清寧二年 Qīngníng 2	五月 5th	30	0
1056	至和三年 Zhìhé 3	六月 6th	30	清寧二年 Qīngníng 2	六月 6th	29	+1
1059	嘉祐四年 Jiāyòu 4	五月 5th	29	清寧五年 Qīngníng 5	五月 5th	30	0
1059	嘉祐四年 Jiāyòu 4	六月 6th	30	清寧五年 Qīngníng 5	六月 6th	29	+1
1059	嘉祐四年 Jiāyòu 4	十一月 11th	30	清寧五年 Qīngníng 5	十一月 11th	29	0
1059	嘉祐四年 Jiāyòu 4	十二月 12th	29	清寧五年 Qīngníng 5	十二月 12th	30	-1
1070	熙寧三年 Xīníng 3	七月 7th	29	咸雍六年 Xiányōng 6	七月 7th	30	0
1070	熙寧三年 Xīníng 3	八月 8th	30	咸雍六年 Xiányōng 6	八月 8th	29	+1
1073	熙寧六年 Xīníng 6	四月 4th	29	咸雍九年 Xiányōng 9	四月 4th	30	0
1073	熙寧六年 Xīníng 6	五月 5th	30	咸雍九年 Xiányōng 9	五月 5th	29	+1
1074	熙寧七年 Xīníng 7	十二月 12th	30	咸雍十年 Xiányōng 10	十二月 12th	29	0
1075	熙寧八年 Xīníng 8	正月 1st	29	大康元年 Dàkāng 1	正月 1st	30	-1
1093	元祐八年 Yuányòu 8	十二月 12th	29	大安九年 Dà'ān 9	十二月 12th	30	0
1094	元祐九年 Yuányòu 9	正月 1st	30	大安十年 Dà'ān 10	正月 1st	29	+1
1102	崇寧元年 Chóngníng 1	九月 9th	29	乾統二年 Qiántǒng 2	九月 9th	30	0
1102	崇寧元年 Chóngníng 1	十月 10th	30	乾統二年 Qiántǒng 2	十月 10th	29	+1
1103	崇寧二年 Chóngníng 2	七月 7th	29	乾統三年 Qiántǒng 3	七月 7th	30	0
1103	崇寧二年 Chóngníng 2	八月 8th	30	乾統三年 Qiántǒng 3	八月 8th	29	+1
1105	崇寧四年 Chóngníng 4	閏二月 + 2nd	29	乾統五年 Qiántǒng 5	三月 3rd	30	0
1105	崇寧四年 Chóngníng 4	三月 3rd	30	乾統五年 Qiántǒng 5	閏三月 + 3rd	29	+1
1113	政和三年 Zhènghé 3	九月 9th	29	天慶三年 Tiānqìng 3	九月 9th	30	0
1113	政和三年 Zhènghé 3	十月 10th	30	天慶三年 Tiānqìng 3	十月 10th	29	+1
1121	宣和三年 Xuānhé 3	八月 8th	29	保大元年 Bǎodà 1	八月 8th	30	0
1121	宣和三年 Xuānhé 3	九月 9th	30	保大元年 Bǎodà 1	九月 9th	29	+1

Jin Calendar

The Jin calendar seems to have been more closely related to the Song calendar than the Liao calendar was, as there are no instances of intercalary months that are not synchronized between the Song and Jin calendars. Nevertheless, there are sixteen instances where two consecutive Jin months have different lengths than the corresponding Song months, as shown in the table below.

Julian Year	Song Calendar			Jin Calendar
Julian Year	Era Year	Month	Days	Era Year	Month	Days	Offset
1129	建炎三年	三月	29	天會七年	三月	30	0
1129	建炎三年	四月	30	天會七年	四月	29	+1
1134	紹興四年	十一月	29	天會十二年	十一月	30	0
1134	紹興四年	十二月	30	天會十二年	十二月	29	+1
1145	紹興十五年	十月	29	皇統五年	十月	30	0
1145	紹興十五年	十一月	30	皇統五年	十一月	29	+1
1147	紹興十七年	二月	29	皇統七年	二月	30	0
1147	紹興十七年	三月	30	皇統七年	三月	29	+1
1147	紹興十七年	六月	29	皇統七年	六月	30	0
1147	紹興十七年	七月	30	皇統七年	七月	29	+1
1152	紹興二十二年	三月	29	天德四年	三月	30	0
1152	紹興二十二年	四月	30	天德四年	四月	29	+1
1155	紹興二十五年	八月	29	貞元三年	八月	30	0
1155	紹興二十五年	九月	30	貞元三年	九月	29	+1
1163	隆興元年	七月	29	大定三年	七月	30	0
1163	隆興元年	八月	30	大定三年	八月	29	+1
1168	乾道四年	九月	29	大定八年	九月	30	0
1168	乾道四年	十月	30	大定八年	十月	29	+1
1176	淳熙二年	十二月	29	大定十五年	十二月	30	0
1176	淳熙三年	正月	30	大定十六年	正月	29	+1
1178	淳熙五年	九月	30	大定十八年	九月	29	0
1178	淳熙五年	十月	29	大定十八年	十月	30	-1
1184	淳熙十一年	八月	29	大定二十四年	八月	30	0
1184	淳熙十一年	九月	30	大定二十四年	九月	29	+1
1198	慶元四年	十月	29	承安三年	十月	30	0
1198	慶元四年	十一月	30	承安三年	十一月	29	+1
1207	開禧三年	四月	30	泰和七年	四月	29	0
1207	開禧三年	五月	29	泰和七年	五月	30	-1
1207	開禧三年	十月	30	泰和七年	十月	29	0
1207	開禧三年	十一月	29	泰和七年	十一月	30	-1
1209	嘉定元年	十二月	29	泰和八年	十二月	30	0
1209	嘉定二年	正月	30	泰和九年	正月	29	+1

Intercalary Months

An intercalary month is calculated as the first month in a year during which a midpoint (zhōngqì 中氣) solar term does not fall. Before the introduction by Jesuits in 1645 of Western astronomical methods of calculating the solar terms, this happened once every 32-35 months, occuring with equal frequency after any month, with the result that there was an intercalary month every two or three calendar years. In order for a month not to include a midpoint solar term, the month must start just after a midpoint solar term and end just before the following midpoint solar term. As solar terms occur on approximately the same day with respect to either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, this means that during the Liao dynasty intercalary months always start on between the 14th and 19th day of a Julian month or between the 19th and 24th day of a Gregorian month. The intercalary month is named after the preceding month, so, for example, an intercalary month occuring after the 4th lunar month (四月) is called the "intercalary 4th month" (閏四月).

The Liao calendar has the same intercalary months as found in the calendars used by other dynasties and kingdoms during the Five Dynasties period (907–960), but the Liao and Song calendars used different methods for calculating the solar terms, with the result that occasionally the month on which an intercalary month falls is different by one month in the two calendars. During the Liao dynasty there were nine occasions when the intercalary month was one month earlier or one month later than the intercalary month in the Song calendar, as shown in the table below. Each time the intercalary months are unaligned, two consecutive months are numbered differently in the Liao and Song calendars (e.g. in 999, Song intercalary 3rd month = Liao 4th month, and Song 4th month = Liao intercalary 4th month).

Julian Year	Cyclical Year	Song Calendar		Liao Calendar
Julian Year	Cyclical Year	Era Year	Intercalary Month	Era Year	Intercalary Month
985	乙酉 yǐyǒu	雍熙二年 Yōngxī 2	9th	統和三年 Tǒnghé 3	8th
999	己亥 jǐhài	咸平二年 Xiánpíng 2	3rd	統和十七年 Tǒnghé 17	4th
1001–1002	辛丑 xīnchǒu	咸平四年 Xiánpíng 4	12th	統和十九年 Tǒnghé 19	11th
1015	乙卯 yǐmǎo	大中祥符八年 Dàzhōng Xiángfú 8	6th	開泰四年 Kāitài 4	7th
1029	己巳 jǐsì	天聖七年 Tiānshèng 7	2nd	太平九年 Tàipíng 9	3rd
1064	甲辰 jiǎchén	治平元年 Zhìpíng 1	5th	清寧十年 Qīngníng 10	6th
1078	丁巳/戊午 dīngsì/wùwǔ	元豐元年 Yuánfēng 1	1st	大康三年 Dàkāng 3	12th
1080	庚申 gēngshēn	元豐三年 Yuánfēng 3	9th	大康六年 Dàkāng 6	8th
1105	乙酉 yǐyǒu	崇寧四年 Chóngníng 4	2nd	乾統五年 Qiántǒng 5	3rd

When reading Liao dynasty dates these anomalies need to be borne in mind. For example, the Khitan Large Script Epitaph for Court Attendant Dorlipun (KL05) states that Dorlipun died on the 22nd day of the intercalary 8th month of the 6th year of the Dàkāng era (7th October 1080 in the Julian calendar). According to the Song calendar there was no intercalary 8th month in that year, and so if you wanted to correlate the date of Dorlipun's death with events mentioned in the History of the Song you would have to remember that the Liao intercalary 8th month corresponds to the 9th month in the Song calendar, and the Liao 9th month corresponds to the intercalary 9th month in the Song calendar.

Intercalary months are recorded in three of the Khitan inscriptions I have examined, two small script epitaphs and one large script epitaph:

2nd day of the intercalary 9th month of the 3rd year of the Tàipíng era (1023) [KS36]
22nd day of the intercalary 8th month of the 6th year of the Dàkāng era (1080) [KL05]
25th day of the intercalary 8th month of the 10th year of the Qiántǒng era (1110) [KS29]

From these we know that the Khitan Large Script word for "intercalary" is , and the Khitan Small Script word for "intercalary" is 𘮧𘲀𘯟. The Khitan Small script phonograms have been reconstructed as reading something like <p-ul-uh> (Kane 2009 p. 70). *puluh would seem to be cognate with Manchu fulu ᡶᡠᠯᡠ "surplus, excess" (Kane 2009 p. 103), although neither the Manchu word for "intercalary" (anagan ᠠᠨᠠᡤᠠᠨ) nor the Jurchen word for "intercalary" (alaxa) are related. Presumably the Khitan Large Script word is read *pu-luh or *pul-uh. The Khitan Large Script word occurs quite commonly in epitaphs in non-date contexts (the two characters only rarely occur outside of this collocation), and so it is probably a Khitan word meaning something like "surplus, excess, extra" that is borrowed to mean "intercalary" in dates.

Date Format

The full format for a date in the Khitan Large Script or the Khitan Small Script generally conforms to the following pattern (given in modified Backus-Naur Form):

<date> ::= [<year>] [<month>] [<day>]

<year> ::= [<year-format-1>] | [<year-format-2>]

<year-format-1> ::= [<era-name>] [<year-number>] [<cyclical-term>] ["year"]

<year-format-2> ::= [<era-name>] [<year-number>] ["year"] "order-of-the-year" <cyclical-term>

<month> ::= [<season>] [<month-qualifier>] <month-number> "month" [<cyclical-term> "beginning"]

<day> ::= [<day-format-1>] | [<day-format-2>]

<day-format-1> ::= <day-number> [<cyclical-term>] ["day"]

<day-format-2> ::= <day-number> "day" <cyclical-term>

<era-name> ::= <Liao-era-name> | <Jin-era-name>

<year-number> ::= "first" | "two" .. "twenty-nine"

<season> ::= "spring" | "summer" | "autumn" | "winter"

<month-qualifier> ::= "first" | "extra"

<month-number> ::= "head" | "two" .. "twelve"

<day-number> ::= "one" .. "thirty"

<cyclical-term> ::= [<colour>] <animal>

<colour> ::= "green" | "red" | "yellow" | "white" | "black"

For example:

KL05 l.13: Dàkāng six year extra eight month twenty-two day = "22nd day of the intercalary 8th month of the 6th year of the Dàkāng era"
KS02 l.27: Qīngníng five yellow pig spring two month fourteen day = "14th day of the 2nd month in spring of the 5th (yellow pig) [year] of the Qīngníng era"
KL05 l.15: Dàkāng seven white rooster year three month yellow rat beginning fifteen black tiger day = "15th (black tiger) day of the 3rd month (beginning on a yellow rat day) of the 7th (white rooster) year of the Dàkāng era"
KS05 l.1: Chóngxī twenty-four order-of-the-year green goat eight month red dog beginning four day yellow ox = "4th (yellow ox) day of the 8th month (beginning on a red dog day) of the 24th year (green goat cyclical year) of the Chóngxī era"

There are two formats for specifying the year. Most commonly the year is specified simply as a year number followed by the cyclical term for the year and then the word "year", e.g. Dàkāng seven white rooster year (KL05 l.15). But sometimes the year is specified as a year number optionally followed by the word "year", and then a term meaning "order of the year" followed by the cyclical term for the year, e.g. Tiāndé two year order-of-the-year white horse (KS23 l.50). The latter format is only attested in Khitan Small Script epitaphs:

KS05 l.1: Chóngxī twenty-four order-of-the-year green goat eight month red dog beginning four day yellow ox = "24th year of the Chóngxī era, corresponding to the cyclical year of the green goat ..."
KS07 l.4: Dàkāng first year order-of-the-year green rabbit eleven month yellow goat beginning three day white rooster = "1st year of the Dàkāng era, corresponding to the cyclical year of the green rabbit ..."
KS04 l.4: Shòuchāng seven year order-of-the-year white snake head month black dog beginning thirteen green dog = "7th year of the Shòuchāng era, corresponding to the cyclical year of the white snake ..."
KS29 l.4: Qiántǒng ten year order-of-the-year white tiger extra eight month red rooster beginning twenty-five white rooster = "10th year of the Qiántǒng era, corresponding to the cyclical year of the white tiger ..."
KS23 l.50: Tiāndé two year order-of-the-year white horse nine month green dog beginning nineteen day = "2nd year of the Tiāndé era, corresponding to the cyclical year of the white horse ..."

