Research On Economic History Of Mongolian Yuan Dynasty Before

With its long history and large population, the Mongolian ethnic minority has been one of the most influential minority groups in China. And studying the economic history of this once glorious nomadic Mongolians serves as an important reference in understanding economic development of today’s minority nationalities in northern China. As the opening section of "Mongolia economic history research" of "985project", this paper focuses on comprehensive study of Mongolian economic development prior to the Yuan Dynasty.In the first chapter, it explores the origin of Mongol and its relationship with the northern nomads; such as the Huns, the Donghu and the groups belonging to the family of Xianbei, Donghu Roen, Khitan, and Shiwei. It discusses how the Mongolia and these various tribes came in contact and influenced each other economically, especially through their economic exchanges during the period of the tribal alliance. Lastly, this chapter introduces Shiwei, its rise as the main tribe and its early economic development.The second chapter looks at the economic formation and the characteristics of the Mongol nationality before its unification. It primarily introduces the production and the life-style of its nomadic economy, and furthermore analyzes the vulnerability, seasonality, and liquidity of nomadic economy. This chapter also includes in-depth research on the economic system after the formation of Mongolia and before the establishment of the Mongol Khanate. It will explore the changes in Mongolia economic society from the primitive hunter-gatherer era to the dominant culture nomadic era and to its agricultural era with animal husbandry. This research reveals how integration of the northern nomadic tribes’economic systems eventually laid a solid foundation for Mongolia and its economy, as it went gradually from "Cyrus Yin" to "Yin Leo"In the third chapter, it introduces the formation and the development of Mongolia’s class society. With the improvement of social productivity and the rise of animal husbandry, Mongolia gradually expanded the scope of private property as its number increased. However, it soon resulted in unbalanced possession of property as there was polarization between the rich and the poor in emergence of the private ownership. With this class division and unequal rights, Mongolian society now was based on exploitation of man by man, in which enabled enslavement of people. Mongolia gradually experiences this change from the clan-based community to the social status or class based one. This led to the important reformation of production relations as well. The rich not only possessed the means of production, but also the laborers, which led to inevitable slavery. Slaves mainly came from war, buying and selling, dowry, hereditary,criminals and automatic slave surrenders. They were used for the Yan noble house, engaged in physical laboring, and served in the army. However, the Mongolian slavery society did not last for a long while. Upon the unification of Mongolia and its rapid economic development, the social relations of Naker and Helechu had formed the feudal relations. Once the feudal relationship had appeared, slavery in Mongolian society went through some changes. In order to meet the need of social development, the shackles of slavery had to be broken between the old production relations and productive forces. This led to a fierce, yet intricate argument and discussion among the slaves, owners, and all political groups. In the end, Mongolian society gradually transitioned from slavery to feudal system. Now, for the first time in Northern China, a strong, stable and fast-growing ethnic group-the Mongolia was established.And the last forth chapter highlights the economic achievements by Genghis khan as the leader of the nation. Taking the advantages of nomadic economy, Mongolia formed into Mongol khanate. It was the largest empire in the world, ranging all the way across Eurasia. The Mongol Khanate established organizational system, implemented thousands of enforcement system, laid down the Great Law presentable rules. For its economy, The Mongol Khanate applied various systems such as feudal land, taxes system, the corvee system, and monetary system. Also the Mongol khanate enjoyed great success in the animal husbandry, agriculture, handicraft industry and commerce. Furthermore, the Mongol Khanate increased the exchange of economy, technology and culture among all ethnic groups, and effectively promoted the mutual communication between eastern and western civilizations.