Establishment of the Yuan Dynasty Empire in China

47

"Kublai Khan goes hunting." Fragment. Artist Liu Guandao (1258-1336). Silk, ink. Gugong Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Entry


In 1271, Khubilai announced that the territories under his control would be named after the Chinese model as the Yuan Empire.

The Chineseization of Mongol rule began from the very beginning of the conquest of Jin and Xi Xia. As we wrote in previous articles, one of the main agents of the policy of Sinification and, at the same time, the policy of saving taxpayers for the Mongolian state was the Kidanin Yului Chutsai.



As a warrior people, the Mongols did not have any civilian government structures at all. The Mongols did not pay taxes, and their society was governed through tribal and communal structures closely related exclusively to military management.

After the conquest of vast states with a sedentary population, the Mongols began to adopt systems or elements of control systems that seemed adequate to them to extract profit from the conquered. Military and political power was exercised exclusively in the old way, through the supremacy of the khan, military councils, that is, the military structure of the people of warriors, and the new system of management of farmers was entrusted to local officials under the obligatory control of either a Mongol or a representative from another foreign ethnic group.

So busy in the 30s. XIII century territories in northern China used the "Tai he lu" code of the fallen Jin empire until the 80s of the XIII century.

The conquest of the Chinese lands by the northern barbarians was not the first time in stories China, especially since the predecessors of the Mongols: the Khitan, Jurchen and partially the Tangut quickly adopted the Chinese culture and system of government.

Mongolian leaders, adherents of traditions, generally proposed to destroy the agricultural population and turn the lands of China into pastures.

At the first stage, they were not attracted at all and were not interested in the culture of the peoples who were subordinated to them and subjected to slavery.

But with the growth in the management structure of the Chinese military and officials, especially during the conquest of the Southern Song, Sinification went faster.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the widespread opinion today that Russia fell into the Mongol empire with Chinese officials has no basis.

Russia fell under the yoke of the nomads, when the process of disintegration of the Mongol state into separate huge parts had already begun. And the conquest of the Chinese empire by the Song dynasty ended thirty years after the first invasion of Russia. An attempt to introduce the collection of tribute from Russian volosts according to the Central Asian version was unsuccessful for a number of reasons, and payments passed into the hands of the Russian princes. At the same time, the ransom of fees transferred to Muslim merchants in China was actively used. The way this was carried out by merchants in the former territory of the Golden Empire caused outrage even among the Chinese who served the Mongols.

Restoring the connection of times or the creation of a Chinese unified state


Kublai Khan became the founder of a new empire throughout China. Moreover, he significantly expanded it, including not only the lands of non-Chinese Tibetan tribes, the territory of the Tanguts, Uighurs, Jurchens, but even his own ulus - Mongolia.

Khubilai was a formidable warrior who from childhood was fond of hunting, that is, the school of war. He was diligently educated, studied Uyghur writing and other sciences. But especially in military affairs. Even in his youth, he received the epithet of the Wise - Kublai-Sechen. At the same time, he became acquainted with the teachings of Confucius, and later studied the "ideal", in the opinion of Chinese scholars, the history of the Tang Dynasty Empire. Khan spent a lot of time discussing the history and mistakes of past reigns, loved religious disputes and was religiously tolerant.


A modern map, where the Yuan Empire is indicated within the boundaries of modern states. Often such cards are used for unreasonable territorial claims.

Creating the empire of the Yuan dynasty, he pointed out that he proceeds from a universal, and not a narrow national approach. The previous rulers in China, in his opinion, were doing wrong when forming dynasties according to the national or tribal principle.

In fact, the structure of the Yuan empire bore a clearly expressed character of ethnic inequality, but when it was created, the ideological basis was universalism. Confucian scholars supported and developed these ideas of Kublai, seeing that after a long period of chaos, wars and robberies, the reincarnation of the traditional empire in the image of the Yuan begins. But the conqueror people themselves, not only did not share such ideas, but, as we will see below, rigidly opposed universalism, which could contribute to the assimilation of the Mongols and dissolution among the sedentary population.

In whose eyes the great Mongolian khan became the chosen emperor, who restored or, rather, created an empire within the boundaries of the reference empire of the Tang dynasty, significantly increasing its size, including by including Mongolia into the empire.

The ruler who maintains peace and harvests is endowed with divine grace, and such was Khubilai, unlike the Jin and Song emperors, who were unable to provide not only prosperity, but also elementary security.

The first Yuan emperor died in 1294 in the year of the blue horse.

Reforms in the Yuan Empire


After conquering the Song, Khubilai not only took over its control system, but also significantly improved it. The entire territory of the empire, even before the final conquest of the Songs, was divided into regions (edges), headed by officials from the Mongol nobility. Mainly this division has survived to this day.

All actions of the "governor" were strictly regulated and spelled out: what he had to do, how much to deploy troops from the edge, how much to pay taxes. For the rapid movement and transmission of information, the whole country was permeated by a system of post offices and pit stations.

