Cathay

Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan(Chinese: 契丹, Qìdān), the name of a nomadic people who founded the Liao Dynasty which ruled much of Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who had a state of their own (Kara-Khitan Khanate) centered around today's Kyrgyzstan for another century thereafter.