In 1279, the Yuan Dynasty completed the unification of China. At the time of the Yuan Dynasty's unification, today's Xinjiang, Tibet, northeastern Yunnan, Taiwan, and the islands of the South China Sea were all under Yuan rule. Historical records state that the Yuan Dynasty's territory was: "To the east, it reaches the Liaozuo region; to the west, it reaches the Liusha sands. To the north, it crosses the Yin Mountains; to the south, it crosses the sea surface. It cannot compare to the height of the Han and Tang dynasties." Han Chinese literati may not have particularly developed geographical knowledge. North beyond Yinshan, which lies in Inner Mongolia, and beyond Inner Mongolia further north, you reach the Arctic Circle. Can you see polar bears on Yuan territory? At its peak, the Yuan Empire covered about 20 million square kilometers, equivalent to the 22.4 million Soviet Union before its collapse. If you include the Golden Horde centered on Russia, the Chagatai Khanate in Xinjiang in Central Asia, and the Ilkhanate in West Asia, the Mongols accounted for about 40 million square kilometers. These three khanates gradually lost contact with the Yuan mainland, and by the second and third generations, they were ###化了, definitely assimilated by local ethnic groups. The vastness of the Yuan Dynasty's territory was reflected in Han people moving to the frontier, and various border ethnic groups moving into the Central Plains. Note, this was not a place for exchange between the two sides. Han people going to the frontier were likely forcibly demolished or exiled. The tribes moved into the Central Plains because the Central Plains were good; if we conquered the land, we had to rule the world. The Yuan people were divided into four classes: Mongols were the first class, and the second class were called Semu people. Semu people do not mean their eyeballs are different from ours, but "various colors and eyes," including 31 types: Qinchak, Tangwu, Asu, Tuba, Kangli, Uighur, Huihui, Naiman, and Qishimi, though there may be errors of re-naming the same name or different translations. Later, it was stipulated that except for Han, Korean, and Manzi, all were Semu people. Why did Marco Polo become the Darughachi of Yangzhou? Even a foreigner could be the party secretary of Yangzhou, because he was a Semu people. Han people were the third class, referring to the various ethnic groups in the original Jin-ruled area. The original Southern Song ruled areas were called Southerners, which were the fourth class. Mongols fought with Han people and beat Han people; Han people were not to report back but were allowed to appeal to the authorities. If a Mongol stabbed a Han Chinese to death, they only needed fifty-seven lashes and paid the family of the deceased with money for the burning and burial; If a Han Chinese beat a Mongol to death, they would be sentenced to death, and the principal offender's property would be forfeited, while the rest would be taxed with money for the burning and burial.People in the south were not allowed to practice martial arts, were not allowed to hunt, and were not allowed to form associations. Armies composed of Han people and southern people were not allowed to be stationed north of the Yangtze River. Weapons were made of wood and only issued as metal weapons during battle. To prevent rebellion among various ethnic groups, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty extensively confiscated weapons from civilians. All iron rulers, iron spearheads, and iron staves with knives owned by Han and southern households were confiscated; all whips, tubes, spears, knives, bows and arrows, gongs and drums, axes, and battle-axes used in temples for the gods were also banned; even iron pitchforks used for farming were strictly prohibited. In the fifth year of Zhiyuan (1268), it was stipulated: those privately keeping a full set of armor would be executed; those keeping incomplete armor would be beaten fifty-seven times; those keeping ten guns or crossbows would be executed; those keeping ten sets of bows and arrows would be executed (each set containing one bow and thirty arrows). In May of the 22nd year of Zhiyuan (1285), the bows and arrows from Han territories and Jiangnan were classified into three grades: the lower grade was destroyed, the medium grade was given to Mongols living nearby, and the upper grade was stored in the arsenal. Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty was the darkest dynasty in Chinese history. If it were as good as those court historians nowadays boast, could it have fallen in just over 90 years? The Qing Dynasty learned from its lessons and had a much higher level of sinicization. Kublai Khan was somewhat sinicized, but only had a basic understanding of Chinese. Kublai Khan's son, Crown Prince Zhenjin, wholeheartedly embraced sinicization, but Kublai, the old man, at over eighty, was stubborn and didn't die. So the Han Confucian officials became anxious and came up with a lousy trick: they petitioned Kublai to retire and let Crown Prince Zhenjin, who was popular with the people, take over. Kublai favored those Semu merchants who were capable of amassing wealth, but the Semu people were despised by Han Confucian officials, leading to fierce conflicts. Kublai was very angry when he saw the petition and summoned Zhenjin for a severe scolding. Zhenjin was so frightened that he died, possibly due to his frail health and the emperor's severe reprimand. This made Kublai even more hateful toward the Han Confucian officials, believing they had driven his son to death. Zhenjin's son, Temür, became the Crown Prince, later Emperor Chengzong of Yuan. The Crown Prince also hated these Confucian officials, thinking to himself, 'If you hadn't written to my grandfather urging him to retire, would my father have died from fright?' Therefore, he resisted sinicization, and since the Mongols took control of the Central Plains, the Mongol emperors that followed generally didn't even recognize Chinese characters or speak Chinese, ruling the Central Plains as foreigners.The Darughachi sent by the Mongols to various places for garrison duties could neither speak Chinese nor write Chinese characters. An example in Mongolian history is how Persia and Alexander the Great fared, because before he conquered the Central Plains, he had already been exposed to ### civilization and Christian civilization, so he would not be completely conquered by Confucian civilization. Unlike the Liao, Jin, or the Xiongnu and Xianbei, who had never seen anything else, once they entered the Central Plains, their level of civilization was much higher than ours, so they would submit and become your disciples. The Mongols had seen everything and believed in all religions; many Mongol emperors were Christians, and they felt that China was not much stronger than other places.