It is generally accepted in our country that this system has been extremely effective since its inception, but at the initial stage this was not the case. The Mongols abused her, arbitrarily confiscating horses wherever they found them, if they were not in the pits (zhan). What caused the discontent of the population living at the post stations. The situation gradually leveled off. In Yuan, there were 1500 pit stations that ensure the rapid transmission of information, the movement of officials and messengers, as well as government cargo.

Under the Yuan, water transport was actively developed, after the war the Great Canal and other canals were restored, seaports were developed. For the first time, movement by sea was opened between north and south of China. We can say that it was the rivers, canals and the coastal strip of the sea that were the main transport arteries of the empire.

Chinese officials were called up to serve, and it was they who carried out all the routine work, primarily to collect taxes.

Was created, as we wrote, on the Chinese model, a ramified bureaucratic apparatus. This entire system was aimed primarily at restraining the local Mongol rulers, who were self-sufficient on the ground. Essentially, the central administration ruled the capitals and the small regions around them.

The Yuan Empire had a state hierarchical system, like the nomadic "empire" of the Mongols, built on the inequality of ethnic groups. This was enshrined in law; Mongols, as an ethnic group of conquerors, was at the top of the pyramid. They were joined by such ethno-allies as the Uighurs. The next were the so-called. samu, immigrants from Central and Western Asia, most often Turks and Muslims. Samu, who came from developed countries, distinguished themselves in the formation of systems for the exploitation of the Chinese population. Next were the Chinese from the Jin Empire, followed by the Jurchens. At the same time, the Jurchens, who did not know the Chinese language, belonged to the Mongols. And at the very bottom were the Chinese from the territories of the former Song Dynasty empire. If the Mongol killed the Chinese, he either paid the cost of the donkey, or went on a campaign, and for striking the Mongol the Chinese was executed.

After the conquest, slavery spread in China, which was local in the Song and Jin empires, due to the fact that the Mongols massively turned the local population into slaves during the wars. This indicates a regression in social relations. The population declined throughout China. The 1293 census in Yuan showed that the number of farms was 14, according to the calculations of researchers - 002. While in Northern Song, before the Jurchen invasion, there were 760 in the 19th century, in Southern Song - 800 000, and in Jin - 20.

In the empire, the Ministry of Agriculture was created to help the peasants after a series of wars and pogroms, in order to normalize economic activity, to ensure the plowing of wastelands. The ministry supplied rural communities with seeds and implements. But, as is usually the case in militarized societies, the state, giving with one hand, took with two. Extraordinary military levies and taxes offset all these improvements.

During the Yuan period, the codification of law takes place, a kind of symbiosis of Chinese legislation of previous eras, customary Mongolian law and current decrees is created.

The same can be said about the new capital, Khanbalik or Dadu (Beijing). It was a newly rebuilt city that boggled the imagination of travelers:

“One wonders how many chambers there are," wrote Marco Polo about the palace in Khanbalik, "spacious and beautifully arranged, and no one in the world can build and arrange chambers better than these. And the roof, red, green, blue, yellow, of all colors, is subtly and skillfully laid out, shines like crystal, and glows from a distance around the palace. This roof, you know, is strong, built solidly, it will stand for many years.

Between the first and second walls are meadows, and beautiful trees, and all kinds of animals; there are also white deer, and animals with musk (musk musk deer), antelopes and fallow deer and all kinds of other beautiful animals; and outside the walls only on the roads where people walk, they are not, but in other places and there are many beautiful animals. "

The city was built in a short time, huge masses of the population were mobilized for its construction, which was in the practice of nomads.

Establishment of the Yuan Dynasty Empire in China
Khanbalik. Modern renovation. Source: History of Chinese Civilization. In 4 volumes. T.3. Edited by Yuan Xingpei. M., 2020

It was not a European or Central Asian handicraft and trade city in structure. In fact, it was exclusively an administrative center with a part serving it. In the center of it was the huge palace of the emperor-khan, which was adjoined by the buildings of departments and institutions, state depositories. Here there was a guard, consisting of regiments of different nations. Adjacent to the center were the quarters where they lived and worked, serving the imperial governors and the Mongol nobility, artisans and merchants.

At the court, scientists gathered in Dadu, 4 thousand students from Lingyang were transferred here by force, famous Han poets and artists who made the Yuan Empire glory lived here.

Shi Zu or Khubilai carried out a monetary reform, enshrining it in law in the "Yuan dian zhang": only paper money was in the country's circulation. The confused and mixed monetary system of Song and Jin was replaced by a much clearer system, of course, the purpose of which was not to harmonize finances, but to remove precious metals from circulation in favor of the Mongols. Even foreign merchants, upon arrival in the empire, were obliged to hand over all coins and ingots made of non-ferrous metals in exchange for bank notes.

The Mongols were more and more involved in the benefits of a sedentary civilization, but did not mix with the conquered, even the emperor spent three months a year in the steppe, living in a yurt.

