A Study Of The Nobles In The Yuan Dynasty

Adherents are a group of people occurring with the change of an era and regime. Jin and Yuan dynasties both were dominated by northern ethnics. Adherents from Jin and Yuan dynasties were living on the occasion of regime change, between the two northern nations. At this period, there were significant characteristics distinguished from other eras with respect to politics, economy and culture. Under domination of northern nations, literati and officialdom both from Han and northern nations were gradually unified under Confucian culture as the core of the culture system. Adherents of this period had a different personality compared to others:1) they were not restricted to the so called ’Sino-Barbarian Dichotomy’,2) they no longer differentiated the regimes according to’race’and 3) they evaluated and criticized the interracial dynasty by a more pragmatic point of view-’When there is political stability, be visible’. Even, discrepancies were existing among adherents from Jin and Yuan dynasties. In addition, behaviors among adherents under Jin Regime were not always the same. Also, people who may have different relationships, e.g. masters-apprentices and paternity, made the choices accordingly. The above-mentioned is the main focus of this study. Additionally, further comparison based on previous studies on several outstanding persons e.g. Yuan Haowen, Hao Jing and Yelv Chucai, is done in order to get new insights.This thesis is composed of three parts. Chapter 1 describes the background of the emergence of adherents. This chapter focuses on the investigation on the development of northern Han culture, especially imperial examinations and Confucian culture in Jin and Liao dynasties. The establishment of their status in northern Regime and the effects on Han culture due to the support by Jin and Liao dynasties are discussed. These introductions are made for a basic understanding of adherents’ characteristics.Chapter 2 is the main focus of this study. Jin and Yuan adherents are taken as the main objectives. In addition, contemporary and subsequent literatures as clues are studied. The adherents are divided into two parts:’Free Group’, e.g. Yuan Haowen as the representative and ’Hermit’, e.g. Yue Song as the representative. Based on the different thoughts and behaviors among groups, further work is conducted to analyze the two absolute judgments on Yuan Haowen behaviors:’Refuse to be an officer’or’Keep in close touch with top government officers’. Additionally, personal comments are supplemented.In chapter 3, several regions in Jin regime are taken as the starting point. The comprehensive background is introduced by analysis of the economy, population and education in that period. According to the previous study, how the regional culture influences adherents’ characteristics is discussed. Special features are carefully extracted from the common ones. On the basis of the collected literatures, adherents varied in thoughts and behaviors from different regions. Adherents were mainly distributed in places which are now belonging to Henan and Shanxi province. This is closely related to the local political and culture environments.Finally, the characteristics of Jin and Yuan’s adherents are summarized. These characteristics from Jin and Yuan’s adherents are briefly compared with the previous and subsequent ones. All these investigations show that adherents’culture reflects the political masterstroke-National Integration.