Emperor Daozong of Liao
emperor of the Liao Dynasty
Emperor Daozong of Liao (14 September 1032 – 12 February 1101), personal name Chala, sinicised name Yelü Hongji, was the eighth emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China.
Life
Emperor Daozong succeeded his father, Emperor Xingzong, in 1055. He was notable for reviving the official dynastic name "Great Liao" in 1066, a designation first given the empire by the Emperor Taizong in 947. Other noteworthy achievements made during his reign include the completion of a Liao edition of the Buddhist Tripitaka and the construction of the Sakyamuni Pagoda in 1056.
In the early years of Daozong's reign, the court was dominated by two men, Xiao Ge and Xiao Ala. Xiao Ala was the son of Xiao Xiaomu and part of Xiao Noujin's extended family. He was a close friend of Xingzong and had served as state counselor and viceroy of the Eastern Capital. He was also married to an imperial princess. Upon Daozong's accession, Ala was made northern commissioner for military affairs, putting him alongside Xiao Ge as two of the most powerful men at court. The two had a falling out and Ala asked to retire.
“Emperor Daozong of Liao” enters the record as emperor of the Liao Dynasty. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Emperor, Daozong and Liao can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5007. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1032, 1101, 1055 and 1066.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emperor Daozong of Liao” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.