The population of the new empire formally had to pay three types of taxes: land, poll and household taxes. Payments were canceled. But the regular tax system was constantly being adjusted for military needs. Disproportionate and uncontrollable military spending seriously undermined the country's economy, ruining its core - the peasant-producer.

The key problem in building "imperial" uniformity was the fact that the lands of northern China were distributed to the Mongol nobility back in the 20s. XIII century, which barbarously exploited the population: the nomads did not think about reproduction in the farms and proceeded solely from their own needs. This situation was in serious conflict with the formally harmonious system of the new Yuan empire.

Strife in the Mongol camp


The system of Mongolian society during the wars of Genghis Khan and his descendants should be attributed, in general, to the system of the territorial community.

And the structure of a complex chiefdom can be applied to it exclusively within the framework of this system, and not as itself.

The stage of the territorial community, especially in the early stages, demonstrates the law of dialectics about the unity and struggle of opposites: on the one hand, such a society is a society of military expansion, and on the other, a society striving for division and separatism.

Simply put, if, after the unification of the tribes in the Mongol steppe under the leadership of Genghis Khan, this union would not have had the opportunity to start a war or the war would have become unsuccessful, it immediately disintegrated. The Mongolian military organization, and there was no other, began to dominate over various conquered countries and states, but this made Mongolian society no different, and could not become. Therefore, already 50 years after the creation of a single Mongolian proto-state of Genghis Khan, it begins to disintegrate.


Mongolian horseman Hood. V. Taratorin

In 1265 Barak (Borak) khan, who was Khubilai's ally, seized the Chagadaev ulus in Central Asia. Haidu (Kaidu), the grandson of Ogedei and other princes opposed him - after a series of battles they decided to meet at the kurultai and reconciled in 1269. Formally, Haidu became the eldest here. And Barak, having set out on a campaign to the west against Abag Khan (1234-1282), was defeated to smithereens and died in 1271. Haidu (1230-1301) ruled until 1301, constantly fighting with the Yuan in alliance with Chagadaevich Duva, son of Barak. The situation was extremely delicate, since he fought with the emperor and the Great Mongol Khan, who, albeit nominally, issued labels for the rule of all Chingizids.

The arena of hostilities between them was the territory of the Uyghur tribal union. The Uighurs voluntarily became allies of Genghis Khan. For this, their ruler, the idikut, became the first, according to the Mongol hierarchy, among the conquered rulers.

The Uighurs were Buddhists and Nestorian Christians, and the Manichean teaching was also prevalent here. They were a semi-nomadic people who were also engaged in agriculture. The Uyghur Turfan principality became part of the Yuan Empire. Khaidu and Duva in 1286 defeated the Yuan troops here, driving them out of the Uyghur possessions. Idikut fled to China, his successors becoming military and civilian high-ranking officials of the Yuan. Although Turpan passed from hand to hand, but by the 20s of the XIV century. The Yuan completely lost control of the Uyghur lands. Both the material and spiritual culture of the Uighurs fell into decay, and it was their writing that was used in the Mongolian state. This regression led to the fact that part of the Uyghurs migrated to China, the remaining population soon not only converted to Islam, but also lost their self-identification. The ethnonym "Uygur" (Uygurlar) disappeared for a long 600 years.

And the Yuan, with the loss of the Uyghur lands, also lost control of the Great Silk Road (GSR). So the state on the territory of China, after the Tang Empire, again lost this important economic path. However, the IDP is more of a simulacrum than a permanent way. At the time when he completely fell under the control of the Mongols, they were still waging bloody wars with the silk producers, and when they captured the Song, they soon lost their way to the west. Merchants were more attracted by the way to Karakorum, and then to Khanbalik, where the Mongol elite paid an exorbitant price even for those times for all sorts of luxury goods and curiosities, quickly squandering the loot on campaigns.

The same can be said about the "world-system" theory in relation to the Mongol Empire, from Russia to China. This proto-state existed as a single one for no more than 20 years and disintegrated in 1259. And when China was finally conquered, in fact neither the lands of Central and Forward Asia, nor the Golden Horde were part of the same state with the Yuan Empire, which united Mongolia and China.

Against the backdrop of organic clashes between the Chingizids that took place at this time, Kublai's desire to introduce uniformity in government and taxes provoked resistance from the Mongols in Yuan itself. The uprising was raised by Nayan, the nephew of the emperor, in 1287, in northeastern China, in the territory of modern eastern Mongolia, Manchuria, northern China and Korea. Of course, he was supported by the khans Haidu and Duva. Marco Polo reported that Nayan was proud that he could muster an army of 400 thousand soldiers, while Khubalai, according to the information of the same Polo, had only guards units and people of his personal "yard" at hand: falconers, etc. The rest of the troops fought on the Yuan borders.

Nayan decided to move west to unite with Khaidu and thereby significantly increase the forces that were to defeat Kublai.

