The Image of the Semu People: Mongols, Chinese, and Various Other Peoples under the Mongol Empire (original) (raw)

Abstract

It has been pointed out by many researchers that under the rule of the Mongol empire 2 (including the Yuan dynasty) the inhabitants of China were broadly divided into "Mongolian people" or Mongols (Menggu ren 蒙古人), "various peoples" (Semu ren 色目人), "Chinese" or northern Chinese (Han ren 漢人), and "southerners" or southern Chinese (Nan ren 南人) 3 and that these divisions were not mere categories but constituted a ranking system. According to these studies, in contrast to the Menggu ren and Semu ren, who represented the privileged classes, the Han ren and Nan ren were subject to official restrictions in appointment to government posts, punishment, prohibitions, civil service examinations, succession to office, and taxation and labour services. This so-called "system of four classes" 4 is also frequently mentioned in general works and textbooks, and its existence has been widely accepted for explaining the state of politics and society in China at the time. 5 This theory of a system of four classes, and also the question of how the government of the Mongol empire treated the various peoples under its rule, especially the Chinese, are important issues that touch on the very foundations of the rule of China by the Mongol empire, which was a multiethnic state.