Yelü Dashi
The Qara Khitai or Kara Khitai (alternatively known as "Black Khitan" or "Black Cathay", ; ; 1124–1218), also known as the Western Liao (), officially the Great Liao (), was a sinicized dynastic empire in Central Asia ruled by the Khitan Yelü clan, and a successor state to the Liao dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Yelü Dashi (Emperor Dezong of Liao), who led the remnants of the Liao dynasts from Manchuria to Central Asia after fleeing from the Jin dynasty conquest of their homeland in northern China. The empire was usurped by the Naimans under Kuchlug in 1211; traditional Chinese, Persian, and Arab sources consider the usurpation to be the end of the dynasty, even though the empire would not fall until the Mongol conquest in 1218. The Qara Khitai is considered by Chinese historians to be a legitimate dynasty of China, as is the case for the preceding Liao dynasty.