But Shi Tzu reacted with lightning speed, secretly gathering an army in twelve days in the capital and personally leading it. The emperor, following the example of the Chinese rulers, did not go on campaigns for a long time, leaving this matter to his commanders. But the situation was critical, and the Great Khan himself went on a campaign, sent the formidable Bayan, the conqueror of the Songs, to free Karakarum from the rebellious noyons and in order to block the path of Khaidu here. The highly experienced Khubilai did everything as according to the "military Mongolian textbook." He, with the commander of the Kipchak guard Tukhuta, made the transition in twenty days, having covered about 1200 km. On the way, reconnaissance destroyed or captured everyone who met on the way, which made it possible for his army to approach Nayan's camp unnoticed. At dawn, his army surrounded the unfortified camp of the rebellious noyons.


Tombstone. XIII-XIV centuries Beijing History Museum. PRC. Photo by the author

This happened near the Shara-Muren - the Yellow River (present-day Inner Mongolia, PRC). Nayan himself slept with his beloved wife, and Khubilai surrounded the enemy camp, placing detachments of 30 thousand, infantry stood behind the horsemen. But the Nayan Mongols managed to arm themselves and line up. Before the battle, the soldiers, waiting for the order of the commanders, from both sides played musical instruments and sang, Marco Polo wrote about this custom. At the signal of a big nakar, a drum, the Great Khan, the battle began, and Nayan raised a banner with a cross, since he was a Christian:

“Without further ado, to tell the truth, such a cruel and terrible battle never happened; in our days there are so many people, especially horsemen, and have not been seen in the camp and in the battle. How many people died on both sides, it's just a miracle! The battle lasted from morning to noon, and at the end the great khan prevailed.

The rebellious Mongols were defeated, the leaders of the uprising surrendered to the emperor, and Nayan was taken prisoner. In order not to shed a drop of blood of a prince from the genghisid clan, he was tightly wrapped in a carpet, so he died "in full view of the sun and sky."


Mongolian commander in copper armor of the XIII century. Reconstruction by L.A. Bobrova

This ended the battle at Shara-Muren, the result of which was the temporary pacification of the military opposition of the Mongol clan clans, but the Yuan Empire was never able to cope with it to the end. And therefore, the Yuan Empire was never able to become a state in the full sense of the word. That is, the Yuan could not make the path from a "nomadic" to a sedentary "empire", the only possible form of existence of the early state during this period. As it happened with the states of the Seljuks, Hungarians, and especially with the Ottoman Empire.

But to the end, it was impossible to pacify or bring the people-army to submission, because this state formation needed strength, and acted exclusively in the interests of the people-army. And as long as these expansionist aspirations of the transitional society existed, as long as their aggression did not receive a proper rebuff, the nomadic "empire" continued to exist.

We will talk about the campaigns of the Yuan Empire in the next article.

Sources and literature:
History of Chinese Civilization. In 4 volumes. T.3. Edited by Yuan Xingpei. Translated from Chinese by I.F.Popov M., 2020.
Giovanni del plano Carpini History of the Mongols. Guillaume de Rubruck A Journey to Eastern Countries, Book of Marco Polo. M., 1997.
Rashid ad-Din. Collection of chronicles. Volume I. Book 2. M., 1952.
History of the East. T. II. M., 1993.
Hsiao Ch. The Military Establishment of the Yuan Dynasty. 1979.
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47 comments
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  1. +2
    19 October 2021 18: 30
    It's very cool when geyropeytsy begin to teach the life of representatives of other nations, states, how to live !!!
    And they used to eat soup before them too ...
  2. +5
    19 October 2021 18: 34
    "The first emperor Yuan died in 1294 in the year of the blue horse." (C)
    Naturally Kublai?
  3. +7
    19 October 2021 18: 52
    I read it with pleasure, a balm for my soul. Thank you. I understand, I'm running a little ahead, Khubilai was not lucky with Japan, for reasons beyond his control.
    1. +5
      19 October 2021 21: 01
      I will join the words of Alexy! Edward's article is great !!!
      Good night everyone, Vlad!
  4. +6
    19 October 2021 19: 06
    Good evening, Edward! )))
    Thank you so much for the excellent article! Something in her touches a living. No, not Mongols, not Chinese ... Maybe a magic haze of ancient historical times? It does not dissipate in human memory ...
    It was, it was, and it is gone, flowed like sand through your fingers, but eight hundred years has gone away!
    1. +8
      19 October 2021 20: 17
      Thank you so much for the excellent article!

      I join in thanks. I always got pleasure when I learned something unknown and interesting earlier. smile
      1. +6
        19 October 2021 20: 45
        I always got pleasure when I learned something unknown and interesting earlier.


        Kostya, good evening again! )))
        Well, since ... it’s evening, then some tiredness accumulated during the day, not prompting me to analyze the article (we will leave it until tomorrow!), Pushes me into the soft embrace of the lyrics. And here's the motive:

        In the center of it was the huge palace of the emperor-khan, which was adjoined by the buildings of departments and institutions, state depositories. Here there was a guard, consisting of regiments of different nations. Adjacent to the center were the quarters where they lived and worked, serving the imperial governors and the Mongol nobility, artisans and merchants.


