A shining moment for the north

With more than 100 exhibits, all from the Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xu intends to tell — in his own words — "the little-known stories of these noble women, almost all of whom had a role to play in the support and continuation of a political alliance lying at the heart of Liao's imperial rule".

That alliance can be traced back to the very beginning of the Liao Dynasty, whose first emperor Yelyu Abaoji received crucial backing from his equally ambitious wife Shulyu Ping and her family. The latter group later adopted the surname Xiao, modeling themselves on Xiao He, the right-hand man of Liu Bang, founder of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) in whom Abaoji saw himself.