The Khitan Small Script term preceding the cyclical term for the year is 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 <ai-en se-le-bo>, where the first two phonograms mean "of the year" (the character for "year" plus a genitive suffix) and the following three phonograms apparently mean "to follow", the whole meaning "order of the year" (Kane 2009 pp. 110, 128), referring to the year's order in the sixty-year cycle.

There are also two formats for specifiying the month. The month is often simply specified as a month number followed by the word "month", e.g. "head month" or "nine month". Except in a single, anomalous and problematic instance on the Epitaph for Yelü Changyun (KL12) discussed in Note 2, the cyclical term for a months is not given. However, in many cases the month is followed by the cyclical term for the first day of the month, and only then by the day number and/or cyclical term for the day in this month that is the topic of the date. This format is peculiar to Khitan, and is not paralleled in Chinese date formats. The format is attested in both the Khitan Large Script and the Khitan Small Script:

KL05 l.15: Dàkāng seven white rooster year three month yellow rat beginning {1081-04-12} fifteen black tiger day {1081-04-26}
KL09 l.24: Dà'ān eight black monkey year three month green monkey beginning {1092-04-10} two green rooster day {1092-04-11}
KL12 l.17: Qīngníng seven white ox year twelve month white dragon beginning {1062-01-14} twenty-one white rat day {1062-02-03}
KL12 l.20: Qīngníng eight black tiger year nine month green snake beginning {1062-10-06} twenty-six white horse day {1062-10-31}
KS02 l.43: Dà'ān four yellow dragon year head month yellow rooster beginning {1088-01-27} thirteen day {1088-02-08}
KS04 l.4: Shòuchāng seven year order-of-the-year white snake head month black dog beginning {1101-01-31} thirteen green dog {1101-02-12}
KS05 l.1: Chóngxī twenty-four order-of-the-year green goat eight month red dog beginning {1055-08-25} four day yellow ox {1055-08-28}
KS12 l.29: Dà'ān seven year order-of-the-year white goat nine month red dog beginning {1091-10-15} thirty green rabbit day {1091-11-13}
KS06 l.11: Dàkāng two red dragon year three month red dragon beginning {1076-04-06} six day white rooster {1076-04-11}
KS07 l.4: Dàkāng first year order-of-the-year green rabbit eleven month yellow goat beginning {1075-12-11} three day white rooster {1075-12-13}
KS10 l.25: Tiānqìng five green goat year four month white rat beginning {1115-04-26} ten yellow rooster day {1115-05-05}
KS14 l.24: [...] pig year four month yellow horse beginning {1143-04-17} twenty-eight green rooster day {1143-05-14}
KS14 l.38: Dàdìng ten white tiger year twelve month red horse beginning {1171-01-08} twenty-five white horse day {1171-02-01}
KS23 l.50: Tiāndé two year order-of-the-year white horse nine month green dog beginning {1150-09-23} nineteen day {1150-10-11}
KS27 l.22: Shòuchāng seven white snake year two month black dragon beginning {1101-03-02} twenty-eight yellow goat day {1101-03-29}
KS29 l.4: Qiántǒng ten year order-of-the-year white tiger extra eight month red rooster beginning {1110-09-16} twenty-five white rooster {1110-10-10}
KS29 l.4: ten month red monkey beginning {1110-11-14} five day white rat {1110-11-18}
KS29 l.5: eleven month green ox beginning {1110-12-13} eight day black monkey {1110-12-20}
KS32 l.3: yellow rabbit year four month black rooster beginning {1099-04-23} twenty-eight yellow rat day {1099-05-20}

The word that follows the cyclical term for the first day of the month is  or  in the Khitan Large Script, and 𘭞𘱄𘮠 <ho.le.bun> or 𘭞𘱄𘮽𘰕 <ho.le.bo.n> in the Khitan Small Script. Occuring in dates, this word is normally translated into Chinese in modern Khitan scholarship as 朔 shuò "day of the new moon", but this is not the literal meaning of the word. The exact same word is used elsewhere in epitaphs to mean a "preface" (Chinese 序 xù), and given its use in dates to refer to the first day of a month, the base meaning of the word would seem to be something like "beginning".

Kane 2009 p. 215 Note 61 takes <ho.le.bun> to mean the "first [period of the month]" and mistakenly reads the preceding cyclical date as the cyclical month: "On the day of the white cock of the third day of the first period of the month of the yellow goat, the eleventh month of the year of the blue hare of the first year of the Dakang period" [KS07 l.4]. On p. 116 he takes <ho.le.bun> as a personal name, Holbun [KS14 l.38]. These examples all illustrate the importance of understanding dates to the interpretation of Khitan inscriptions.

Glossary of Khitan Calendrical Terms

The following tables list all Khitan Large Script and Khitan Small Script words that occur in the Khitan dates recorded in this blog post. Glyph variants have been standardized where appropriate. The phonetic transcriptions for Khitan Small Script polygrams are derived from Kane 2009 (see pages 26–27 for an explanation). These are only very approximate reconstructions, sometimes no more than an educated guess. In some cases the "reading" is just a conventional way of referring to a character using the pronunciation of a Chinese character with a similar graphic shape (e.g. the phonogram 𘬷 is transcribed kả merely because it resembles the Chinese character 卡 kǎ, which is probably coincidental).

General Terms

English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
year	年		𘲐	ai
month	月		𘭧	sair ^[1]
day	日		𘲺	ñair ^[2]
hour, time	時		𘮗	po
that ("that year ...")	該		𘯏	qi
beginning (referring to the first cyclical day of a month)	朔	 	𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘭞𘱄𘮽𘰕	ho-l-bun ho-l-bo-ń
order of the year (referring to the cyclical year corresponding to an era year)	歲次		𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽	ai-en se-le-bo
extra (referring to an intercalary month)	閏		𘮧𘲀𘯟	p-ul-uh
head (referring to the first month of a year)	正		𘱘	nai
first (referring to the first year of an era, or indicating the month preceding an intercalary month)	元		𘭴𘮒	yủ-úr
middle (referring to the middle month of a season)	仲		𘲌𘮒𘲫	dau-úr-ún

1. The Khitan word for "month" is given as 賽咿兒 (sàiyī'ér) *sair in the History of the Liao Dynasty. Cf. Mongolian sara(n) "moon".
2. The Khitan word for "day" is given as 捏咿唲 (niēyī'ér) *ñair in the History of the Liao Dynasty. Cf. Mongolian nara(n) "sun".

Four Seasons

English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
Spring	春		𘰬𘮒	heu-úr
Summer	夏		𘲮𘳕	heu-úr
Autumn	秋		𘰭𘯴𘮒	n-am-úr
Winter	冬		𘲚𘲀	ju-un

Numbers

English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
one	一		𘬣 𘬤
two	二		𘲝 𘲞
three	三		𘯙 𘯚
four	四		𘲂 𘲃
five	五		𘬦 𘬧	tau ^[1]
six	六		𘭬 𘭭
seven	七		𘲧 𘲨
eight	八		𘬌 𘬍
nine	九		𘬪 𘬫
ten	十		𘰯
twenty	二十		𘬂
thirty	三十		𘳀

The Khitan Small Script numbers one through nine occur in dotted and undotted forms, but only the undotted forms occur when referring to days, months and years.

1. The Khitan word for "five" is given as 討 (tǎo) in the History of the Liao Dynasty. Cf. Mongolian tabun "five".

Twelve Zodiac Animals

English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
rat, mouse	子 zǐ		𘳆𘲲	?-hu
ox	丑 chǒu		𘭌	uni
tiger	寅 yín		𘭅𘭂𘯢	qa-ha-as
rabbit, hare	卯 mǎo	  	𘬦𘰎𘯺	tau-lí-a ^[1]
dragon	辰 chén		𘰐 𘰑	lu
snake	巳 sì	  	𘰗𘭞𘯶	mu-ho-o
horse	午 wǔ	 	𘲜𘰣	mo-ri
goat, sheep	未 wèi		𘱑𘯺 𘱑𘱛	iam-a (iam-ia)
monkey	申 shēn	 	𘮧𘯶𘯶	p-o-o
rooster, hen	酉 yǒu		𘰺𘯛𘯺	te-qo-a
dog	戌 xū		𘰕𘯛	ńi-qo ^[2]
pig	亥 hài		𘱆	ui

The Khitan large script words for rabbit, snake and monkey are sometimes written as two separate characters, and sometimes written as two characters ligated together vertically to fit into a single character space.

1. The Khitan word for "rabbit" is given as 陶里 (tǎolǐ) in the History of the Liao Dynasty. Cf. Mongolian taulai "rabbit".
2. The Khitan word for "dog" is given as 捏褐 (niēhè) *ñiqo in the History of the Liao Dynasty. Cf. Mongolian noqai "dog".

Five Colours

English	Chinese	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
English	Chinese	Large Khitan	A Form	B Form	Reading
blue/green (wood)	甲/乙 jiǎ/yǐ		𘰷𘱹𘮄	𘰷𘱹𘰹 𘰷𘲼𘰹	s-iau-qú s-iau-qu (s-au-qu)
red (fire)	丙/丁 bǐng/dīng		𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘱄𘬛𘮄	𘱄𘱹𘰹	l-iau-qú (l-iu-qú) l-iau-qu
yellow/gold (earth)	戊/己 wù/jǐ		𘮝	𘮞
white (gold)	庚/辛 gēng/xīn		𘬈	𘬉
black (water)	壬/癸 rén/guǐ		𘯍𘲚 𘯍𘲫	𘯍𘮡	yô-ú (yô-ún) yô-iú

The Small Khitan words for "yellow" and "white" occur in undotted and dotted forms. The undotted forms of "yellow" and "white" are most common preceding the name of a zodiac animal, but usage is not consistent in the extant inscriptions, and dotted forms are occasionally attested before the name of a zodiac animal as well. The Small Khitan words for "green", "red" and "black" each occur in two spellings, with different final phonograms. However, there is no consistency in extant inscriptions about when to use which spelling (different spellings of the same colour word may be used before the same zodiac animal in different inscriptions), as shown in the table below.

Attested Khitan Small Script Colour Names

Zodiac		Colour / Heavenly Stems
Zodiac		green (wood)	red (fire)	yellow (earth)	white (gold)	black (water)
Animal	Earthly Branch	甲/乙 jiǎ/yǐ	丙/丁 bǐng/dīng	戊/己 wù/jǐ	庚/辛 gēng/xīn	壬/癸 rén/guǐ
rat	子 zǐ	𘰷𘱹𘰹	？	𘮝	𘬈	𘯍𘲚
ox	丑 chǒu	𘰷𘱹𘮄	？	𘮝	？	？
tiger	寅 yín	𘰷𘱹𘮄	𘱄𘱹𘮄	𘮝	𘬈 𘬉	？
rabbit	卯 mǎo	𘰷𘱹𘮄	？	𘮝	？	？
dragon	辰 chén	？	𘱄𘱹𘮄	𘮝	𘬈	𘯍𘮡
snake	巳 sì	？	？	？	𘬈	？
horse	午 wǔ	𘰷𘱹𘮄	𘱄𘱹𘰹	𘮞	𘬈 𘬉	？
goat	未 wèi	𘰷𘱹𘰹 𘰷𘱹𘮄	？	𘮝	？	？
monkey	申 shēn	？	𘱄𘱹𘮄	？	？	𘯍𘲚 𘯍𘮡
rooster	酉 yǒu	𘰷𘱹𘮄	𘱄𘱹𘮄	𘮝	𘬈	𘯍𘲫
dog	戌 xū	𘰷𘲼𘰹 𘰷𘱹𘮄	𘱄𘱹𘰹 𘱄𘬛𘮄	？	？	𘯍𘲚
pig	亥 hài	？	𘱄𘱹𘮄	𘮝	？	？

Liao Era Names

Name	Date	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
Name	Date	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
Shéncè 神冊 "Divine Proclamation"	916–922	
Yìnglì 應曆	951–969	
Bǎoníng 保寧 "Protect Tranquility"	969–979	
Tǒnghé 統和 "Unified Peace"	983–1012	 	𘰲 𘰷𘰂𘯶𘭞 𘰲 𘬓𘰫	Heaven se-bu-o-ho Heaven húr.ú
Kāitài 開泰 "Open Peace"	1012–1021		𘰲 𘰕𘱄𘲆𘱦	Heaven ńi-l-û-er
Tàipíng 太平 "Great Calm""	1021–1031		𘲇 𘬜𘱓𘭪𘲚	Great ei-ie-ra-ú
Chóngxī 重熙 "Repeated Splendour"	1032–1055		𘰲 𘰫𘰻𘱄𘭂𘯺𘲑 𘰲 𘱵𘱄𘭂𘲑 𘰲 𘱵𘰫𘯺𘭂𘲑	Heaven û-dû-l-ha-a-ar Heaven udu-l-ha-ar Heaven udu-ú-a-ha-ar
Qīngníng 清寧 "Clear and Tranquil"	1055–1064	 	𘰲 𘯢𘲑	Heaven as-ar
Xiányōng 咸雍 "All Harmonious"	1065–1074		𘰲 𘰺𘱪 𘰴𘱫	Heaven t-ud (Heaven) d-uŋ
Dàkāng 大康 "Great Well-Being"	1075–1084		𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢	Great t-iu-ir
Dà'ān 大安 "Great Peace"	1085–1094		𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘲇 𘱵𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘲇 𘱵𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎	Great û-dû-ó-o-ón Great udu-ó-o-ón Great udu-dû-ó-o-ón
Shòuchāng 壽昌 "Longevity and Prosperity"	1095–1101		𘲇 𘰷𘲦	Great s-en
Qiántǒng 乾統 "Celestial Unity"	1101–1110		𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘰲 𘲑𘰫𘯶𘭞	Heaven ar-ó-o-ho Heaven ar-û-o-ho
Tiānqìng 天慶 "Heaven Celebrates"	1111–1120		𘰲 𘰩𘬷𘱄𘱯𘱦	Heaven pu-kả-l-ge-er

The Khitan Small Script word for the Kāitài era is mentioned in the Epitaph for Han Dilie (KS27 l.6), but it is not used for any specific date.

