Refers to a Northern Chinese dynastic period dating to 907 to 1125; it was founded by the proto-Mongolian Khitan people. It was contemporary to the Five Dynasties and Northern Song dynasty in the south. Based on the Buddhist idea of the five-fold structure of the universe, there were five capitals.  Remnants of the Liao dynasty survived as the Western Liao in an area around the Tian shan range; it was later defeated by Genghis Khan.——艺术与建筑索引典

Liao dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Liao, (907–1125), in Chinese history, dynasty formed by the nomadic Khitan (Chinese: Qidan) tribes in much of what now constitutes the provinces of the Northeast region (Manchuria) and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Adopting the Chinese dynastic name of Liao, the Khitan created a dual government to rule their conquests. The southern government, which ruled the Chinese parts of the empire, was modeled on the administration of the Tang dynasty (618–907), which the Khitan had helped destroy. The northern government, which was set up on a tribal basis, ruled over the nomads of the Inner Asian steppes. Traditionally, the start of the Liao period is given as 907, the last year of the Tang, but Chinese historians often place it at 916, when Yelü Yi (or Abaoji) formally established himself as emperor.——Encyclopedia Britannica  @en