THE CENSORIAL SYSTEM OF YUAN CHINA

An important governmental institution with significant political functions in traditional China, the censorial system under the Yuan dynasty (1260-1368) evolved into an essential instrument for the Mongolian conquerors' control over the bureaucracy. Well over one hundred censorial officials from the three differently located Censorates and the twenty-two locally based Surveillance Offices were constantly on inspection tour, examining all governmental documents, trying to seek out all violations of law, so as to purge the wayward officials, maintain the probity of government, and prolong the life of the dynasty.; Annotated translations of forty-four official documents--half ofthem are in colloquial Chinese translated verbatim from Mongolian--on the censorial institution in chapters five and six of the Ta-Yuansheng-cheng kuo-ch'ao t'ien-chang are included.