Northern Liao Era Names

Name	Date	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
Name	Date	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
Jiànfú 建福 "Establishing Good Fortune"	1122
Déxīng 德興 "Virtue Flourishes"	1122–1123
Shénlì 神曆 "Divine Calendar"	1123

Western Liao Era Names

The Khitan Large Script names given for Western Liao era names are provisional identifications, and have not yet been verified. The Khitan Large Script characters shown may also not be completely accurate, and the Khitan Large Script characters corresponding to the Chóngfú era may contain additional characters that are not part of the era name.

Name	Date	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
Name	Date	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
Yánqìng 延慶 "Continuing Celebration"	1123–1134
Kāngguó 康國 "Well-Being of the State"	1134–1144
Xiánqīng 咸清 "All Clear"	1134–1151
Shàoxīng 紹興 or Xùxīng 續興 "Continuing to Flourish"	1151–1164
Chóngfú 崇福 "Venerating Good Fortune"	1164–1178	
Tiānxǐ 天禧 "Heaven's Blessings"	1178–1212/1218	

Jin Era Names

Name	Date	Large Khitan	Small Khitan
Name	Date	Large Khitan	Characters	Reading
Tiānfǔ 天輔 "Heaven Assists"	1117–1123		𘲇 𘭱𘱯𘱸	Great zủ-ge-én
Tiānhuì 天會 "Heaven Meets"	1123–1137		𘰲 𘰴𘬛𘱦 𘰲 𘰺𘬛𘱦	Heaven d-iu-er Heaven t-iu-er
Tiānjuàn 天眷 "Heaven Cares"	1138–1140		𘰲 𘰴𘱀𘬜𘱦 𘰲 𘰺𘱀𘬜𘱦	Heaven d-em-ei-er Heaven t-em-ei-er
Huángtǒng 皇統 "Imperial Unity"	1141–1149		𘰴𘮧 𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕	de-po hó-l-bo-ń
Tiāndé 天德 "Heaven's Virtue"	1149–1153		𘰲 𘰴𘬛𘲢	Heaven d-iu-ir
Dàdìng 大定 "Great Stability"	1161–1189		𘲇 𘳈𘯺𘮢 𘰲 𘳈𘭂𘯴	Great doro-a-án Heaven doro-ha-am

The second Khitan Small Script spelling for the Dàdìng era is given in Kane 2009 p. 159, but I have not seen it in any of the epitaphs I have had access to.

Liao and Jin Chronologies

The tables below cover the periods of the Liao dynasty and Jin dynasty, year by year from 916 to 1234. All Khitan Large Script and Khitan Small Script dates that can be identified as referring to a specific year are given in a deliberately literal English translation under the year they refer to. The corresponding Julian date is given in curly braces in YYYY-MM-DD format. Dates that only refer to a particular day or month, but do not directly or indirectly specify a year, are not included at present. The Khitan text of the inscriptions is provided for reference after the chronological tables, and the sources ("KL" and "KS" numbers) are identified at the bottom of this page.

Liao Chronology (916–1125)

Emperor Taizu 太祖
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
神冊 Shéncè	1	[後梁] 貞明 2	丙子 red rat	916
	2	[後梁] 貞明 3	丁丑 red ox	917
	3	[後梁] 貞明 4	戊寅 yellow tiger	918
	4	[後梁] 貞明 5	己卯 yellow rabbit	919
	5	[後梁] 貞明 6	庚辰 white dragon	920
	6	[後梁] 貞明 7 [後梁] 龍德 1	辛巳 white snake	921	KL13 l.6: Shence six year
	7	[後梁] 龍德 2	壬午 black horse	922
天贊 Tiānzàn	1	[後梁] 龍德 2	壬午 black horse	922
	2	[後梁] 龍德 3 [後唐] 同光 1	癸未 black goat	923
	3	[後唐] 同光 2	甲申 green monkey	924
	4	[後唐] 同光 3	乙酉 green rooster	925
	5	[後唐] 同光 4 [後唐] 天成 1	丙戌 red dog	926

Emperor Taizong 太宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year
天顯 Tiānxiǎn	1	[後唐] 天成 2	丙戌 red dog	926
	2	[後唐] 天成 3	丁亥 red pig	927
	3	[後唐] 天成 4	戊子 yellow rat	928
	4	[後唐] 天成 5	己丑 yellow ox	929
	5	[後唐] 天成 6 [後唐] 長興 1	庚寅 white tiger	930
	6	[後唐] 長興 2	辛卯 white rabbit	931
	7	[後唐] 長興 3	壬辰 black dragon	932
	8	[後唐] 長興 4	癸巳 black snake	933
	9	[後唐] 應順 1 [後唐] 清泰 1	甲午 green horse	934
	10	[後唐] 清泰 2	乙未 green goat	935
	11	[後唐] 清泰 3 [後晉] 天福 1	丙申 red monkey	936
	12	[後晉] 天福 2	丁酉 red rooster	937
	13	[後晉] 天福 3	戊戌 yellow dog	938
會同 Huìtóng	1	[後晉] 天福 3	戊戌 yellow dog	938
	2	[後晉] 天福 4	己亥 yellow pig	939
	3	[後晉] 天福 5	庚子 white rat	940
	4	[後晉] 天福 6	辛丑 white ox	941
	5	[後晉] 天福 7	壬寅 black tiger	942
	6	[後晉] 天福 8	癸卯 black rabbit	943
	7	[後晉] 天福 9 [後晉] 開運 1	甲辰 green dragon	944
	8	[後晉] 開運 2	乙巳 green snake	945
	9	[後晉] 開運 3	丙午 red horse	946
	10	[後漢] 天福 12	丁未 red goat	947
大同 Dàtóng	1	[後漢] 天福 12	丁未 red goat	947

Emperor Shizong 世宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year
天祿 Tiānlù	1	[後漢] 天福 12	丁未 red goat	947
	2	[後漢] 乾祐 1	戊申 yellow monkey	948
	3	[後漢] 乾祐 2	己酉 yellow rooster	949
	4	[後漢] 乾祐 3	庚戌 white dog	950
	5	[後周] 廣順 1	辛亥 white pig	951

Emperor Muzong 穆宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
應曆 Yìnglì	1	[後周] 廣順 1	辛亥 white pig	951
	2	[後周] 廣順 2	壬子 black rat	952
	3	[後周] 廣順 3	癸丑 black ox	953
	4	[後周] 顯德 1	甲寅 green tiger	954
	5	[後周] 顯德 2	乙卯 green rabbit	955
	6	[後周] 顯德 3	丙辰 red dragon	956
	7	[後周] 顯德 4	丁巳 red snake	957
	8	[後周] 顯德 5	戊午 yellow horse	958
	9	[後周] 顯德 6	己未 yellow goat	959
	10	[後周] 顯德 7 [北宋] 建隆 1	庚申 white monkey	960	KL20 l.24: Yìnglì ten year five month twenty-eight day
	11	[北宋] 建隆 2	辛酉 white rooster	961
	12	[北宋] 建隆 3	壬戌 black dog	962
	13	[北宋] 建隆 4 [北宋] 乾德 1	癸亥 black pig	963
	14	[北宋] 乾德 2	甲子 green rat	964
	15	[北宋] 乾德 3	乙丑 green ox	965
	16	[北宋] 乾德 4	丙寅 red tiger	966
	17	[北宋] 乾德 5	丁卯 red rabbit	967
	18	[北宋] 乾德 6 [北宋] 開寶 1	戊辰 yellow dragon	968
	19	[北宋] 開寶 2	己巳 yellow snake	969

Emperor Jingzong 景宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
保寧 Bǎoníng	1	[北宋] 開寶 2	己巳 yellow snake	969
	2	[北宋] 開寶 3	庚午 white horse	970
	3	[北宋] 開寶 4	辛未 white goat	971
	4	[北宋] 開寶 5	壬申 black monkey	972
	5	[北宋] 開寶 6	癸酉 black rooster	973	KL08 l.7: Baoning five year
	6	[北宋] 開寶 7	甲戌 green dog	974
	7	[北宋] 開寶 8	乙亥 green pig	975
	8	[北宋] 開寶 9 [北宋] 太平興國 1	丙子 red rat	976
	9	[北宋] 太平興國 2	丁丑 red ox	977
	10	[北宋] 太平興國 3	戊寅 yellow tiger	978
	11	[北宋] 太平興國 4	己卯 yellow rabbit	979
乾亨 Qiánhēng	1	[北宋] 太平興國 4	己卯 yellow rabbit	979
	2	[北宋] 太平興國 5	庚辰 white dragon	980
	3	[北宋] 太平興國 6	辛巳 white snake	981
	4	[北宋] 太平興國 7	壬午 black horse	982
	5	[北宋] 太平興國 8	癸未 black goat	983

Emperor Shengzong 聖宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
統和 Tǒnghé	1	[北宋] 太平興國 8	癸未 black goat	983	KS27 l.5: Tǒnghé first year
	2	[北宋] 太平興國 9 [北宋] 雍熙 1	甲申 green monkey	984
	3	[北宋] 雍熙 2	乙酉 green rooster	985
	4	[北宋] 雍熙 3	丙戌 red dog	986
	5	[北宋] 雍熙 4	丁亥 red pig	987
	6	[北宋] 端拱 1	戊子 yellow rat	988
	7	[北宋] 端拱 2	己丑 yellow ox	989
	8	[北宋] 淳化 1	庚寅 white tiger	990
	9	[北宋] 淳化 2	辛卯 white rabbit	991
	10	[北宋] 淳化 3	壬辰 black dragon	992
	11	[北宋] 淳化 4	癸巳 black snake	993
	12	[北宋] 淳化 5	甲午 green horse	994
	13	[北宋] 至道 1	乙未 green goat	995
	14	[北宋] 至道 2	丙申 red monkey	996
	15	[北宋] 至道 3	丁酉 red rooster	997
	16	[北宋] 咸平 1	戊戌 yellow dog	998
	17	[北宋] 咸平 2	己亥 yellow pig	999
	18	[北宋] 咸平 3	庚子 white rat	1000	KL12 l.10: Tǒnghé eighteen white rat year green dog month white goat day [Note 2]
	19	[北宋] 咸平 4	辛丑 white ox	1001
	20	[北宋] 咸平 5	壬寅 black tiger	1002
	21	[北宋] 咸平 6	癸卯 black rabbit	1003
	22	[北宋] 景德 1	甲辰 green dragon	1004	KS12 l.4: Tǒnghé twenty-two year Seal A5a: Tǒnghé twenty-two year five month day
	23	[北宋] 景德 2	乙巳 green snake	1005
	24	[北宋] 景德 3	丙午 red horse	1006
	25	[北宋] 景德 4	丁未 red goat	1007
	26	[北宋] 大中祥符 1	戊申 yellow monkey	1008
	27	[北宋] 大中祥符 2	己酉 yellow rooster	1009
	28	[北宋] 大中祥符 3	庚戌 white dog	1010
	29	[北宋] 大中祥符 4	辛亥 white pig	1011	KL08 l.11: Tǒnghé twenty-nine year
	30	[北宋] 大中祥符 5	壬子 black rat	1012
開泰 Kāitài	1	[北宋] 大中祥符 5	壬子 black rat	1012
	2	[北宋] 大中祥符 6	癸丑 black ox	1013
	3	[北宋] 大中祥符 7	甲寅 green tiger	1014
	4	[北宋] 大中祥符 8	乙卯 green rabbit	1015
	5	[北宋] 大中祥符 9	丙辰 red dragon	1016
	6	[北宋] 天禧 1	丁巳 red snake	1017
	7	[北宋] 天禧 2	戊午 yellow horse	1018
	8	[北宋] 天禧 3	己未 yellow goat	1019
	9	[北宋] 天禧 4	庚申 white monkey	1020
	10	[北宋] 天禧 5	辛酉 white rooster	1021
太平 Tàipíng	1	[北宋] 天禧 5	辛酉 white rooster	1021
	2	[北宋] 乾興 1	壬戌 black dog	1022
	3	[北宋] 天聖 1	癸亥 black pig	1023	KS36 l.8: Tàipíng three red pig year extra nine month two day {1023-10-19} [Note 1]
	4	[北宋] 天聖 2	甲子 green rat	1024
	5	[北宋] 天聖 3	乙丑 green ox	1025
	6	[北宋] 天聖 4	丙寅 red tiger	1026	KS26 l.13: Tàipíng red tiger year head month twenty-nine day {1026-02-19}
	7	[北宋] 天聖 5	丁卯 red rabbit	1027
	8	[北宋] 天聖 6	戊辰 yellow dragon	1028
	9	[北宋] 天聖 7	己巳 yellow snake	1029
	10	[北宋] 天聖 8	庚午 white horse	1030
	11	[北宋] 天聖 9	辛未 white goat	1031
景福 Jǐngfú	1	[北宋] 天聖 9	辛未 white goat	1031
景福 Jǐngfú	2	[北宋] 天聖 10 [北宋] 明道 1 [西夏] 顯道 1	壬申 black monkey	1032