The characteristics of a short-term unified multi-ethnic state, besides the mutual infiltration between Han and Mongols, the second is the integration of the Khitans and Jurchens of the Yellow River basin with the Han during the Liao and Jin periods; during the Yuan, they were called Han. But those Khitans and Jurchens who stayed in their homelands remained unchanged; the Jurchens later developed into the Manchu, and the Khitans possibly developed into the Daur people.
The third characteristic is that since the Tang Dynasty, a large number of Persians and Arabs migrated to China and settled in our country. The last Director of the Maritime Trade Supervision Office of the Southern Song, Pu Shougeng, was an Arab. He served in the office for over 30 years, equivalent to the customs chief of the Southern Song. At that time, Quanzhou was the largest commercial city in the world, and he served in the Office for over 30 years, becoming wealthy beyond comparison. When the Yuan army advanced south, the Southern Song court summoned Pu Shougeng to raise troops to defend the king; Pu Shougeng surrendered to the Yuan with money. He knew that as a foreigner in the Song, and as a Semu (Central Asian) in the Yuan, if he continued to serve in the Maritime Trade Office, the money would be substantial. The Pu family later settled in China and became very wealthy. Their intermarriage and cohabitation with Han, Mongols, and Uyghurs began the formation of the Hui ethnic group.
Fourth, Tibet became an administrative region of the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan set up a maritime inspection office in Penghu to govern Ryukyu (i.e., Taiwan). The Yuan's local administrative office governing Tibet was called the Bureau of Buddhist Affairs (Xuanzheng Yuan). Thus, Tibet officially became a Chinese administrative region under the Yuan. This was not the case during the Tang Dynasty. Some argue that in the Tang-Tibetan alliances, marrying a princess meant the territory belonged to us. If that were true, it would be better to marry off to Japan and every other country to unify the world. Therefore, marriage cannot count; Tibet only officially became a Chinese administrative region under the Yuan.
How to govern such a vast territory depended on the Yuan's provincial system. The central government established three institutions: the Zhongshu Sheng, the Shumi Yuan, and the Yushitai.The Zhongshu Sheng was the highest administrative organ, equivalent to the Shangshu Sheng during the Tang and Song dynasties. At that time, there were originally three departments: Zhongshu, Shangshu, and Menxia, but the Mongols didn't manage it well, and it turned into the Zhongshu Sheng holding supreme power, with one department shouldering everything. Of course, the Zhongshu Sheng was not the same as the prime minister. There was the Right Chancellor of Zhongshu, the Left Chancellor of Zhongshu, Pingzhang Zhengshi, Canzhi Zhengshi, and a bunch of left and right deputies. The Shumiyuan was a military organ, which had already been established in the Song dynasty. The Yushitai was a supervisory organ, existing since the Qin dynasty. Additionally, the Xuanzheng Yuan managed religious affairs and governed the Tibet region. It was roughly equivalent to today's State Administration for Religious Affairs combined with the Party Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Except for Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, which were directly administered by the Zhongshu Sheng, the provincial system was implemented locally, establishing Xing Zhongshu Sheng, abbreviated as Xing Sheng or Sheng, governed by officials appointed by the central government. The Yuan dynasty was later overthrown by peasant uprisings. The Mongol emperors were quite amusing. The Yuan dynasty had a total of 12 emperors over 90 years, while the Qing dynasty had 12 emperors over nearly 300 years. After entering China, the Qing ruled for 270 years with 10 emperors. The Mongols had 12 emperors in 90 years, not counting a few earlier ones. During these 90 years, the first emperor, Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan, ruled for 30 years, the last emperor, Shundi Toghon Temür, for 30 years, and the remaining 10 emperors ruled for 30 years in between, averaging 3 years per reign, which proves that the vast majority died unnaturally. The inner strife among the Mongol nobility was severe, leading to the early demise of the state. The darkest page in Chinese history was thus turned, and of course, the Ming dynasty was not much better.
