608 liao
dates of 81 Liao missions are known. 60 of these arrived 5 days earlier.
The average interval was 5.2 days.^209
For the birthday congratulations of Sung emperors, the arrival dates
of 70 Liao missions are known. 39 of these arrived 3 days earlier. The
average interval was 5.0 days.
For the birthday congratulations of Chen-tsung’s widow (d.Mar.23,
1022), the arrival dates of 9 Liao missions are known. 7 of these arrived
3 days earlier. The average interval was 3.0 days.
For the birthday congratulations of Ying-tsung’s widow (d.Jan.25,
1067), the arrival dates of 8 missions are known. All of these arrived
7 days earlier.
In only two cases are the dates known when Liao missions returned
home. The Liao mission which arrived at the Sung court on Feb.7,
1100 for the New Year reception of Feb.12 was given a banquet on
Feb.16. A banquet normally concluded the visit of envoys. Excluding
the day of arrival, the mission would consequently have stayed for 9
days. The Liao mission which arrived at the Sung court on May 9,
1079, for the birthday celebration of Emperor Shen-tsung on May 13
departed on May 17. It had therefore stayed for 8 days.
The Sung obviously attempted to standardize the arrival and limit
the stay of Liao missions. The Liao took a completely different atti-
tude. For the New Year’s Day receptions of Liao emperors, the arrival
dates of 6 Sung missions are known.The average interval between
arrival and event was 18.5 days. For the birthday congratulations of
Liao emperors, the arrival dates of 13 Sung missions are known. The
average interval between arrival and event was 81.4 days.
The New Year and birthday congratulations required only one day.
The Sung envoys to the Liao court presented 4000 bolts of silk and
2000 ounces of silver objects at the former occasion, and 5000 bolts of
silk and 5000 ounces of silver objects at the latter.^210 The Liao envoys
to the Sung court no doubt made similar gifts, in each case with reci-
procity. The remainder of the time had to be used by the envoys for
other purposes. There can be no doubt that, apart from amusement,
(^209) When Liao congratulated on a New Year’s Day to both a Sung empress
dowager and an emperor, it sometimes sent separate missions. When that was the
case, the missions to the empress dowager had precedence and usually arrived in
K’ai-feng one day earlier.
(^210) See Wittfogel, Liao, p.358 note 60. These gifts must have become a rule from
1005 at the earliest.