Emperor Xingzong 興宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
重熙 Chóngxī	1	[北宋] 天聖 10 [北宋] 明道 1 [西夏] 顯道 1	壬申 black monkey	1032
	2	[北宋] 明道 2 [西夏] 顯道 2	癸酉 black rooster	1033	KL09 l.6: Chóngxī two year five month thirteen day {1033-06-12}
	3	[北宋] 景祐 1 [西夏] 顯道 3 [西夏] 開運 1 [西夏] 廣運 1	甲戌 green dog	1034
	4	[北宋] 景祐 2 [西夏] 廣運 2	乙亥 green pig	1035	KL08 l.15: Chóngxī four year six month
	5	[北宋] 景祐 3 [西夏] 廣運 3 [西夏] 大慶 1	丙子 red rat	1036
	6	[北宋] 景祐 4 [西夏] 大慶 2	丁丑 red ox	1037	KL05 l.10: Chóngxī six yellow tiger year seven month eighteen day {1037-08-31} or {1038-08-21} [Note 1]
	7	[北宋] 景祐 5 [北宋] 寶元 1 [西夏] 大慶 3 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 1	戊寅 yellow tiger	1038
	8	[北宋] 寶元 2 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 2	己卯 yellow rabbit	1039
	9	[北宋] 寶元 3 [北宋] 康定 1 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 3	庚辰 white dragon	1040
	10	[北宋] 康定 2 [北宋] 慶曆 1 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 4	辛巳 white snake	1041	KL08 l.19: Chóngxī ten snake year two month fifteen green horse day {1041-03-19} KS12 l.9: Chóngxī ten white snake year six month thirteen day {1041-07-13} KS32 l.10: Chóngxī ten white dragon year two month ten day {1040-03-25} or {1041-03-14} [Note 1]
	11	[北宋] 慶曆 2 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 5	壬午 black horse	1042
	12	[北宋] 慶曆 3 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 6	癸未 black goat	1043
	13	[北宋] 慶曆 4 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 7	甲申 green monkey	1044
	14	[北宋] 慶曆 5 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 8	乙酉 green rooster	1045	N176 p.9: Chóngxī fourteen year two month
	15	[北宋] 慶曆 6 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 9	丙戌 red dog	1046	KS26 l.14: Chóngxī fifteen red dog year
	16	[北宋] 慶曆 7 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 10	丁亥 red pig	1047
	17	[北宋] 慶曆 8 [西夏] 天授禮法延祚 11	戊子 yellow rat	1048
	18	[北宋] 皇祐 1 [西夏] 延嗣寧國 1	己丑 yellow ox	1049
	19	[北宋] 皇祐 2 [西夏] 天祐垂聖 1	庚寅 white tiger	1050
	20	[北宋] 皇祐 3 [西夏] 天祐垂聖 2	辛卯 white rabbit	1051	KL07 l.39: Chóngxī twenty rabbit year ten month twenty-two day {1051-11-28}
	21	[北宋] 皇祐 4 [西夏] 天祐垂聖 3	壬辰 black dragon	1052
	22	[北宋] 皇祐 5 [西夏] 福聖承道 1	癸巳 black snake	1053
	23	[北宋] 皇祐 6 [北宋] 至和 1 [西夏] 福聖承道 2	甲午 green horse	1054	KS20 l.17: Chóngxī twenty-three year
	24	[北宋] 至和 2 [西夏] 福聖承道 3	乙未 green goat	1055	KS05 l.1: Chóngxī twenty-four order-of-the-year green goat eight month red dog beginning four day yellow ox {1055-08-28}

Emperor Daozong 道宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
清寧 Qīngníng	1	[北宋] 至和 2 [西夏] 福聖承道 3	乙未 green goat	1055	KS05 l.2: Qīngníng first year eleven month ten day green rat {1055-12-01}
	2	[北宋] 至和 3 [北宋] 嘉祐 1 [西夏] 福聖承道 4	丙申 red monkey	1056
	3	[北宋] 嘉祐 2 [西夏] 奲都 1	丁酉 red rooster	1057	KS20 l.25: Qīngníng three year two month twenty-seven day {1057-04-03}
	4	[北宋] 嘉祐 3 [西夏] 奲都 2	戊戌 yellow dog	1058	KL18 l.7: Qīngníng four year eight month one day {1058-08-22}
	5	[北宋] 嘉祐 4 [西夏] 奲都 3	己亥 yellow pig	1059	KS02 l.27: Qīngníng five yellow pig spring two month fourteen day {1059-03-30} KS32 l.11: Qīngníng five year
	6	[北宋] 嘉祐 5 [西夏] 奲都 4	庚子 white rat	1060	KL13 l.16: Qīngníng six year
	7	[北宋] 嘉祐 6 [西夏] 奲都 5	辛丑 white ox	1061	KL12 l.17: Qīngníng seven white ox year twelve month white dragon beginning twenty-one white rat day {1062-02-03}
	8	[北宋] 嘉祐 7 [西夏] 奲都 6	壬寅 black tiger	1062	KL12 l.20: Qīngníng eight black tiger year nine month green snake beginning twenty-six white horse day {1062-10-31}
	9	[北宋] 嘉祐 8 [西夏] 拱化 1	癸卯 black rabbit	1063	KL14 l.13: Qīngníng nine white rabbit head month twenty-eight day {1063-02-28} [Note 1]
	10	[北宋] 治平 1 [西夏] 拱化 2	甲辰 green dragon	1064	KS32 l.12: Qīngníng ten year
咸雍 Xiányōng	1	[北宋] 治平 2 [西夏] 拱化 3	乙巳 green snake	1065	KL13 l.20: Xiányōng first year KS32 l.12: Xiányōng first year
	2	[北宋] 治平 3 [西夏] 拱化 4	丙午 red horse	1066	KS02 l.32: Xiányōng two green horse year four month ten day {1066-05-06} KS15 l.10: Xiányōng two year [Note 1]
	3	[北宋] 治平 4 [西夏] 拱化 5 [西夏] 乾道 1	丁未 red goat	1067
	4	[北宋] 熙寧 1 [西夏] 乾道 2	戊申 yellow monkey	1068
	5	[北宋] 熙寧 2 [西夏] 天賜禮盛國慶 1	己酉 yellow rooster	1069
	6	[北宋] 熙寧 3 [西夏] 天賜禮盛國慶 2	庚戌 white dog	1070
	7	[北宋] 熙寧 4 [西夏] 天賜禮盛國慶 3	辛亥 white pig	1071	KS32 l.12: Xiányōng seven year
	8	[北宋] 熙寧 5 [西夏] 天賜禮盛國慶 4	壬子 black rat	1072
	9	[北宋] 熙寧 6 [西夏] 天賜禮盛國慶 5	癸丑 black ox	1073
	10	[北宋] 熙寧 7 [西夏] 天賜禮盛國慶 6	甲寅 green tiger	1074
大康 Dàkāng	1	[北宋] 熙寧 8 [西夏] 大安 1	乙卯 green rabbit	1075	KS07 l.4: Dàkāng first year order-of-the-year green rabbit eleven month yellow goat beginning three day white rooster {1075-12-13} KS32 l.14: Dàkāng first year
	2	[北宋] 熙寧 9 [西夏] 大安 2	丙辰 red dragon	1076	KS06 l.11: Dàkāng two red dragon year three month red dragon beginning six day white rooster {1076-04-11} KS06 l.14: that year six month ten day green horse {1076-07-13} KS12 l.13: Dàkāng two year winter KS32 l.16: Dàkāng two year
	3	[北宋] 熙寧 10 [西夏] 大安 3	丁巳 red snake	1077	KL13 l.13: Dàkāng three year summer KS40: Dàkāng three year four month thirteen day {1077-05-07}
	4	[北宋] 元豐 1 [西夏] 大安 4	戊午 yellow horse	1078
	5	[北宋] 元豐 2 [西夏] 大安 5	己未 yellow goat	1079	KS12 l.15: Dàkāng five year spring
	6	[北宋] 元豐 3 [西夏] 大安 6	庚申 white monkey	1080	KL05 l.13: Dàkāng six year extra eight month twenty-two day {1080-10-07} KL13 l.21: Dàkāng six year
	7	[北宋] 元豐 4 [西夏] 大安 7	辛酉 white rooster	1081	KL05 l.15: Dàkāng seven white rooster year three month yellow rat beginning fifteen black tiger day {1081-04-26} KS10 l.7: Dàkāng seven year five month eighteen day {1081-06-27}
	8	[北宋] 元豐 5 [西夏] 大安 8	壬戌 black dog	1082
	9	[北宋] 元豐 6 [西夏] 大安 9	癸亥 black pig	1083
	10	[北宋] 元豐 7 [西夏] 大安 10	甲子 green rat	1084	KL01 l.4: Dàkāng ten year five month day KL12 l.29: Dàkāng ten year six month five day {1084-07-10}
大安 Dà'ān	1	[北宋] 元豐 8 [西夏] 大安 11	乙丑 green ox	1085	KS02 l.29: green ox year autumn KS02 l.31: that year eleven month thirteen day {1085-12-02} KS02 l.33: Dà'ān first green ox year nine month
	2	[北宋] 元祐 1 [西夏] 天安禮定 1 [西夏] 天儀治平 1	丙寅 red tiger	1086	KL13 l.22: Dà'ān two year
	3	[北宋] 元祐 2 [西夏] 天儀治平 2	丁卯 red rabbit	1087	KS02 l.35: Dà'ān three green rabbit year ten month twenty-four day {1087-11-21} [Note 1]
	4	[北宋] 元祐 3 [西夏] 天儀治平 3	戊辰 yellow dragon	1088	KS02 l.43: Dà'ān four yellow dragon year head month yellow rooster beginning thirteen day {1088-02-08}
	5	[北宋] 元祐 4 [西夏] 天儀治平 4	己巳 yellow snake	1089
	6	[北宋] 元祐 5 [西夏] 天祐民安 1	庚午 white horse	1090	KL10 l.15: Dà'ān six year three month nineteen day {1090-04-21} KS23 l.6: Dà'ān six white horse year five month three day {1090-06-03}
	7	[北宋] 元祐 6 [西夏] 天祐民安 2	辛未 white goat	1091	KL09 l.21: Dà'ān seven year ten month sixteen day KL14 l.14: Dà'ān seven year KS12 l.16: Dà'ān seven year two month sixteen day {1091-03-08} KS12 l.29: Dà'ān seven year order-of-the-year white goat nine month red dog beginning thirty green rabbit day {1091-11-13}
	8	[北宋] 元祐 7 [西夏] 天祐民安 3	壬申 black monkey	1092	KL09 l.24: Dà'ān eight black monkey year three month green monkey beginning two green rooster day {1092-04-11} KS26 l.26: Dà'ān eight black monkey year head month twenty-three day {1092-03-03} KS26 l.41: Dà'ān eight black monkey year eight month seven day {1092-09-11}
	9	[北宋] 元祐 8 [西夏] 天祐民安 4	癸酉 black rooster	1093
	10	[北宋] 元祐 9 [北宋] 紹聖 1 [西夏] 天祐民安 5	甲戌 green dog	1094	KS10 l.9: Dà'ān ten year KS17 l.16–17: Dà'ān ten year KS36 l.20: Dà'ān ten green dog year eight month nine day {1094-09-21} KS36 l.21: that year eleven month twenty-three day {1095-01-02} KS36 l.27: Dà'ān green dog year eleven month fifteen day {1094-12-25}
壽昌 Shòuchāng	1	[北宋] 紹聖 2 [西夏] 天祐民安 6	乙亥 green pig	1095	KL13 l.25: Shòuchāng first year KS32 ll.19, 23: Shòuchāng first year
	2	[北宋] 紹聖 3 [西夏] 天祐民安 7	丙子 red rat	1096
	3	[北宋] 紹聖 4 [西夏] 天祐民安 8	丁丑 red ox	1097
	4	[北宋] 紹聖 5 [北宋] 元符 1 [西夏] 永安 1	戊寅 yellow tiger	1098	KS32 l.3: Shòuchāng four yellow tiger year twelve month yellow tiger day {1098-12-29} KS32 l.20: Shòuchāng four year twelve month four day {1098-12-29}
	5	[北宋] 元符 2 [西夏] 永安 2	己卯 yellow rabbit	1099	KS32 l.3: yellow rabbit year four month black rooster beginning twenty-eight yellow rat day {1099-05-20} [Note 1] KS32 l.48: Shòuchāng five year four month twenty-eight day {1099-05-20}
	6	[北宋] 元符 3 [西夏] 永安 3	庚辰 white dragon	1100	KS15 l.17: Shòuchāng six year KS27 l.14: Shòuchāng six year eleven month three day {1100-12-05}
	7	[北宋] 建中靖國 1 [西夏] 貞觀 1	辛巳 white snake	1101	KS04 l.4: Shòuchāng seven year order-of-the-year white snake head month black dog beginning thirteen green dog {1101-02-12} KS27 l.22: Shòuchāng seven white snake year two month black dragon beginning twenty-eight yellow goat day {1101-03-29} [Note 4]

