Yelü Zhao (耶律昭) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Yelü Zhao as an official, scholar, and writer. This record brings together 8 passages from 3 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Yelü Zhao	耶律昭	Yēlǜ Zhāo
Personal name	Academician Yelu Zhao
Courtesy	Shuning	述寧	Shuning
Surname	Yelü	耶律
Surname	Yelü	耶律	Yelü
Personal name	Yelu Zhao	耶律昭	Yelü Zhao
Personal name	Yelü Zhao	耶律昭	Yēlǜ Zhāo
Personal	Yelü Zhao	耶律昭	Yelü Zhao
Given	Zhao	昭	Zhao

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · liaoshi:085:s0016, liaoshi:104:s0023
Value: male
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:059:s0072

Roles

Official
Scholar
Writer

Life and dates

Death

Cause: butted by a ram while hunting · Place: Mount Balidu / 拔裏堵山 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 開泰中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1012 · End: AD 1021
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0055

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 十五年 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Regnal Year: 15 · Western Year: AD 997
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:085:s0016
Source Date: Text: 統和中 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 983 · End: AD 1012
Explicit · liaoshi:059:s0072
Source Date: Text: 統和中 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 983 · End: AD 1012
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:104:s0024
Source Date: Text: 開泰中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1012 · End: AD 1021
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:104:s0055

Family

Sibling of Guoliu (國留)
Kinship Term: elder brother / 兄 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: younger · Subject Role: younger-brother · Object Role: elder-brother

Origins and identity

Label: Khitan / 契丹
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:059:s0072

Career and standing

Status: exile · Action: entered · Place: northwestern region / 西北部 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 統和中 · Reign Id: liao-tonghe · Western Interval: Start: AD 983 · End: AD 1012
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0024
Status: exile · Action: exiled for brother's case · Place: northwest / 西北部
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0024

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: liao · Relation: served
Explicit · liaoshi:059:s0072, liaoshi:104:s0024

Learning and skills

Statement: broadly learned
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0023
Skill: literary composition / 屬文 · Level: skilled
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0023

Works and attributed material

Kind: report · Role: speaker · Action: described-northwestern-four-man-corvee-division
Explicit · liaoshi:059:s0072
Kind: letter · Role: author · Other Person Id: Xiao Talin (蕭撻凜)
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0030, liaoshi:104:s0031, liaoshi:104:s0032, liaoshi:104:s0033, liaoshi:104:s0034, liaoshi:104:s0035, liaoshi:104:s0036, liaoshi:104:s0037, liaoshi:104:s0038, liaoshi:104:s0039, liaoshi:104:s0040, liaoshi:104:s0041, liaoshi:104:s0042, liaoshi:104:s0043, liaoshi:104:s0044, liaoshi:104:s0045, liaoshi:104:s0046, liaoshi:104:s0047, liaoshi:104:s0048, liaoshi:104:s0049, liaoshi:104:s0050, liaoshi:104:s0051, liaoshi:104:s0052, liaoshi:104:s0053

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: decliner · Action: declined office on grounds of illness · Other Person Id: Xiao Talin (蕭撻凜)
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0026
Kind: patronage · Role: client · Action: received by Xiao Talin; exempted from corvée · Other Person Id: Xiao Talin (蕭撻凜)
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0025
Relation: official-under · Person Id: Yelü Longxu (耶律隆緒)
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:059:s0072

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: set forth advantages and harms of frontier defense; penetrating and quick · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · liaoshi:104:s0113

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

History of Liao, Chapter 59Volume 59 Treatises 29: Finance and Economics 1 · 1 passage

Open chapter

統和中，耶律昭言，西北之眾，每歲農時，一夫偵候，一夫治公田，二夫給糺官之役。 During the Tonghe era, Yelü Zhao reported that among the northwestern populace, each farming season one man served as scout, one worked the public fields, and two performed corvée for supervisory officials.

History of Liao, Chapter 85Volume 85 Biographies 15: Xiao Talin, Xiao Guanyinnu, Yelu Tizi, Yelu Xieli, Yelu Nugua, Xiao Liu, Gao Xun, Xi Heshuonu, Xiao Taliege, Yelu Sahe · 1 passage

Open chapter

上賜詩嘉獎，仍命林牙耶律昭作賦，以述其功。 The emperor granted him a commendatory poem and ordered Academician Yelu Zhao to compose a fu celebrating his achievements.

History of Liao, Chapter 104Volume 104 Biographies 34: Literature 2 · 6 passages

Open chapter

文學下 ○王鼎耶律昭劉輝耶律孟簡耶律谷欲 Literature (Part 2) — Wang Ding, Yelü Zhao, Liu Hui, Yelü Mengjian, and Yelü Guyu

耶律昭，字述寧，博學，善屬文。 Yelü Zhao, courtesy name Shuning, was broadly learned and skilled at literary composition.

會蕭撻凜為西北路招討使，愛之，奏免其役，禮致門下。 When Xiao Talin became Commissioner for Subjugation of the Northwestern Circuit, he took a liking to Zhao, memorialized to free him from corvée, and received him with full courtesy at his gate.

昭以書答曰： Zhao answered in a letter:

昭聞古之名將，安邊立功，在德不在眾。 Zhao has heard that famous generals of old who pacified the frontier and won merit did so through virtue, not through numbers.

王鼎忠直達政，劉輝侍青宮，建言國計，昭陳邊防利害，皆洞達闿敏。 Wang Ding was loyal, upright, and mastered statecraft; Liu Hui served the crown prince and offered counsel on national policy; Zhao set forth the advantages and harms of frontier defense—all were penetrating and quick of understanding.