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| Secretariat (Yuan dynasty) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Secretariat (Yuan dynasty) |
| Native name | 中書省 |
| Formed | 1271 |
| Preceding | Secretariat of the Mongol Empire |
| Dissolved | 1368 |
| Jurisdiction | Yuan dynasty |
| Headquarters | Khanbaliq |
| Parent agency | Central Secretariat (China) |
Secretariat (Yuan dynasty) The Secretariat (中書省) was the central executive organ of the Yuan dynasty that coordinated imperial decrees, supervised provincial administration, and managed civil appointments. Emerging from Mongol adaptations of Chinese bureaucracy, the Secretariat operated alongside the Zhongshu Sheng traditions and interacted with institutions such as the Privy Council (Yuan), Bureau of Military Affairs (China), and regional Branch Secretariats. Its development reflects the intersection of Kublai Khan's policies, the legacy of the Secretariat of the Mongol Empire, and the administrative practices of the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin dynasty.
The Secretariat's origins trace to the early Mongol imperial secretariat established by Genghis Khan and expanded under Ögedei Khan and Möngke Khan as the Secretariat of the Mongol Empire. With Kublai Khan's proclamation of the Yuan dynasty in 1271, the Secretariat was reconstituted in Khanbaliq drawing on precedents from the Tang dynasty's Zhongshu Sheng and the Song dynasty's central agencies. Early Yuan chancellors such as Phags-pa Lama-era advisors, Han Chinese officials from the Jiaochao era, and former Liao dynasty and Jin dynasty administrators influenced its formation. The Secretariat evolved through interactions with the Council of State (Yuan), responses to rebellions like the Red Turban Rebellion, and pressures from fiscal crises during reigns of emperors including Temür Khan and Toghon Temür.
Organizationally, the Secretariat mirrored a hybrid of Mongol and Chinese models: a central office in Khanbaliq with subordinate Branch Secretariats (行中書省) in provinces such as Yunnan, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Jiangsu. It contained divisions analogous to the Six Ministries (imperial China) such as personnel, rites, war, justice, public works, and revenue, though formal names differed under Yuan nomenclature. The Secretariat worked with the Censorate, the Provincial Administration Commission, and the Bureau of Mongol Affairs, coordinating with regional authorities like the Goryeo vassal administration and the Ilkhanate envoys. Offices included chancellors, secretaries, and clerks drawn from Han Chinese, Jurchen, Khitan, Uyghur, and Mongol elite strata.
The Secretariat drafted imperial edicts, supervised appointments across the Nine Grade system, managed civil examinations influenced by Imperial examination traditions, and oversaw taxation policy in concert with the Ministry of Revenue (Ming dynasty)'s antecedents. It adjudicated petitions, coordinated military logistics with the Bureau of Military Affairs (Ming dynasty)'s precursors, and negotiated with tributary polities such as Goryeo, Dai Viet, and the Kingdom of Champa. During crises it issued mobilization orders, administered salt and gabelle monopolies alongside the Salt Administration, and directed cadastral surveys modeled on earlier Tang land systems. The Secretariat also mediated between the Imperial Household Department and provincial garrisons.
Leaders included chancellors appointed by emperors like Kublai Khan, with notable figures such as Yuan dynasty chancellor (example), Mongke Temur, and Toqto'a—who combined scholarly training with military authority. Officials were recruited from the Imperial examination but Mongol appointees and members of the Semu caste held privileged positions. The Secretariat drew clerks conversant in Old Uyghur alphabet, Mongolian script, and Classical Chinese, and employed interpreters for contacts with the Ilkhanate, Golden Horde, and Chagatai Khanate. Rivalries between Han Chinese literati, Muslim administrators, and Mongol nobles shaped policy and factional struggles within the Secretariat.
The Yuan Secretariat inherited institutional frameworks and personnel networks from the Secretariat of the Mongol Empire while adapting to the settled governance demands of East Asia. Continuities included the use of Mongol legal traditions codified under Yuan law and reliance on multi-ethnic administrative cadres; divergences involved greater bureaucratic sinicization and formalization of bureaucratic offices modeled on Song dynasty precedents. The Secretariat maintained diplomatic channels with other Mongol polities—Great Khan interactions with the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde—even as it asserted autonomous fiscal and administrative control within the Yuan state.
Reforms under figures such as Toqto'a attempted to streamline corvée, reform the land survey, and revive grain transport systems like the Canal system; these reforms temporarily strengthened the Secretariat's capacity. Fiscal strain from campaigns against the Southern Song and later Mongol succession disputes, combined with the rise of the Privy Council (Yuan) and factionalism during Toghon Temür's reign, eroded the Secretariat's authority. The collapse of central control amid the Red Turban Rebellion and the advance of Ming dynasty forces under leaders like Zhu Yuanzhang culminated in the Secretariat's dissolution in 1368.
The Secretariat's hybrid Mongol-Chinese structures influenced the early Ming dynasty central institutions, including adaptations in the Grand Secretariat (Ming) and provincial governance models later codified in Ming law and Qing dynasty reforms. Its practices shaped civil service patterns, fiscal administration, and frontier governance, leaving traces in administrative vocabularies, personnel categories, and diplomatic norms observed by successor states. The Secretariat's role in mediating between steppe imperial modalities and Sino-centric bureaucratic traditions remains a focal point for scholars of Sinology, Mongol studies, and East Asian history.
Category:Yuan dynasty Category:Government of the Yuan dynasty Category:Chinese administrative offices