Emperor Tianzuo 天祚帝
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
乾統 Qiántǒng	1	[北宋] 建中靖國 1 [西夏] 貞觀 1	辛巳 white snake	1101	KL13 ll.14, 26, 35: Qiántǒng first year KS04 l.5: Qiántǒng first year four month ten day white rat day {1101-05-09} KS04 l.6: that year six month twenty-three black rat {1101-07-20} KS07 l.5: Qiántǒng first year six month twenty-three day {1101-07-20} KS27 l.34: Qiántǒng first year two month twenty-eight day {1101-03-29}
	2	[北宋] 崇寧 1 [西夏] 貞觀 2	壬午 black horse	1102
	3	[北宋] 崇寧 2 [西夏] 貞觀 3	癸未 black goat	1103	KS17 l.35: Qiántǒng three year
	4	[北宋] 崇寧 3 [西夏] 貞觀 4	甲申 green monkey	1104
	5	[北宋] 崇寧 4 [西夏] 貞觀 5	乙酉 green rooster	1105	KS17 l.53: Qiántǒng five green rooster year two month twenty-one day {1105-03-09}
	6	[北宋] 崇寧 5 [西夏] 貞觀 6	丙戌 red dog	1106
	7	[北宋] 大觀 1 [西夏] 貞觀 7	丁亥 red pig	1107	KS15 l.21: Qiántǒng seven year first ten month nineteen day {1107-11-05} [Note 3]
	8	[北宋] 大觀 2 [西夏] 貞觀 8	戊子 yellow rat	1108	KL13 l.28: eight year head month twenty-three day {1108-03-07} KL13 l.29: that year six month three black horse day {1108-07-13} KL13 l.46: Qiántǒng eight year five month day KS15 l.23: yellow rat ten month eight day {1108-11-12}
	9	[北宋] 大觀 3 [西夏] 貞觀 9	己丑 yellow ox	1109
	10	[北宋] 大觀 4 [西夏] 貞觀 10	庚寅 white tiger	1110	KL14 l.16: Qiántǒng ten year KS29 l.4: Qiántǒng ten year order-of-the-year white tiger extra eight month red rooster beginning twenty-five white rooster {1110-10-10} KS29 l.4: ten month red monkey beginning five day white rat {1110-11-18} KS29 l.5: eleven month green ox beginning eight day black monkey {1110-12-20}
天慶 Tiānqìng	1	[北宋] 政和 1 [西夏] 貞觀 11	辛卯 white rabbit	1111
	2	[北宋] 政和 2 [西夏] 貞觀 12	壬辰 black dragon	1112
	3	[北宋] 政和 3 [西夏] 貞觀 13	癸巳 black snake	1113	KL14 l.17: Tiānqìng three black snake year eleven month fifteen day {1113-12-24}
	4	[北宋] 政和 4 [西夏] 雍寧 1	甲午 green horse	1114	KL14 l.25: Tiānqìng four green horse year white rat day
	5	[北宋] 政和 5 [金] 收國 1 [西夏] 雍寧 2	乙未 green goat	1115	KS10 l.13: Tiānqìng five year spring ... head month eleven day {1115-02-07} KS10 l.25: Tiānqìng five green goat year four month white rat beginning ten yellow rooster day {1115-05-05}
	6	[北宋] 政和 6 [金] 收國 2 [西夏] 雍寧 3	丙申 red monkey	1116
	7	[北宋] 政和 7 [金] 天輔 1 [西夏] 雍寧 4	丁酉 red rooster	1117
	8	[北宋] 政和 8 [北宋] 重和 1 [金] 天輔 2 [西夏] 雍寧 5	戊戌 yellow dog	1118
	9	[北宋] 重和 2 [北宋] 宣和 1 [金] 天輔 3 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 1	己亥 yellow pig	1119
	10	[北宋] 宣和 2 [金] 天輔 4 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 2	庚子 white rat	1120
保大 Bǎodà	1	[北宋] 宣和 3 [金] 天輔 5 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 3	辛丑 white ox	1121
	2	[北宋] 宣和 4 [金] 天輔 6 [北遼] 建福 (天福) 1 [北遼] 德興 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 4	壬寅 black tiger	1122
	3	[北宋] 宣和 5 [金] 天輔 7 [金] 天會 1 [北遼] 神曆 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 5	癸卯 black rabbit	1123
	4	[北宋] 宣和 6 [金] 天會 2 [西遼] 延慶 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 6	甲辰 green dragon	1124
	5	[北宋] 宣和 7 [金] 天會 3 [西遼] 延慶 2 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 7	乙巳 green snake	1125

Jin Chronology (1115–1234)

Emperor Taizu 太祖
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
收國 Shōuguó	1	[北宋] 政和 5 [遼] 天慶 5 [西夏] 雍寧 2	乙未 green goat	1115
收國 Shōuguó	2	[北宋] 政和 6 [遼] 天慶 6 [西夏] 雍寧 3	丙申 red monkey	1116
天輔 Tiānfǔ	1	[北宋] 政和 7 [遼] 天慶 7 [西夏] 雍寧 4	丁酉 red rooster	1117
	2	[北宋] 政和 8 [北宋] 重和 1 [遼] 天慶 8 [西夏] 雍寧 5	戊戌 yellow dog	1118
	3	[北宋] 重和 2 [北宋] 宣和 1 [遼] 天慶 9 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 1	己亥 yellow pig	1119
	4	[北宋] 宣和 2 [遼] 天慶 10 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 2	庚子 white rat	1120
	5	[北宋] 宣和 3 [遼] 保大 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 3	辛丑 white ox	1121
	6	[北宋] 宣和 4 [遼] 保大 2 [北遼] 建福 (天福) 1 [北遼] 德興 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 4	壬寅 black tiger	1122	KS23 l.10: Tiānfǔ six year head month sixteen day {1122-02-24}
	7	[北宋] 宣和 5 [遼] 保大 3 [北遼] 神曆 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 5	癸卯 black rabbit	1123

Emperor Taizong 太宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
天會 Tiānhuì	1	[北宋] 宣和 5 [遼] 保大 3 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 5	癸卯 black rabbit	1123
	2	[北宋] 宣和 6 [遼] 保大 4 [西遼] 延慶 1 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 6	甲辰 green dragon	1124	KS14 l.10: Tiānhuì two year
	3	[北宋] 宣和 7 [遼] 保大 5 [西遼] 延慶 2 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 7	乙巳 green snake	1125
	4	[北宋] 靖康 1 [西遼] 延慶 3 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 8	丙午 red horse	1126
	5	[北宋] 靖康 2 [南宋] 建炎 1 [西遼] 延慶 4 [西夏] 元德 (天德) 9 [西夏] 正德 1	丁未 red goat	1127
	6	[南宋] 建炎 2 [西遼] 延慶 5 [西夏] 正德 2	戊申 yellow monkey	1128
	7	[南宋] 建炎 3 [西遼] 延慶 6 [西夏] 正德 3	己酉 yellow rooster	1129
	8	[南宋] 建炎 4 [西遼] 延慶 7 [西夏] 正德 4	庚戌 white dog	1130
	9	[南宋] 紹興 1 [西遼] 延慶 8 [西夏] 正德 5	辛亥 white pig	1131
	10	[南宋] 紹興 2 [西遼] 延慶 9 [西夏] 正德 6	壬子 black rat	1132
	11	[南宋] 紹興 3 [西遼] 延慶 10 [西夏] 正德 7	癸丑 black ox	1133	KS23 l.19: Tiānhuì eleven year
	12	[南宋] 紹興 4 [西遼] 康國 1 [西夏] 正德 8	甲寅 green tiger	1134	KS38 l.5: Tiānhuì twelve green tiger year middle winter fourteen day {1135-12-20} [Note 5]
	13	[南宋] 紹興 5 [西遼] 康國 2 [西夏] 大德 1	乙卯 green rabbit	1135
	14	[南宋] 紹興 6 [西遼] 康國 3 [西夏] 大德 2	丙辰 red dragon	1136	KS23 l.19: Tiānhuì fourteen year
	15	[南宋] 紹興 7 [西遼] 康國 4 [西夏] 大德 3	丁巳 red snake	1137	KS23 l.20: Tiānhuì fifteen year

Emperor Xizong 熙宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
天眷 Tiānjuàn	1	[南宋] 紹興 8 [西遼] 康國 5 [西夏] 大德 4	戊午 yellow horse	1138	KS23 l.20: Tiānjuàn first year
	2	[南宋] 紹興 9 [西遼] 康國 6 [西夏] 大德 5	己未 yellow goat	1139	KS14 l.22: Tiānjuàn two year KS23 l.20: Tiānjuàn two year
	3	[南宋] 紹興 10 [西遼] 康國 7 [西夏] 大慶 1	庚申 white monkey	1140	KS23 l.21: Tiānjuàn three year
皇統 Huángtǒng	1	[南宋] 紹興 11 [西遼] 康國 8 [西夏] 大慶 2	辛酉 white rooster	1141	KS14 l.22: Huángtǒng first year KS23 l.21: Huángtǒng first year
	2	[南宋] 紹興 12 [西遼] 康國 9 [西夏] 大慶 3	壬戌 black dog	1142	KS23 l.21: Huángtǒng two year
	3	[南宋] 紹興 13 [西遼] 康國 10 [西夏] 大慶 4	癸亥 black pig	1143	KS14 l.24: [...] pig year four month yellow horse beginning twenty-eight green rooster day {1143-05-14}
	4	[南宋] 紹興 14 [西遼] 咸清 1 [西夏] 人慶 1	甲子 green rat	1144
	5	[南宋] 紹興 15 [西遼] 咸清 2 [西夏] 人慶 2	乙丑 green ox	1145	KS23 l.21: Huángtǒng five year
	6	[南宋] 紹興 16 [西遼] 咸清 3 [西夏] 人慶 3	丙寅 red tiger	1146
	7	[南宋] 紹興 17 [西遼] 咸清 4 [西夏] 人慶 4	丁卯 red rabbit	1147	KS23 l.22: Huángtǒng seven year
	8	[南宋] 紹興 18 [西遼] 咸清 5 [西夏] 人慶 5	戊辰 yellow dragon	1148	KS23 l.22: Huángtǒng eight year
	9	[南宋] 紹興 19 [西遼] 咸清 6 [西夏] 天盛 1	己巳 yellow snake	1149

Emperor Hailingwang 海陵王
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
天德 Tiāndé	1	[南宋] 紹興 19 [西遼] 咸清 6 [西夏] 天盛 1	己巳 yellow snake	1149	KS23 l.23: Tiāndé first year
	2	[南宋] 紹興 20 [西遼] 咸清 7 [西夏] 天盛 2	庚午 white horse	1150	KS23 l.24: Tiāndé two year head month KS23 l.45: that time white horse year nine month day KS23 l.50: Tiāndé two year order-of-the-year white horse nine month green dog beginning nineteen day {1150-10-11}
	3	[南宋] 紹興 21 [西遼] 紹興 1 [西夏] 天盛 3	辛未 white goat	1151
	4	[南宋] 紹興 22 [西遼] 紹興 2 [西夏] 天盛 4	壬申 black monkey	1152
	5	[南宋] 紹興 23 [西遼] 紹興 3 [西夏] 天盛 5	癸酉 black rooster	1153
貞元 Zhēnyuán	1	[南宋] 紹興 23 [西遼] 紹興 3 [西夏] 天盛 5	癸酉 black rooster	1153
	2	[南宋] 紹興 24 [西遼] 紹興 4 [西夏] 天盛 6	甲戌 green dog	1154
	3	[南宋] 紹興 25 [西遼] 紹興 5 [西夏] 天盛 7	乙亥 green pig	1155
	4	[南宋] 紹興 26 [西遼] 紹興 6 [西夏] 天盛 8	丙子 red rat	1156
正隆 Zhènglóng	1	[南宋] 紹興 26 [西遼] 紹興 6 [西夏] 天盛 8	丙子 red rat	1156
	2	[南宋] 紹興 27 [西遼] 紹興 7 [西夏] 天盛 9	丁丑 red ox	1157
	3	[南宋] 紹興 28 [西遼] 紹興 8 [西夏] 天盛 10	戊寅 yellow tiger	1158
	4	[南宋] 紹興 29 [西遼] 紹興 9 [西夏] 天盛 11	己卯 yellow rabbit	1159
	5	[南宋] 紹興 30 [西遼] 紹興 10 [西夏] 天盛 12	庚辰 white dragon	1160
	6	[南宋] 紹興 31 [西遼] 紹興 11 [西夏] 天盛 13	辛巳 white snake	1161

Emperor Shizong 世宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
大定 Dàdìng	1	[南宋] 紹興 31 [西遼] 紹興 11 [西夏] 天盛 13	辛巳 white snake	1161
	2	[南宋] 紹興 32 [西遼] 紹興 12 [西夏] 天盛 14	壬午 black horse	1162
	3	[南宋] 隆興 1 [西遼] 紹興 13 [西夏] 天盛 15	癸未 black goat	1163
	4	[南宋] 隆興 2 [西遼] 崇福 1 [西夏] 天盛 16	甲申 green monkey	1164
	5	[南宋] 乾道 1 [西遼] 崇福 2 [西夏] 天盛 17	乙酉 green rooster	1165	Seal A9: Chóngfú 2 year
	6	[南宋] 乾道 2 [西遼] 崇福 3 [西夏] 天盛 18	丙戌 red dog	1166
	7	[南宋] 乾道 3 [西遼] 崇福 4 [西夏] 天盛 19	丁亥 red pig	1167
	8	[南宋] 乾道 4 [西遼] 崇福 5 [西夏] 天盛 20	戊子 yellow rat	1168
	9	[南宋] 乾道 5 [西遼] 崇福 6 [西夏] 天盛 21	己丑 yellow ox	1169
	10	[南宋] 乾道 6 [西遼] 崇福 7 [西夏] 乾祐 1	庚寅 white tiger	1170	KS14 l.38: Dàdìng ten white tiger year twelve month red horse beginning twenty-five white horse day {1171-02-01}
	11	[南宋] 乾道 7 [西遼] 崇福 8 [西夏] 乾祐 2	辛卯 white rabbit	1171
	12	[南宋] 乾道 8 [西遼] 崇福 9 [西夏] 乾祐 3	壬辰 black dragon	1172
	13	[南宋] 乾道 9 [西遼] 崇福 10 [西夏] 乾祐 4	癸巳 black snake	1173	KS39: Dàdìng ten three year six month twenty-three day {1173-08-03}
	14	[南宋] 淳熙 1 [西遼] 崇福 11 [西夏] 乾祐 5	甲午 green horse	1174
	15	[南宋] 淳熙 2 [西遼] 崇福 12 [西夏] 乾祐 6	乙未 green goat	1175
	16	[南宋] 淳熙 3 [西遼] 崇福 13 [西夏] 乾祐 7	丙申 red monkey	1176
	17	[南宋] 淳熙 4 [西遼] 崇福 14 [西夏] 乾祐 8	丁酉 red rooster	1177
	18	[南宋] 淳熙 5 [西遼] 天禧 1 [西夏] 乾祐 9	戊戌 yellow dog	1178
	19	[南宋] 淳熙 6 [西遼] 天禧 2 [西夏] 乾祐 10	己亥 yellow pig	1179
	20	[南宋] 淳熙 7 [西遼] 天禧 3 [西夏] 乾祐 11	庚子 white rat	1180
	21	[南宋] 淳熙 8 [西遼] 天禧 4 [西夏] 乾祐 12	辛丑 white ox	1181
	22	[南宋] 淳熙 9 [西遼] 天禧 5 [西夏] 乾祐 13	壬寅 black tiger	1182
	23	[南宋] 淳熙 10 [西遼] 天禧 6 [西夏] 乾祐 14	癸卯 black rabbit	1183
	24	[南宋] 淳熙 11 [西遼] 天禧 7 [西夏] 乾祐 15	甲辰 green dragon	1184
	25	[南宋] 淳熙 12 [西遼] 天禧 8 [西夏] 乾祐 16	乙巳 green snake	1185
	26	[南宋] 淳熙 13 [西遼] 天禧 9 [西夏] 乾祐 17	丙午 red horse	1186
	27	[南宋] 淳熙 14 [西遼] 天禧 10 [西夏] 乾祐 18	丁未 red goat	1187
	28	[南宋] 淳熙 15 [西遼] 天禧 11 [西夏] 乾祐 19	戊申 yellow monkey	1188
	29	[南宋] 淳熙 16 [西遼] 天禧 12 [西夏] 乾祐 20	己酉 yellow rooster	1189

