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Chinese History - Yuan Dynasty 元朝 (1279-1368)

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Yuan Dynasty
government and administration

period before (Song Dynasty)r/a>
-- Mongol Empires
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Although the whole period of Yuan Dynasty was mere a military occupation of China than a real civil government, able rulers like Yuan Shizong (Qubilai Khan) saw that a high civilisation like China with a culture of immense absorbing potential for people entering her realm, would only be governeable with the instruments already existing. The Mongols took over the post-station system of the Song government, the system for taxation, granaries, state examinations for official recruitment, the paper money as a national currency, the imperial library and the historiographical offices. They left in place most Song institutions but imposed on them offices staffed with Mongol overseers called daruhaci (Chinese: zhangyinguan 掌印官) , even on a local level. Like during the Song Dynasty, the three central government offices were the secretariat (zhongshusheng 中書省) with the two counsilors or chancellors (zaixiang 宰相 ), the censorate (yushitai 御史臺) to maintain the disciplinary surveillance over the whole officialdom with two censors (yushi daifu 御史大夫 ) as heads, and the bureau of military affairs (shumiyuan 樞密院). The censorate of the Mongols had much more influence than the Song censorate: it was allowed to exert certain direct punitive actions, and was authorized to criticize court policies and to propose new ones. The many other offices to maintain the palace service, the state rites, official recruitment by the Hanlin Academy (Hanlinyuan 翰林院 ), the imperial manufacturies of the Song time still existed, plus some bureaus for religious administration.Territorial administration changed a little bit. During the conquest of China, ad hoc administration units called "field secretariats" (xing zhongshu sheng 行中書省 ) were created. These huge units are the foundation of the modern provincial administration, but they were much larger than today. A special unit was the large province of the metropolitan area around Khanbalik, called Zhili 直隸 "direct attached", a name in use until the end of Qing. The other field secretariats were Liaoyang 遼陽 (modern Liaoning and Jilin), Lingbei 岭北 (modern Inner Mongolia and the PR Mongolia), Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Jiangzhe (modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang), Jiangxi (modern Jiangxi and Fujian), and Huguang (modern Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi). Outside of modern China, the north of Vietnam was called Annan 安南 "Appeasing the South" (a name in use since Tang Dynasty), and Korea was called Zhengdong 征東 "Conquering the East". Tibet as a vasall state was formally administered by a Foreign Politics Court (xuanzhengyuan 宣政院). Each "province" was governed by branches of the central secretariat, the censorate and the military bureau. The province government was therewith a small copy of the central government. A smaller administration unit was the circuit (dao 道 ) with a "pacification" and a military commission or a surveillance commission. The route (lu 道 ) unit was administered both by central and some local institutions. The Song prefecture (superior: fu 府 ; inferior: zhou 州 ; military: jun 軍 ) was still existant and governed by a Chinese prefect (zhifu 知府 or yin 尹 ) and a Mongol overseer. The district (xian 縣 ) was administered by a Chinese magistrate (yin 尹 ), a Mongol overseer and a Muslim vice magistrate (cheng 丞 ). Like before, all officials were divided into nine ranks (jiupin 九品 ) with two subranks each.Even the army was divided into three different kinds of troops: the Mongol army, their allies, and Chinese troops.

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other banners were stationed throughout the empire. Military posts were hereditary. Chinese troops were generally designated as "Green Standards" (lüying 綠營).A very important aspect of Chinese government and administration was the official recruitment, an invention of Tang Dynasty but only perfected during Ming time. This system relied on open, competitive examinations with yearly quotas of employable officials (Manchu, Mongol and Chinese). The first step were the prefecture examinations, leading to the title shengyuan 生員. People that passed the provincial examinations (entitled juren 舉人) were allowed to take over lower-level appointments. People passing the metropolitan examinations were called jinshi 進士, and they were enabled to become officials with high ranks after making studies at the central Hanlin Academy. The examinations took three days in a clausure where the candidates were asked to interprete Confucian classics and to write essays in prescribed literary forms (the in/famous eight-foot-essay baguwen 八股文). All official posts were graded in a nine rank system (jiu pin 九品) that was also a heritage Tang Dynasty. Although this open system of recruitment seemed to be quite objective and fair, it was corrupted by the possibility to buy lower ranks in the academies, and the fact that financing studies for the examinations were granted by relatives of the candidate. Later, after the candidate had obtained his post, he had to reward his friends and relatives. Additionally, local administrators had to deliver a certain amount of taxes to the central government, and there was no limit for levying taxes - the rest

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