        Kublai's Dvorets. Who was also called Kubla Khan. And, apparently, not only in me this era and this palace caused and continue to cause a feeling of immersion in something strange and mysterious, not explained in words, such that it takes you into timeless space. However, unlike Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I do not use drugs. wassat )))
        Imagination just works.
        1. +4
          19 October 2021 20: 51
          In the blessed land of Xanad
          The palace was built by Kubla Khan,

          1. +4
            19 October 2021 21: 05
            There are many translations.
            And this despite the fact that the poem remained in oblivion for a long time. And now the number of research articles about him is second only to the number of articles about Napoleon.
    2. +4
      19 October 2021 20: 57
      Yes, I used both Taratorin and Bobrova, and these are very rare sources for today ...
      1. +3
        19 October 2021 21: 11
        Good evening, Vyacheslav Olegovich! )))
        Glad to see you. Probably all in the work of writing articles about weapons? It happens that a person plunges into something, it is difficult to get out, well, along the way, everything is different. Do not forget the historical section, we are waiting, sir! ))))
        1. +5
          19 October 2021 21: 41
          Good evening to you too. Today I finished an article in a series about "great rulers", and before that one more material - a response, also history. So the "story" goes on. Well, and the weapon ... yes, something in a row came out three materials.
  5. +4
    19 October 2021 22: 51
    The day today turned out to be some kind of whisper. I'm tired, and it's still half an hour to get home. I read the article, but realized that I needed to reread it in the morning - today my head is no longer cooking.
    Colleagues, I propose to meet tomorrow at the same place and disassemble the author to pieces, and then put it back together. smile
    1. +3
      20 October 2021 11: 19
      Colleagues, I propose to meet tomorrow at the same place and disassemble the author to pieces, and then put it back together.

      And again the mysterious arap on horseback (right)! It is a pity that Sergei Mikhailov is absent, we would again analyze the theory of the "time machine". drinks
      1. +4
        20 October 2021 11: 52
        This is not a fig. If you look closely at his hand, in which he holds a twig, you can see that a white fist is visible from the red sleeve.
        And the face can be black for many reasons:
        1. Dirty
        2. Smoked
        3. Put on a mask for Halloween
        4. Overdid it with makeup
        5. The author of the picture sees this way
        6. Pseudo-historians of the past crept into the museum and spoiled the canvas in order to give their followers "irrefutable proofs" many years later.
        Which option will you run into more? laughing
        1. +3
          20 October 2021 13: 00
          Which option will you run into more?

          7. Arap - who, perhaps, is dirty, smoked, put on a mask for Halloween, while overdoing it with makeup, and in general, the author of the picture sees it this way ...
          If you look closely at his hand, in which he holds a twig, you can see that a white fist is visible from the red sleeve.

          ..so, this arap put on a white mitten on his chocolate fist! laughing
          1. +3
            20 October 2021 14: 43
            By the way, an interesting observation.
            There is such a ceremony among Buddhists, called "tsam".
            During this ceremony, their lamas jump and dance in the masks of guardian deities.
            All masks have large bulging eyes, most often with three.
            Something like that.

            It is strange that none of our folk historians have paid attention to this: the gods of the Mongols are Caucasians.
            Nikolay, do you recognize your ancestors of the bardarii carriages?
            1. +3
              20 October 2021 14: 48
              Nikolay, do you recognize your ancestors of the bardarii carriages?

              Mikhail, I don’t see beards, these are not bardarik carriages, but three-eyed nibbles! Such people would definitely not be able to wash the Big Ussuri! stop
              1. +4
                20 October 2021 14: 59
                Or maybe because they have such eyes, that for a long time and really want to make Ussuri?
                Now they will make and become the average Scythian-Siberian-Rus ...
                1. +2
                  20 October 2021 15: 15
                  Or maybe because they have such eyes, that for a long time and really want to make Ussuri?