Emperor Zhangzong 章宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year	Inscriptional Date
明昌 Míngchāng	1	[南宋] 紹熙 1 [西遼] 天禧 13 [西夏] 乾祐 21	庚戌 white dog	1190
	2	[南宋] 紹熙 2 [西遼] 天禧 14 [西夏] 乾祐 22	辛亥 white pig	1191
	3	[南宋] 紹熙 3 [西遼] 天禧 15 [西夏] 乾祐 23	壬子 black rat	1192
	4	[南宋] 紹熙 4 [西遼] 天禧 16 [西夏] 乾祐 24	癸丑 black ox	1193
	5	[南宋] 紹熙 5 [西遼] 天禧 17 [西夏] 天慶 1	甲寅 green tiger	1194
	6	[南宋] 慶元 1 [西遼] 天禧 18 [西夏] 天慶 2	乙卯 green rabbit	1195
	7	[南宋] 慶元 2 [西遼] 天禧 19 [西夏] 天慶 3	丙辰 red dragon	1196
承安 Chéng'ān	1	[南宋] 慶元 2 [西遼] 天禧 19 [西夏] 天慶 3	丙辰 red dragon	1196
	2	[南宋] 慶元 3 [西遼] 天禧 20 [西夏] 天慶 4	丁巳 red snake	1197	Seal A14: Tiānxǐ 20 year three month
	3	[南宋] 慶元 4 [西遼] 天禧 21 [西夏] 天慶 5	戊午 yellow horse	1198
	4	[南宋] 慶元 5 [西遼] 天禧 22 [西夏] 天慶 6	己未 yellow goat	1199
	5	[南宋] 慶元 6 [西遼] 天禧 23 [西夏] 天慶 7	庚申 white monkey	1200
泰和 Tàihé	1	[南宋] 嘉泰 1 [西遼] 天禧 24 [西夏] 天慶 8	辛酉 white rooster	1201
	2	[南宋] 嘉泰 2 [西遼] 天禧 25 [西夏] 天慶 9	壬戌 black dog	1202
	3	[南宋] 嘉泰 3 [西遼] 天禧 26 [西夏] 天慶 10	癸亥 black pig	1203
	4	[南宋] 嘉泰 4 [西遼] 天禧 27 [西夏] 天慶 11	甲子 green rat	1204
	5	[南宋] 開禧 1 [西遼] 天禧 28 [西夏] 天慶 12	乙丑 green ox	1205
	6	[南宋] 開禧 2 [西遼] 天禧 29 [西夏] 天慶 13 [西夏] 應天 1	丙寅 red tiger	1206
	7	[南宋] 開禧 3 [西遼] 天禧 30 [西夏] 應天 2	丁卯 red rabbit	1207
	8	[南宋] 嘉定 1 [西遼] 天禧 31 [西夏] 應天 3	戊辰 yellow dragon	1208

Prince Shao of Wei 衛紹王
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year
大安 Dà'ān	1	[南宋] 嘉定 2 [西遼] 天禧 32 [西夏] 應天 4	己巳 yellow snake	1209
	2	[南宋] 嘉定 3 [西遼] 天禧 33 [西夏] 皇建 1	庚午 white horse	1210
	3	[南宋] 嘉定 4 [西遼] 天禧 34 [西夏] 皇建 2 [西夏] 光定 1	辛未 white goat	1211
崇慶 Chóngqìng	1	[南宋] 嘉定 5 [西夏] 光定 2	壬申 black monkey	1212
崇慶 Chóngqìng	2	[南宋] 嘉定 6 [西夏] 光定 3	癸酉 black rooster	1213
至寧 Zhìníng	1	[南宋] 嘉定 6 [西夏] 光定 3	癸酉 black rooster	1213

Emperor Xuanzong 宣宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year
貞祐 Zhēnyòu	1	[南宋] 嘉定 6 [西夏] 光定 3	癸酉 black rooster	1213
	2	[南宋] 嘉定 7 [西夏] 光定 4	甲戌 green dog	1214
	3	[南宋] 嘉定 8 [東夏] 天泰 1 [西夏] 光定 5	乙亥 green pig	1215
	4	[南宋] 嘉定 9 [東夏] 天泰 2 [西夏] 光定 6	丙子 red rat	1216
	5	[南宋] 嘉定 10 [東夏] 天泰 3 [西夏] 光定 7	丁丑 red ox	1217
興定 Xīngdìng	1	[南宋] 嘉定 10 [東夏] 天泰 3 [西夏] 光定 7	丁丑 red ox	1217
	2	[南宋] 嘉定 11 [東夏] 天泰 4 [西夏] 光定 8	戊寅 yellow tiger	1218
	3	[南宋] 嘉定 12 [東夏] 天泰 5 [西夏] 光定 9	己卯 yellow rabbit	1219
	4	[南宋] 嘉定 13 [東夏] 天泰 6 [西夏] 光定 10	庚辰 white dragon	1220
	5	[南宋] 嘉定 14 [東夏] 天泰 7 [西夏] 光定 11	辛巳 white snake	1221
	6	[南宋] 嘉定 15 [東夏] 天泰 8 [西夏] 光定 12	壬午 black horse	1222
元光 Yuánguāng	1	[南宋] 嘉定 15 [東夏] 天泰 8 [西夏] 光定 12	壬午 black horse	1222
元光 Yuánguāng	2	[南宋] 嘉定 16 [東夏] 天泰 9 [西夏] 光定 13 [西夏] 乾定 1	癸未 black goat	1223

Emperor Aizong 哀宗
Era	Era Year	Other Eras	Cyclical Year	Julian Year
正大 Zhèngdà	1	[南宋] 嘉定 17 [東夏] 大同 1 [西夏] 乾定 2	甲申 green monkey	1224
	2	[南宋] 寶慶 1 [東夏] 大同 2 [西夏] 乾定 3	乙酉 green rooster	1225
	3	[南宋] 寶慶 2 [東夏] 大同 3 [西夏] 乾定 4 [西夏] 寶義 1	丙戌 red dog	1226
	4	[南宋] 寶慶 3 [東夏] 大同 4 [西夏] 寶義 2	丁亥 red pig	1227
	5	[南宋] 紹定 1 [東夏] 大同 5	戊子 yellow rat	1228
	6	[南宋] 紹定 2 [東夏] 大同 6	己丑 yellow ox	1229
	7	[南宋] 紹定 3 [東夏] 大同 7	庚寅 white tiger	1230
	8	[南宋] 紹定 4 [東夏] 大同 8	辛卯 white rabbit	1231
	9	[南宋] 紹定 5 [東夏] 大同 9	壬辰 black dragon	1232
開興 Kāixīng	1	[南宋] 紹定 5 [東夏] 大同 9	壬辰 black dragon	1232
天興 Tiānxīng	1	[南宋] 紹定 5 [東夏] 大同 9	壬辰 black dragon	1232
	2	[南宋] 紹定 6 [東夏] 大同 10	癸巳 black snake	1233
	3	[南宋] 端平 1	甲午 green horse	1234

Notes

Note 1

There are a suprisingly large number of impossible dates, where a cyclical year is incorrect for the specified era year, or where a cyclical day is incorrect for the specified calendrical month and day.

KL05 l.10: "Chóngxī six yellow tiger year" should be either "Chóngxī six red ox year" (1037) or "Chóngxī seven yellow tiger year" (1038)
KL14 l.13: "Qīngníng nine white rabbit [year]" should be "Qīngníng nine black rabbit [year]" (1063)
KS02 l.32: "Xiányōng two green horse year" should be "Xiányōng two red horse year" (1066)
KS02 l.35: "Dà'ān three green rabbit year" should be "Dà'ān three red rabbit year"(1087)
KS32 l.3: "twenty-eight yellow rat day" should be "twenty-eight white rat day" {1099-05-20}
KS32 l.10: "Chóngxī ten white dragon year" should be either "Chóngxī nine white dragon year" (1040) or "Chóngxī ten white snake year" (1041)
KS36 l.8: "Tàipíng three red pig year" should be "Tàipíng three black pig year" (1023)

Note 2

Normally epitaphs refer to months by their ordinal number only, and refer to days either by their ordinal number or by their ordinal number and the corresponding cyclical day. However, in one place only in the Epitaph for Yelü Changyun (KL12) the date is referred to by a cyclical month and a cyclical day only: "Tǒnghé eighteen white rat year green dog month white goat day" [Chinese 統和十八庚子年甲戌月辛未日] (KL12 l.10). Unfortunately this date does not make sense. As there are twelve months in a year, cyclical months always correspond to the same calendrical month (intercalary months share the same cyclical month as the pre-intercalary month), and only occur on certain cyclical years. A dog month always corresponds to the 9th month (or intercalary 9th month), but the 9th month in a white rat [庚子] year can only be a red dog [丙戌] month. Moreover, there was no white goat [辛未] day during the 9th month of Tǒnghé 18. In Tǒnghé 18 a white goat day only occured during the yellow rabbit [己卯] month (on the 23rd day of the 2nd month), the white snake [辛巳] month (on the 24th day of the 4th month), the black goat [癸未] month (on the 26th day of the 6th month), the green rooster [乙酉] month (on the 27th day of the 8th month), the red pig [丁亥] month (on the 28th day of the 10th month), or the yellow ox [己丑] month (on the 28th day of the 12th month). Assuming that the "Tǒnghé eighteen white rat year" part of the date is correct (Tǒnghé 18 is indeed a white rat year), then there are three possibilities:

Green dog [甲戌] month is an error for red dog [丙戌] month, and white goat [辛未] day is an error for white snake [辛巳] day (7th day of the 9th month), white rabbit [辛卯] day (17th day of the 9th month) or white ox [辛丑] day (27th day of the 9th month)
Green dog [甲戌] month is an error for red dog [丙戌] month, and white goat [辛未] day is an error for black goat [癸未] day (9th day of the 9th month) or green goat [乙未] day (21st day of the 9th month)
Green dog [甲戌] month is an error for green rooster [乙酉] month, and white goat [辛未] day is correct (27th day of the 8th month) {1000-09-27}

Possibilities 1 & 2 require there to be two mistaken characters, but Possibility 3 only requires one mistaken character, so applying Occam's razor Possibility 3 should be preferred. I have not seen a clear reproduction of the original inscription, but it is possible that a damaged "rooster" character could be misidentified as the character for "dog" (or the engraver misread "rooster" in the manuscript original as "dog").

Note, Liu Fengzhu and Wang Yunlong discuss this date (Liu & Wang 2004:67), but they seem to have made a mistake in their calculations. They agree that a dog month is the 9th month but that the 9th month of Tǒnghé 18 should be a red dog month; and they correctly state that the 1st day of the 9th month of Tǒnghé 18 is a green pig [乙亥] day. However, they somehow extrapolate the white goat day to be the 26th day of the 9th month, which is actually a white rat [庚子] day.

Note 3

The Khitan Small Script Epitaph for the Prefect of Zezhou (KS15) states that the Prefect of Zezhou died on the 19th day of the first 10th month of the 7th year of the Qiántǒng era (5th November 1107 in the Julian calendar). The "10th month" is here qualified by "first" because the following month is an intercalary month (the "extra 10th month").

In Chinese, the month immediately preceding an intercalary month is not indicated as such (the "intercalary 4th month" 閏四月 is preceded by the plain "4th month" 四月), but this inscription suggests that in Khitan the month immediately preceding an intercalary month is prefixed by the word "first" (Khitan Small Script 𘭴𘮒). Presumably in the Khitan Large Script a pre-intercalary month could also be qualified by the word "first" (), although I have not yet found any examples of this usage.

Note 4

The Epitaph for Yelü Dilie refers to the 28th yellow goat day on the 2nd month of Shòuchāng 7 (KS27 l.22). In fact, the Shòuchāng era was changed to the Qiántǒng era on the 1st day of the 2nd month.

Note 5

The Record of the Younger Brother of the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty (KS38) specifies the 11th month using the designation "middle winter". This method of referring to months is not attested in other Khitan inscriptions.

Dates

The text of the Khitan dates is given below. For ease of comparison, glyph variants have been standardized where appropriate.

Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (1/4) [921–1041]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (2/4) [1045–1080]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (3/4) [1080–1095]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (4/4) [1101–1114]
Western Liao Khitan Large Script Dates [1165–1197]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (1/7) [983–1055]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (2/7) [1057–1075]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (3/7) [1076–1085]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (4/7) [1087–1094]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (5/7) [1094–1101]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (6/7) [1101–1110]
Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (7/7) [1110–1115]
Jin Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (1/3) [1122–1140]
Jin Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (2/3) [1141–1150]
Jin Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (3/3) [1150–1173]

Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (1/4)

921	960	973	1000	1004	1011	1033	1035	1037	1041
神冊六年	應曆十年	保寧五年	統和十八年	統和二十二年	統和二十九年	重熙二年	重熙四年	重熙六年	重熙十年
Shéncè 6	Yìnglì 10	Bǎoníng 5	Tǒnghé 18	Tǒnghé 22	Tǒnghé 29	Chóngxī 2	Chóngxī 4	Chóngxī 6	Chóngxī 10
KL13 l.6	KL20 l.24	KL08 l.7	KL12 l.10	Seal A5a	KL08 l.11	KL09 l.6	KL08 l.15	KL05 l.10	KL08 l.19
    	         	    	            	       	     	        	     	          	            

Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (2/4)

1045	1051	1058	1060	1061	1062	1063	1065	1077	1080
重熙十四年	重熙二十年	清寧四年	清寧六年	清寧七年	清寧八年	清寧九年	咸雍元年	大康三年	大康六年
Chóngxī 14	Chóngxī 20	Qīngníng 4	Qīngníng 6	Qīngníng 7	Qīngníng 8	Qīngníng 9	Xiányōng 1	Dàkāng 3	Dàkāng 6
N176 p.9	KL07 l.39	KL18 l.7	KL13 l.16	KL12 l.17	KL12 l.20	KL14 l.13	KL13 l.20	KL13 l.13	KL05 l.13
      	         	        	    	                   	                   	           	   	    	          

Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (3/4)

1080	1081	1084	1084	1086	1090	1091	1091	1092	1095
大康六年	大康七年	大康十年	大康十年	大安二年	大安六年	大安七年	大安七年	大安八年	壽昌元年
Dàkāng 6	Dàkāng 7	Dàkāng 10	Dàkāng 10	Dà'ān 2	Dà'ān 6	Dà'ān 7	Dà'ān 7	Dà'ān 8	Shòuchāng 1
KL13 l.21	KL05 l.15	KL12 l.29	KL01 l.4	KL13 l.22	KL10 l.15	KL09 l.21	KL14 l.14	KL09 l.24	KL13 l.25
   	                 	       	      	    	         	         	    	                   	    

Liao Dynasty Khitan Large Script Dates (4/4) and Western Liao Khitan Large Script Dates

1101	1108	1108	1108	1110	1113	1114	1165	1197
乾統元年	乾統八年	乾統八年	乾統八年	乾統十年	天慶三年	天慶四年	崇福二年	天禧二十年
Qiántǒng 1	Qiántǒng 8	Qiántǒng 8	Qiántǒng 8	Qiántǒng 10	Tiānqìng 3	Tiānqìng 4	Chóngfú 2	Tiānxǐ 20
KL13 ll.14, 26, 35	KL13 l.28	KL13 l.29	KL13 l.46	KL14 l.16	KL14 l.17	KL14 l.25	Seal A9	Seal A14
     	      	       	        	     	            	        	       	      

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (1/7)

983	1004	1023	1026	1041	1041	1046	1054	1055	1055
統和元年	統和二十二年	太平三年	太平六年	重熙十年	重熙十年	重熙十五年	重熙二十三年	重熙二十四年	清寧元年
Tǒnghé 1	Tǒnghé 22	Tàipíng 3	Tàipíng 6	Chóngxī 10	Chóngxī 10	Chóngxī 15	Chóngxī 23	Chóngxī 24	Qīngníng 1
KS27 l.5	KS12 l.4	KS36 l.8	KS26 l.13	KS32 l.10	KS12 l.9	KS26 l.14	KS20 l.17	KS05 l.1	KS05 l.2
𘰲 𘰷𘰂𘯶𘭞 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘰲 𘬓𘰫 𘬂 𘲝 𘲐	𘲇 𘬜𘱓𘭪𘲚 𘯙 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘱆 𘲐 𘮧𘲀𘯟 𘬪 𘭧 𘲝 𘲺	𘲇 𘬜𘱓𘭪𘲚 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘭅𘭂𘯢 𘲐 𘱘 𘭧 𘬂 𘬪 𘲺	𘰲 𘰫𘰻𘱄𘭂𘯺𘲑 𘰯 𘬈 𘰐 𘲐 𘲝 𘭧 𘰯 𘲺	𘰲 𘱵𘰫𘯺𘭂𘲑 𘰯 𘬈 𘰗𘭞𘯶 𘲐 𘭬 𘭧 𘰯 𘯙 𘲺	𘰲 𘱵𘱄𘭂𘲑 𘰯 𘬦 𘱄𘬛𘮄 𘰕𘯛 𘲐	𘰲 𘰫𘰻𘱄𘭂𘯺𘲑 𘬂 𘯙 𘲐	𘰲 𘰫𘰻𘱄𘭂𘯺𘲑 𘬂 𘲂 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 𘰷𘱹𘰹 𘱑𘯺 𘬌 𘭧 𘱄𘱹𘰹 𘰕𘯛 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘲂 𘲺 𘮝 𘭌	𘰲 𘯢𘲑 𘭴𘮒 𘲐 𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘰯 𘲺 𘰷𘱹𘰹 𘳆𘲲

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (2/7)

1057	1059	1059	1064	1065	1066	1066	1071	1075	1075
清寧三年	清寧五年	清寧五年	清寧十年	咸雍元年	咸雍二年	咸雍二年	咸雍七年	大康元年	大康元年
Qīngníng 3	Qīngníng 5	Qīngníng 5	Qīngníng 10	Xiányōng 1	Xiányōng 2	Xiányōng 2	Xiányōng 7	Dàkāng 1	Dàkāng 1
KS20 l.25	KS02 l.27	KS32 l.11	KS32 l.12	KS32 l.12	KS02 l.32	KS15 l.10	KS32 l.12	KS07 l.4	KS32 l.14
𘰲 𘯢𘲑 𘯙 𘲐 𘲝 𘭧 𘬂 𘲧 𘲺	𘰲 𘯢𘲑 𘬦 𘮝 𘱆 𘰬𘮒 𘲝 𘭧 𘰯 𘲂 𘲺	𘰲 𘯢𘲑 𘬦 𘲐	𘰲 𘯢𘲑 𘰯 𘲐	𘰲 𘰺𘱪 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘰲 𘰺𘱪 𘲝 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘲜𘰣 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘰯 𘲺	𘰴𘱫 𘲝 𘲐	𘰲 𘰺𘱪 𘲧 𘲐	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘭴𘮒 𘲐 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘬦𘰎𘯺 𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘮝 𘱑𘯺 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘯙 𘲺 𘬈 𘰺𘯛𘯺	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘭴𘮒 𘲐

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (3/7)

1076	1076	1076	1076	1077	1079	1081	1085	1085	1085
大康二年	大康二年	大康二年	大康二年	大康三年	大康五年	大康七年	大安元年	大安元年	大安元年
Dàkāng 2	Dàkāng 2	Dàkāng 2	Dàkāng 2	Dàkāng 3	Dàkāng 5	Dàkāng 7	Dà'ān 1	Dà'ān 1	Dà'ān 1
KS06 l.11	KS06 l.14	KS32 l.16	KS12 l.13	KS40 nos. 2 & 3	KS12 l.15	KS10 l.7	KS02 l.29	KS02 l.31	KS02 l.33
𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘲝 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘰑 𘲐 𘯙 𘭧 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘰑 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘭬 𘲺 𘬈 𘰺𘯛𘯺	𘯏 𘲐 𘭬 𘭧 𘰯 𘲺 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘲜𘰣	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘲝 𘲐	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘲝 𘲐 𘲚𘲀	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘯙 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘰯 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘬦 𘲐 𘰬𘮒	𘲇 𘰺𘬛𘲢 𘲧 𘲐 𘬦 𘭧 𘰯 𘬌 𘲺	𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘭌 𘲐 𘰭𘯴𘮒	𘯏 𘲐 𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘰯 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘱵𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘭴𘮒 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘭌 𘲐 𘬪 𘭧

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (4/7)

1087	1088	1090	1091	1091	1092	1092	1094	1094	1094
大安三年	大安四年	大安六年	大安七年	大安七年	大安八年	大安八年	大安十年	大安十年	大安十年
Dà'ān 3	Dà'ān 4	Dà'ān 6	Dà'ān 7	Dà'ān 7	Dà'ān 8	Dà'ān 8	Dà'ān 10	Dà'ān 10	Dà'ān 10
KS02 l.35	KS02 l.43	KS23 l.6	KS12 l.16	KS12 l.29	KS26 l.26	KS26 l.41	KS10 l.9	KS17 l.16–17	KS36 l.20
𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘯙 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘬦𘰎𘯺 𘲐 𘰯 𘭧 𘬂 𘲂 𘲺	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘲂 𘮝 𘰐 𘲐 𘱘 𘭧 𘮝 𘰺𘯛𘯺 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘰯 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘭬 𘬈 𘲜𘰣 𘲐 𘬦 𘭧 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘱵𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘲧 𘲐 𘲝 𘭧 𘰯 𘭬 𘲺	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘲧 𘲐 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 𘬈 𘱑𘱛 𘬪 𘭧 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘰕𘯛 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘳀 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘬦𘰎𘯺 𘲺	𘲇 𘱵𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘬌 𘯍𘮡 𘮧𘯶𘯶 𘲐 𘱘 𘭧 𘬂 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘱵𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘬌 𘯍𘮡 𘮧𘯶𘯶 𘲐 𘬌 𘭧 𘲧 𘲺	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘰯 𘲐	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘰯 𘲐	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶𘯎 𘰯 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘰕𘯛 𘲐 𘬌 𘭧 𘬪 𘲺

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (5/7)

1094	1094	1095	1098	1098	1099	1099	1100	1100	1101
大安十年	大安十年	壽昌元年	壽昌四年	壽昌四年	壽昌五年	壽昌五年	壽昌六年	壽昌六年	壽昌七年
Dà'ān 10	Dà'ān 10	Shòuchāng 1	Shòuchāng 4	Shòuchāng 4	Shòuchāng 5	Shòuchāng 5	Shòuchāng 6	Shòuchāng 6	Shòuchāng 7
KS36 l.21	KS36 l.27	KS32 ll.19, 23	KS32 l.3	KS32 l.20	KS32 l.3	KS32 l.48	KS15 l.17	KS27 l.14	KS04 l.4
𘯏 𘲐 𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘬂 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘰫𘰻𘭲𘯶 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘰕𘯛 𘲐 𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘰯 𘬦 𘲺	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘲂 𘮝 𘭅𘭂𘯢 𘲐 𘰯 𘲝 𘭧 𘮝 𘭅𘭂𘯢 𘲺	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘲂 𘲐 𘰯 𘲝 𘭧 𘲂 𘲺	𘮝 𘬦𘰎𘯺 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘯍𘲫 𘰺𘯛𘯺 𘭞𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘬂 𘬌 𘮝 𘳆𘲲 𘲺	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘬦 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘬂 𘬌 𘲺	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘭬 𘲐	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘭬 𘲐 𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘯙 𘲺	𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘲧 𘲐 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 𘬈 𘰗𘭞𘯶 𘱘 𘭧 𘯍𘲚 𘰕𘯛 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘰯 𘯙 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘰕𘯛

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (6/7)

1101	1101	1101	1101	1101	1103	1105	1107	1108	1110
壽昌七年	乾統元年	乾統元年	乾統元年	乾統元年	乾統三年	乾統五年	乾統七年	乾統八年	乾統十年
Shòuchāng 7	Qiántǒng 1	Qiántǒng 1	Qiántǒng 1	Qiántǒng 1	Qiántǒng 3	Qiántǒng 5	Qiántǒng 7	Qiántǒng 8	Qiántǒng 10
KS27 l.22	KS04 l.5	KS04 l.6	KS07 l.5	KS27 l.34	KS17 l.35	KS17 l.53	KS15 l.21	KS15 l.23	KS29 l.4
𘲇 𘰷𘲦 𘲧 𘬈 𘰗𘭞𘯶 𘲐 𘲝 𘭧 𘯍𘮡 𘰐 𘭞𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘬂 𘬌 𘮝 𘱑𘱛 𘲺	𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘭴𘮒 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘰯 𘲺 𘬈 𘳆𘲲 𘲺	𘯏 𘲐 𘭬 𘭧 𘬂 𘯙 𘯍𘲚 𘳆𘲲	𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘭴𘮒 𘲐 𘭬 𘭧 𘬂 𘯙 𘲺	𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘭴𘮒 𘲐 𘲝 𘭧 𘬂 𘬌 𘲺	𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘯙 𘲐	𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘬦 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘰺𘯛𘯺 𘲐 𘲝 𘭧 𘬂 𘬣 𘲺	𘰲 𘲑𘰫𘯶𘭞 𘲧 𘲐 𘭴𘮒 𘰯 𘭧 𘰯 𘬪 𘲺	𘮝 𘳆𘲲 𘰯 𘭧 𘬌 𘲺	𘰲 𘲑𘭲𘯶𘭞 𘰯 𘲐 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 𘬈 𘭅𘭂𘯢 𘮧𘲀𘯟 𘬌 𘭧 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘰺𘯛𘯺 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘬂 𘬦 𘬈 𘰺𘯛𘯺

Liao Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (7/7)

1110	1110	1115	1115
乾統十年	乾統十年	天慶五年	天慶五年
Qiántǒng 10	Qiántǒng 10	Tiānqìng 5	Tiānqìng 5
KS29 l.4	KS29 l.5	KS10 l.13	KS10 l.25
𘰯 𘭧 𘱄𘱹𘮄 𘮧𘯶 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘬦 𘲺 𘬈 𘳆𘲲	𘰯 𘬣 𘭧 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘭌 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘬌 𘲺 𘯍𘲚 𘮧𘯶	𘰲 𘰩𘬷𘱄𘱯𘱦 𘬦 𘲐 𘰬𘮒 𘱘 𘭧 𘰯 𘬣 𘲺	𘰲 𘰩𘬷𘱄𘱯𘱦 𘬦 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘱑𘯺 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘬈 𘳆𘲲 𘭞𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘰯 𘮝 𘰺𘯛𘯺 𘲺

