Western Liao (1125-1218) as a result of ethno-cultural transfer
In the history of the Chitan elite one of the most remarkable is the period of existence of the west-chitan state Western (Hsi) Liao (1125-1218), when representatives of the Chitan elite led by a member of the Imperial family Yelu Dashi carried out a unique experiment of transferring the political center of the Empire to the West. This act was the result of ethno-cultural transfer, one of the mechanisms of transfer of culture to another space. The concept of "cultural transfer" was introduced in the 1980s by M. Espan and M. Werner in the course of studying the influence of German philosophy and literature in the intellectual thought of French XVIII-XIX centuries. Historical material shows that this term is not only possible, but necessary. All sorts of movements occurred during the period of civilizations, if not regularly, then often, and, therefore, should be understood systematically, as a manifestation of the action of General civilizational laws. In the article this concept is used to understand the history of the Hsi Liao state. The new "country", in the words of Yelu Dashi himself, arose as a clone of the Liao Empire (907-1125) and became a place where there was a complex synthesis of different cultural flows.