                  To understand this, one must study the wearers of the mask below the waist. You cannot rinse the Big Ussuri with one burning eyes. The founding fathers, in the sense, the washing fathers of the Ussurei were talented elsewhere.
                  1. +2
                    20 October 2021 15: 26
                    I really hope that these masks are not the image of Kublai)))
                    And then I compared the picture under discussion and these masks ... If Khubilai is on a horse in the center of the picture, then ... such a muzzle!
                    It's a pity!
                    Honestly, the more I read about this person, the more I like him.
  6. +4
    20 October 2021 11: 42
    If you summarize the content of the article, you get something like the following:
    After the final conquest and unification of China, the Mongol elite, led by Khan Kublai, deliberately and purposefully turned around.
    This led to conflicts with the "orthodox" Mongols, which resulted in a rebellion and defeat of the latter.
    In this contest it is not entirely clear what the author writes about "Mongol nationalism" in the empire as a whole.
    The Yuan Empire had a state hierarchical system, like the nomadic "empire" of the Mongols, built on the inequality of ethnic groups. This was enshrined in law; Mongols, as an ethnic group of conquerors, was at the top of the pyramid. They were joined by such ethno-allies as the Uighurs. The next were the so-called. samu, immigrants from Central and Western Asia, most often Turks and Muslims. Samu, who came from developed countries, distinguished themselves in the formation of systems for the exploitation of the Chinese population. Next were the Chinese from the Jin Empire, followed by the Jurchens. At the same time, the Jurchens, who did not know the Chinese language, belonged to the Mongols. And at the very bottom were the Chinese from the territories of the former Song Dynasty empire. If the Mongol killed the Chinese, he either paid the cost of the donkey, or went on a campaign, and for striking the Mongol the Chinese was executed.

    To be honest, I imagined the Chinese part of the Mongol Empire a little differently.
    At the top of the pyramid were not the Mongols as a whole, as an ethnos, but exclusively the ruling dynasty. But under it was already a rather complex system of aristocracy and officials. Moreover, this aristocracy included not only the Mongols, but the officials in general were mainly Chinese. It is difficult to imagine that an ordinary Mongol nomad could give orders to a Chinese official only on the basis of his origin. Unless an ordinary nomad could put himself above an ordinary peasant, nothing more.
    1. +4
      20 October 2021 14: 21
      Hi Michael!
      "Orthodox Mongols" smiled! laughing
      It is a pity that Edward is not present during the discussion of the article. And I agree with you that the top of the Mongols, led by Khubilai, saw their future differently than a simple nomad. Indeed, Khubilai and Co. relied primarily on the loyal Chinese administration, placing it above the "warlords" - business or anything personal!
      In the article, as a true historian, Khubilai is also present as the leader of the Mongols, then turns into an emperor, and then is named in general in Chinese Shi Zu!
      It is probably difficult for an unprepared reader to make out everything at once.
      1. +3
        20 October 2021 14: 56
        Greetings, Alexander.
        Khubilai is exactly the Mongol who realized that China can only be ruled by being a Chinese. "Paris is worth the mass", there is nothing to be done. He was like that: he started as a leader of nomads, ended up as an emperor of one of the most ancient states, and he carried out the Sinification of himself and his closest associates quite consciously. As it seems to me, this is exactly what the article is about.
        But regarding "Mongolian nationalism" I find it difficult to agree with the author. The Mongols continued to live in the steppes in their usual ways, the Chinese - at home, their life also did not change. The dynasty has changed - well, it’s unpleasant, but in general it doesn’t matter. Are you a relative, friend or associate of the emperor? Welcome to the leadership position of our close and friendly company of spiders at the bank. Neither one nor the other? Take a walk in your steppe, stinking tarbagan, among civilized people you have nothing to do. Something like this...
        1. The comment was deleted.
          1. +2
            20 October 2021 16: 26
            For once, and I do not argue. smile
            Khubilai was, in my opinion, a very wise ruler. Seeing an efficiently working system, he did not break and rebuild it, but preferred to integrate into it himself and even slightly improved it.
    2. +2
      20 October 2021 15: 33
      At the top of the pyramid were not the Mongols as a whole, as an ethnos, but exclusively the ruling dynasty. But under it was already a rather complex system of aristocracy and officials. Moreover, this aristocracy included not only the Mongols, but the officials in general were mainly Chinese.