Jin Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (1/3)

1122	1124	1133	1134	1136	1137	1138	1139	1139	1140
天輔六年	天會二年	天會十一年	天會十二年	天會十四年	天會十五年	天眷元年	天眷二年	天眷二年	天眷三年
Tiānfǔ 6	Tiānhuì 2	Tiānhuì 11	Tiānhuì 12	Tiānhuì 14	Tiānhuì 15	Tiānjuàn 1	Tiānjuàn 2	Tiānjuàn 2	Tiānjuàn 3
KS23 l.10	KS14 l.10	KS23 l.19	KS38 l.5	KS23 l.19	KS23 l.20	KS23 l.20	KS14 l.22	KS23 l.20	KS23 l.21
𘲇 𘭱𘱯𘱸 𘭬 𘲐 𘱘 𘭧 𘰯 𘭬 𘲺	𘰲 𘰺𘬛𘱦 𘲝 𘲐	𘰲 𘰴𘬛𘱦 𘰯 𘬣 𘲐	𘰲 𘰺𘬛𘱦 𘰯 𘲝 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘭅𘭂𘯢 𘲐 𘲌𘮒𘲫 𘲚𘲀 𘰯 𘲂 𘲺	𘰴𘬛𘱦 𘰯 𘲂 𘲐	𘰴𘬛𘱦 𘰯 𘬦 𘲐	𘰲 𘰴𘱀𘬜𘱦 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘰲 𘰴𘱀𘬜𘱦 𘲝 𘲐	𘰺𘱀𘬜𘱦 𘲝 𘲐	𘰴𘱀𘬜𘱦 𘯙 𘲐

Jin Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (2/3)

1141	1141	1142	1143	1145	1147	1148	1149	1150	1150
皇統元年	皇統元年	皇統二年	皇統三年	皇統五年	皇統七年	皇統八年	天德元年	天德二年	天德二年
Huángtǒng 1	Huángtǒng 1	Huángtǒng 2	Huángtǒng 3	Huángtǒng 5	Huángtǒng 7	Huángtǒng 8	Tiāndé 1	Tiāndé 2	Tiāndé 2
KS14 l.22	KS23 l.21	KS23 l.21	KS14 l.24	KS23 l.21	KS23 l.22	KS23 l.22	KS23 l.23	KS23 l.24	KS23 l.45
𘰴𘮧 𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘲝 𘲐	𘱆 𘲐 𘲂 𘭧 𘮞 𘲜𘰣 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘬂 𘬌 𘰷𘱹𘮄 𘰺𘯛𘯺 𘲺	𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘬦 𘲐	𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘲧 𘲐	𘮶𘱄𘮽𘰕 𘬌 𘲐	𘰲 𘰴𘬛𘲢 𘭴𘮒 𘲐	𘰲 𘰴𘬛𘲢 𘲝 𘲐 𘱘 𘭧	𘯏 𘮗 𘬈 𘲜𘰣 𘲐 𘬪 𘭧 𘲺

Jin Dynasty Khitan Small Script Dates (3/3)

1150	1170	1173
天德二年	大定十年	大定十三年
Tiāndé 2	Dàdìng 10	Dàdìng 13
KS23 l.50	KS14 l.38	KS39 no. 2
𘰲 𘰴𘬛𘲢 𘲝 𘲐 𘲐𘲦 𘰷𘱄𘮽 𘬉 𘲜𘰣 𘬪 𘭧 𘰷𘲼𘰹 𘰕𘯛 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘰯 𘬪 𘲺	𘲇 𘳈𘯺𘮢 𘰯 𘬉 𘭅𘭂𘯢 𘲐 𘰯 𘲝 𘭧 𘱄𘱹𘰹 𘲜𘰣 𘭞𘱄𘮠 𘬂 𘬦 𘬈 𘲜𘰣 𘲺	𘰲 𘳈𘭂𘯴 𘰯 𘯙 𘲐 𘭬 𘭧 𘬂 𘯙 𘲺

Sources

The tables below list all the Khitan memorial inscriptions that I know of. Many of the Khitan inscriptions are either unpublished or I have been unable to access the relevant publication, so only 8 out of 18 Khitan Large Script inscriptions and 16 out of 38 Khitan Small Script inscriptions are included in the chronologies in this blog post. Those inscriptions which I have seen the full or partial text of are indicated with an asterisk (some of these do not include a date and so do not occur in the chronology). For further details on Khitan inscriptions, see the Wikipedia article List of Khitan inscriptions. This map shows the approximate location of all Khitan inscriptions.

In addition to epitaphs and other monumental inscriptions, the following items with dates have also been included in the chronology :

N176: Large Khitan Script manuscript codex held at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nova N 176*
Seal A5a: Khitan Large Script inscription on the back of a bronze seal inscribed "Seal of the Vice Commander-in-chief"
Seal A9: Khitan Large Script inscription on the back of a bronze seal found in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang
Seal A14: Khitan Large Script inscription on the back of a bronze seal found in Uzbekistan in 2019

* Nova N 176 has not been published, and the only page of it that I have only seen is the half-leaf shown at the top of this post, which includes a single date. It is very likely that other dates are recorded elsewhere in the manuscript.

Khitan Large Script Inscriptions

No.	Description	Location	Date
KL01*	Commemoration of a battle victory by Hutenu (Yelü Zhaosan 耶律趙三)	Khentii Province, Mongolia	1084
KL02*	Inscribed sarcophagus	Jianchang County, Liaoning
KL03	Memorial at Jing'an Temple (靜安寺) erected by the Lady of Lanling Commandery (蘭陵郡夫人)	Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia	1072
KL04	Epitaph for an unknown person	Unknown	1056
KL05*	Epitaph for Court Attendant Dorlipun 多羅里本郎君 (1037–1080)	Unknown	1081
KL06	Epitaph for Court Attendant Li Ai 李爱郎君	Unknown	1176
KL07	Epitaph for the Grand Preceptor (太師)	Unknown	1056
KL08*	Epitaph for the Grand Prince of the North 北大王 (Yelü Wanxin 耶律萬辛, 972–1041)	Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia	1041
KL09*	Epitaph for the Princess of Yongning Commandery 永寧郡公主 (1033–1091)	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia	1092
KL10*	Epitaph for Xiao Paolu 蕭袍魯 (1018–1089)	Faku County, Liaoning	1090
KL11	Epitaph for Xiao Xiaozhong 蕭孝忠 (d.1089)	Huludao, Liaoning	1089
KL12*	Epitaph for Yelü Changyun 耶律昌允 (1000–1061)	Chifeng, Inner Mongolia	1062
KL13*	Epitaph for Yelü Qi 耶律褀 (1033–1108)	Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia	1108
KL14*	Epitaph for Yelü Xinie 耶律習涅 (1063–1114)	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia	1114
KL15	Epitaph for Yelü Yanning 耶律延寧 (946–985)	Chaoyang County, Liaoning	986
KL16*	Fragments of one or more memorials from the mausoleum of Emperor Taizu of Liao (r.916–926)	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia
KL17*	Fragments of one or more memorials from the ruins of the Liao capital Shangjing	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia
KL18*	Monumental stone inscription	Dornogovi Province, Mongolia	1058
KL19*	Ink inscriptions on the walls of the tomb of Yelü Pugu	Kailu County, Inner Mongolia
KL20*	Epitaph for Grand Tutor Hendeyin 痕得隐太傅	Unknown	960

Khitan Small Script Inscriptions

No.	Description	Location	Date
KS01*	Epitaph for an unknown person	Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, Liaoning
KS02*	Epitaph for Court Attendant Yelü Yongning 耶律永寧郎君 (1059–1087)	Harqin Banner, Inner Mongolia	1088
KS03	Epitaph for Deputy Administrator Yelü 耶律副部署 (Yelü Wumo 耶律兀没, 1031–1077)	Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia	1102
KS04*	Epitaph for Emperor Daozong of Liao 道宗 (1032–1101)	Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia	1101
KS05*	Epitaph for Emperor Xingzong of Liao 興宗 (1015–1054)	Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia	1055
KS06*	Epitaph for Empress Renyi 仁懿皇后 (?–1076)	Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia	1076
KS07*	Epitaph for Empress Xuanyi 宣懿皇后 (1040–1075)	Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia	1101
KS08	Epitaph for Gu Shizhong (1015–1090)	Unknown	1091
KS09	Epitaph for Madam Han 韓氏, second wife of the imperial son-in-law, Xiao Temei 蕭特每	Unknown	1078
KS10*	Epitaph for Madam Yelü 耶律氏 (Yelü Tabuye 耶律挞不也) (1081–1115), the daughter of Yelü Dilie 耶律敵烈	Ongniud Banner, Inner Mongolia	1115
KS11	Epitaph for the Grand Preceptor Shilu 室魯太師	Jarud Banner, Inner Mongolia	1100
KS12*	Epitaph for Xiao Hudujin 萧胡睹堇 (1041–1091)	Unknown	1091
KS13	Epitaph for the Imperial Consort of Song and Wei 宋魏國妃 (1056–1080), the wife of Yelü Hongben	Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia	1110
KS14*	Epitaph for the Jin Dynasty Defense Commissioner of Bozhou 金代博州防禦使 (1079–1142)	Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia	1171
KS15*	Epitaph for the Prefect of Zezhou 澤州刺史 (?–1107)	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia	1108
KS16	Epitaph for the Prince of Liang 梁國王	Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, Liaoning	1107
KS17*	Epitaph for the Prince of Xu 許王	Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, Liaoning	1105
KS18	Epitaph for Prince Wotela 斡特剌 (1073–1099)	Unknown	1099
KS19*	Epitaph for Xiao Dilu 蕭敵魯 (1061–?)	Jarud Banner, Inner Mongolia	1114
KS20*	Epitaph for Xiao Linggong 蕭令公 (Xiao Fuliu 蕭富留)	Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, Liaoning	1057
KS21	Epitaph for Xiao Taishan 蕭太山 and Princess Yongqing 永清公主	Unknown
KS22	Epitaph for Xiao Tuguci 蕭圖古辭	Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, Liaoning	1068
KS23*	Epitaph for Xiao Zhonggong 蕭仲恭	Xinglong County, Hebei	1150
KS24*	Epitaph for Yelü Jiuli 耶律糺里 or Yelü Gui 耶律貴 (1061–1102)	Unknown	1102
KS25	Epitaph for Yelü Cite 耶律慈特 (1043–1081)	Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia	1082
KS26*	Epitaph for Yelü Dilie 耶律迪烈 (1026–1092)	Jarud Banner, Inner Mongolia	1092
KS27*	Epitaph for Yelü Dilie 耶律敵烈 or Han Dilie 韓敵烈 (1034–1100)	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia	1101
KS28	Epitaph for Yelü Gaoshi 耶律高十 or Han Gaoshi 韓高十 (1015–?)	Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia
KS29*	Epitaph for Imperial Grand Uncle (皇太叔祖) Yelü Hongben 耶律弘本 (1041–1110)	Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia	1110
KS30	Epitaph for Yelü Hongbian 耶律弘辨 or Yelü Hongyong 耶律弘用 (1054–1086)	Jarud Banner, Inner Mongolia	1100
KS31	Epitaph for Yelü Jue 耶律玦 (1014–1070)	Unknown	1072
KS32*	Epitaph for Yelü Nu 耶律奴 (1041–1098)	Fuxin Mongol Autonomous County, Liaoning	1099
KS33	Epitaph for Yelü Renxian 耶律仁先	Beipiao, Liaoning	1072
KS34	Epitaph for Yelü Taishi 耶律太師 (1038–1101)	Unknown
KS35	Epitaph for Yelü Xiangwen 耶律詳穩 (1010–1091)	Unknown	1091
KS36*	Epitaph for Yelü Zhixian 耶律智先	Beipiao, Liaoning	1094
KS37	Epitaph for Yelü Zongjiao 耶律宗教 (992–1053)	Beizhen, Liaoning	1053
KS38*	Record of the Younger Brother of the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty (大金皇弟都統經略郎君行記)	Qian County, Shaanxi	1134
KS39*	Ink inscriptions on the Pagoda of Ten Thousand Copies of the Flower Garland Sutra (萬部華嚴經塔)	Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
KS40*	Ink inscriptions on the walls of the Balahada Cave (巴拉哈達洞)	Horqin Right Middle Banner, Inner Mongolia	1077
KS41*	Fragments of marble slips found at the Liao Mausoleum at Yiwulü Mountain	Beizhen city, Liaoning
KS42	Ink inscriptions on the walls of a cave	Wulandaba Sumu 乌兰达坝苏木, Bairin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia

Bibliography

Kane, Daniel. The Kitan Language and Script. Brill, 2009. ISBN 9789004168299
Liu Fengzhu 劉鳳翥 and Wang Yunlong 王雲龍. "Research on the Khitan large script 'Epitaph for Yelü Changyun'" 契丹大字《耶律昌允墓誌铭》之研; Yenching Journal of Chinese Studies 燕京學報 vol.17 (2004): 61–99.
Zaytsev, V. P. A Manuscript Codex Written in the Khitan Large Script from the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences [Рукописная книга большого киданьского письма из коллекции Института восточных рукописей РАН]; Written Monuments of the Orient 2 (15) (Autumn-Winter 2011): 130–150.

DDBC Time Authority Database calendars

唐 (Tang)
北宋 (Northern Song)
南宋 (Southern Song)
遼 (Liao)
北遼 (Northern Liao)
西遼 (Western Liao)
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Last modified: 2023-05-16

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