The Jamchi System In Yuan Dynasty And The Promulgation Of Information

The promulgation of information always accompanies mankind activities. As a form of movement matter, information spreads by media. The system of social information will be disturbed if the channel of information is blocked. Therefore, the channel of information and the promulgation of information can't be aparted. The Jamchi system, as a channel of information, plays an important role in the promulgation of information in Yuan Dynasty.Following the territory's extending of Yuan Dynasty, the Jamchi system had become very convenient in Kubla period, which is established in Chingis Khan period. According to Jingshidadian, the number of Jamchi are more than 1500 in Yuan Dynasty. From its distribution, we can conclude that the ruler's requirements of information are different during different districts. Yuan shizu established Chidebeo which specially delivered government's documents for the sake of alleviating horses' pressure from spreading information.The Jamchi system played an important role in spreading the information on military, politics and economy. It can be found that some theories which were invented by western scholars in 20th century are also applicable in Yuan Dynasty. That the rulers payed attention to the Jamchi system because of military embodies media-yielded theory which is provided by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin Defleur. That the political information was delivered by the Jamchi system embodies agenda setting function which is came up with by Walter Lippman. Moreover, That the economical information was obtained through the Jamchi system embodies McLuhan's theory, medium is the message.Yuan government established a series of perfect organizations in order to make the Jamchi system work effectively and information spread fluently. The central organizations are the Ministry of War in feudal China, Zhuzhandutonglingshisi and Tongzhengyuan in succession. The local organizations are Daluhuachi and State-county in turn. The latter seems to a little longer. Apart from managing the horses and the certification strictly, the rulers alleviated the Jamchi system's burden, reinforced the Jamchi system's supervising and managing, and added extra allowance to the people who were in the Jamchi system in order to ensure the Jamchi system unblocked as an information channel.As an important information-spreading channel, Yuan's Jamchi system has given great influences on delivering information at that time. It influenced Ming and Qing Dynasty deeply, simultaneously, and it had very important effects on the Jamchi system of middle Asia, western Asia and Europe.