      Michael, Alexander!
      Greetings!
      Yes, I confirm that just such a system was created in Yuan, at the top of the pyramid were not some abstract officials, like, kh, kh, without a clan and tribe, like ours, but only the Mongols. This, by the way, was the case with the Jurchens and the Khitan before that. Were the Chinese allowed to rule? Yes. But I indicated their place and ranks.
      There were not so many Mongols in Yuan, only 1 million men, out of 50 million of the local population, primarily the Han people.
      And unlike the same Jurchens, about which I also wrote, the Mongols did not live at all, Khubilai lived as a nomad, for at least half a year in the steppe, in a yurt and hunting, he loved hunting very much.
      By the way, the Avars also became non-Orthodox, although the Slavic population in the Danube was overwhelming.
      It seems to me that the same Jurchens quickly wandered around, as they were partly farmers. And the Mongols were pure nomads + the stage of development, which they thought would allow them to rule the empire from a horse.
      The problems with the Mongol nobility consisted in the fact, roughly speaking, that they wanted to live in China like in a pasture, plunder the subordinate population as in war, and Khubilai wanted to exploit the Chinese, but not to such an extent: the litter of the founder and employees who together created the office: it's time to move on to corporate rails, and they are against.
      However, I'm getting ahead of myself, there will be two more articles about Yuan_Ming, well, and one ... about siege affairs.
      hi
      1. +1
        20 October 2021 16: 04
        Except for Michael, no one touched on the essence of what was written. Perhaps this is correct, since it does not affect the Jochi ulus.
        My opinion is that you go far beyond referrals to Marko Nikolaevich. I read here, but here I skip!
        For the Mongols, your article is another step in the Looking Glass.
        1. +1
          20 October 2021 18: 06
          Alexander,
          what are you talking about? What is the ulus of Jochi, if we are talking about the Yuan dynasty, what is the looking glass? Understood nothing.
          At the end of the text, there are some key works on the problem.
          laughing
          hi
          1. +1
            20 October 2021 23: 13
            Edward! I am still waiting for your research to flow to our region! Maybe in vain? hi drinks
            1. +1
              21 October 2021 06: 48
              Dear Alexander,
              I can't promise anything yet.
              I wanted to finish the topic "about China", there is a lot of materials, little time. You understand that the recommended literature is the tip of the iceberg, and I am not compiling, but writing the opinion of professionals on these issues, slightly supplementing it with a stage vision of development in history)
              About the Mongols and Russia, my articles are ready, based on the latest historiography, but ... for my own reasons, I still think whether to post or not.
              While there are articles: Yuan Wars, Yuan Doom - Creation of Ming, and Mongol Siege ... these are in the coming weeks.
              Yours faithfully,
              hi
              1. +2
                21 October 2021 10: 13
                Thanks for the comprehensive answer.
      2. 0
        20 October 2021 16: 51
        My compliments, Edward.
        Quote: Eduard Vaschenko
        The problems with the Mongol nobility were, roughly speaking, that they wanted to live in China like on a pasture,

        Still, probably, not all of the know wanted to live like this, but only a part of it, and a small one. A sort of retrograde who paid for their retrograde with their heads.
        I can easily understand them: they are steppe warriors, warriors who conquered the whole world for many months on the way around, why should they become like the peoples they conquered? No, no and no, we will live like our fathers and grandfathers who conquered the world, we will be just as strong, warlike and dangerous. He who is not a Mongol - by spirit, by blood, by way of life - is either an enemy or a slave. Is Khubilai a Mongol? Look at him - a pampered Chinese lady dressed in silks and painting her face. He surrounded himself with Buddhists and Muslims, forgetting about Tengri. Was this Genghis Khan?
        Well and the like. I think this position could find supporters, especially in Mongolia itself. Well, then you told everything. smile
        1. +2
          20 October 2021 19: 25
          Dear Michael,
          about:
          Is Khubilai a Mongol? Look at him - a pampered Chinese lady dressed in silks and painting her face.

          All the same, he was portrayed by the Chinese, image technologies during this period throughout the world were far from portraiture.
          Our images of Genghis Khan in the 14th century, to put it mildly, are far from modern reconstructions of the bogadurs.

          Yours faithfully,
          hi
          1. 0
            20 October 2021 20: 05
            Least of all, while constructing this "monologue", I thought about the images of Kublai. I just read somewhere that he was fat, prone to drunkenness and loved luxury. smile Maybe he did not use cosmetics, although, at official receptions, they probably tinted it. And the fact that I was dressed in silk, I personally have no doubts. In the Chinese climate, it is simply more convenient and hygienic. I just wanted to convey the train of thought of some Mongolian nobles, what it could be, how I imagine it. Add colors, so to speak. smile
            Anyway, thank you for the material, Edward. Like any of your creations, it requires careful reading and deliberation, which attracts me personally.
            Respectfully yours. hi
            1. 0
              20 October 2021 21: 48
              Mikhail, I am always glad to receive your comments!
              Sincerely.
              hi
  7. +2
    20 October 2021 12: 49
    SU SHI, a poet who lived in the era described.

    Among the river is a high rock, The path to the top has not yet been found.
    And on the rock there is a sacred ox, Not knowing what it means to pull a plow.
    Pilgrims gathered at the temple, prostrated themselves with hope and prayer,
    A white sheep is sacrificed to the sound of flutes and drums.
    And in the field, a little further away, a live ox, O stumbling stones, pulls the plow ...
    The horns are weathered and stepped, And the hooves are hewn - how much torment!
    But they give him only half a bunch of grass to satisfy his eternal hunger.
    Truly: what to be a live ox - Where better to be a statue!

    Isn't this an allegory?
    1. +2
      20 October 2021 15: 56
      I like this one more:
      It can be seen that the time is coming — after all, nothing in this world lasts forever!
      A century can be long, but it will still have a limit.
      You and I, oh my brother, walked the same path of man
      And in the wilderness, in a foreign land, away from business ...

      And again - how sad! - this stroller separates us,
      I will rush away in it for a long time, me and this teenager are my son.
      I am glad that there is a spouse in your house - care and affection,
      Under my roof there will be a light Buddha alone.

