Treaty of Shanyuan between Song and Liao

1004

After a nearly catastrophic Khitan invasion, the Song court under Emperor Zhenzong agreed to pay the Liao annual tribute of silk and silver in exchange for peace. The humiliating deal actually held for more than a century, letting China and its nomadic northern neighbor both prosper at length. The annual payments of two hundred thousand bolts of silk and one hundred thousand ounces of silver proved a bargain compared to the cost of war.