      A small amendment: Su Shi lived one hundred fifty or two hundred years earlier - he is a contemporary of Vseslav of Polotsk and the Yaroslavich brothers.
      1. +2
        20 October 2021 16: 08
        But this?
        Yuan Haowen.
        Like round jasper, moon in the night
        clear as crystal, trees at dawn.
        The rich feast in their palace
        in silk robes on a bright carpet.
        And in the backyard - flowers and the moon.
        Spring is everywhere tonight!

        Under Khubilai, Chinese poets unbound politically!)))
        He endured, he was smart.
        1. +2
          20 October 2021 16: 17
          Another thing surprises me in their work - the maturity of thoughts, the subtlety of metaphors, the imagery of thinking, the depth and breadth of the problems raised ... European poetry will not reach such heights very soon. Poems written more than a thousand (!) Years ago have not lost their relevance now.
          As for a specific poem, politics in poetry does not appeal to me. There are bigger problems.
          1. +1
            20 October 2021 16: 50
            Well, at the time of Khubilai, this, apparently, became a need for self-awareness, and the poems did not develop in any other way. The intelligentsia of that time was. Refined oriental subtlety. Canons. And at the same time, the islands have incredible Japanese culture. And everything was combined with wild customs and sophisticated cruelty. Survived.
            By the way, how do you like the sculptures by Chris Cooksey? Recently I discovered for myself and was shocked. It seems that to make one of these, you have to spend half your life. And he has dozens of them. Just take a look on occasion.
            1. +2
              20 October 2021 17: 28
              Japanese culture, after all, only a dim reflection of the Chinese. Well, with some peculiarity, nothing more. In later times, having lived in isolation, the Japanese, let's say, gained in this peculiarity, but they could not give birth to anything of their own, truly new. Do not count as such netsuke, tsuba and their other trash ... Here, except that anime. laughing
              Looked at the sculptures.
              Well, what can I say ... The author is clearly not a talented sculptor, and expresses himself to the fullest.
              However, it didn’t work for me. There is no thought. The abundance of small details underlines this very well. So some "masters" throw more beads and rhinestones on their creations to hide the lack of an idea behind them. Say, I will heap up from the bulldozer, and you figure out what I wanted to say by this, look for depth, volume, etc. Everyone will find their own, will argue, the author will say "this was the main idea" everyone will applaud ... And I'm bored.
              Make one shape and convey everything that you wanted to say in it. If you have something to say, and if you can convey it, you are a talent.
              And here? An indistinct image in the center of the composition, many small details designed to distract, disperse attention and the complete absence of any concept, general idea that unites this phantasmagoric nonsense.
              In style:
              The disgusting halva itself crumbled into an unmade bed. The sounds melted like ice cream in a blast furnace. You threw a handkerchief and it was carried away through the window in the night wind. Satan kissed your knees and cried with black oil from blue eyes. But we still believe that the bright and noble image of true love will overcome all adversity and destroy all evil on the planet, win wars, hatred and anger.

              What do you think I meant by this?
              The sculptures of Chris Cooksey, in my understanding, are something like this nonsense.
              1. +1
                20 October 2021 18: 08
                Well, let's leave Cooksey. Actually, I was shocked by the human performance. As for Japan. Didn't The Tale of Prince Genji come to you? This is the 12-13th century.
                1. +2
                  20 October 2021 18: 24
                  Do not read. In general, Japan, as such, is not interesting to me at the moment. Some time ago (fifteen years smile ) was interested, but mainly in military and political history, culture and art to a lesser extent.
                  In my opinion, Japan is a distorted mirror of China, burdened with overwhelming conceit, megalomania and unfulfilled ambitions. smile In addition, during the time of self-isolation, they went there slightly (to put it mildly) with a roof. A sort of Poland in Asia. smile
                  Something I am angry today too much. smile
                  We need to rest a little.
                  I apologize if I ruined your mood with my bile. I did not want. request
                  1. +1
                    20 October 2021 19: 52
                    Misha, you haven't spoiled my mood at all! All day today I myself feel as if something is hanging in the air - unpleasant, viscous, as if something is approaching, and for whatever I take, everything falls out of my hands ...
                    And then, in order to get out of this state, right now I began to reread my beloved "Sniper" from Dmitry Sillov for the umpteenth time. I read, and I catch myself on the fact that the smile does not leave my face - this is the literary language of the author, and I returned! I returned to 2019, when I started reading a series of books about stalkers in the Pripyat zone, and now these books are associated with the then unquenchable hope for some positive changes in our life. And, you know, it became easier! As if useless reading is an important and useful thing - such a psychological trick ...
                    And then I walked through the proposed topics - either an incident in the subway, then a war, then a revolution, then an excess of self-defense - well, there is no happiness in life! wassat )))
                    And let sweet dreams, at least today, give me fantastic reading)))
                    1. 0
                      20 October 2021 20: 07
                      Let it be so. smile
  8. 0
    27 October 2021 15: 13
    Please tell me what it is, I can not insert a picture how to do it here?
  9. 0
    17 January 2022 09: 13
    My respect to the author. Good article.

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