동북아역사재단 2022년 09월호 뉴스레터
- Sim Ho-seong, Researcher at the Research Institute of International Relations and Historical Interaction
Joint Academic Conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
On Wednesday, July 6, 2022, a Korea-Mongolia Joint Academic Conference was held on the theme of “Study on the Government Strategy of the Yuan Dynasty” in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, a country of blue skies and green meadows. The academic conference has been co-hosted since 2007 by the Northeast Asian History Foundation of Korea and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
The Korea-Mongolia Joint Academic Conference was temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the academic enthusiasm of researchers from both countries never stopped. Scholars from both countries met again in the Institute of History and Folklore of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences after more than two years and gave each other fresh intellectual stimulation while verifying the new possibilities of Asian historical presentation outside the Sinocentric perspective.
In his opening remarks, Cherengdorji, Director of the Institute of History and Folklore of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, cited the joint academic project between the foundation and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences as the most representative success of intellectual exchange between Korea and Mongolia, which has developed swiftly over the past 30 years. In particular, he evaluated that the study of the two countries' history received international attention through the Korea-Mongolia Joint Academic Conference, held every year alternately in Korea and Mongolia, and furthermore expanded the scope of the research and raised the level of the research.
In his welcoming speech, Chairman Lee Young-ho of the foundation pointed out that existing research on the Yuan Dynasty has been mainly conducted from a Sinocentric perspective and hoped that this conference would become a new opportunity to study the history of the Yuan Dynasty from a de-Sinicized perspective.
Was the Mongol Empire Really Divided?
Cholmon, a research fellow of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, examined the political, economic, and cultural relations between the Golden Horde and the Yuan Dynasty. According to the presentation, the Mongol Empire maintained its unity as a federation state where the Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and Il Khanate coexisted with the Yuan dynasty by recognizing its suzerainty until the latter half of the 14th century.
Cholmon, a research fellow of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, examined the political, economic, and cultural relations between the Golden Horde and the Yuan Dynasty. According to the presentation, the Mongol Empire maintained its unity as a federation state where the Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and Il Khanate coexisted with the Yuan dynasty by recognizing its suzerainty until the latter half of the 14th century.
In other words, the Mongol Empire was not divided after 1260 but maintained a unified form of state for a considerable period.
Enkhtsetseg, a research fellow of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, discussed the relationship between the Chagatai Khanate and the Yuan Dynasty. Duwa Secen Khan of the Chagatai Khanate restored the Mongol Empire to form a federal state in 1304, revitalizing trade and exchanges within the empire. Since then, the Chagatai Khanate has maintained close ties with the Yuan Dynasty. The coins of the Chagatai Khanate in the early 14th century showed many vajra and mandala patterns, which are significant symbols of Buddhism, indicating that the monarchs of the Chagatai Khanate wanted to maintain friendly relations with the Yuan Dynasty.
Yuan Dynasty, Succeeding Mongol Traditions
Sim Ho-seong, a research fellow of the foundation, investigated the Yuan Dynasty's secretariat system, a representative political legacy that the Mongol Empire left in China. Existing studies assumed that the Yuan Dynasty's Palace Secretariat and Branch Secretariat imitated the Chinese system. However, materials analysis confirmed that the ruling class of the Mongol Empire had applied the political system, which existed even before the conquest of China, to rule China. Official titles such as “Secretariat Director, Left Chancellor, and Right Chancellor” recorded in Chinese sources were Chinese translations of the Mongolian word “darughachi.” In short, the Yuan Dynasty's political system was not modeled after a traditional Chinese system but inherited and developed Mongolia's system.
Seol Bae-hwan, a professor at Chonnam National University, looked into the “jarghu” system, a characteristic judicial system of the Mongol Empire. The Mongolian word jarghu means “litigation, suit, trial, or case settlement” and refers to the litigation and adjudication system that has existed for a long time in the Mongolian steppe region. Yuan Dynasty's bolzokh is a kind of jarghu, Mongolia's judicial system. It is a Chinese translation of the Mongolian word “boljaan” or “boljal.” Jarghu and bolzokh show how Mongolian legal traditions spread throughout the Mongol Empire, including China, as the Mongols built their empire and established their governing system.
Phonsak, a research fellow of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, pointed out that Mongolian people did not assimilate into Chinese culture and customs despite the long period of Chinese rule because the Yuan monarchs preserved Mongolia's traditional culture and customs and actively implemented them at the national level. The Yuan monarchs, including Kublai, maintained Mongolia's traditional customs by establishing a governance system that governed China under Chinese law and Mongolia under Mongolian law. This aspect can be confirmed in “Tsaghaan Sar” (Mongolian New Year), funeral rites, and ancestral rites. In particular, nobility and officials from China were not entitled to participate in funerals held in the Mongolian steppes. According to a custom handed down from the Xiongnu period, the Mongols buried the remains of the Great Khan deep underground. They did not erect any tombstones or signs.
How Did Yuan’s Ruling Class Choose to Rule?
Professor Goh Myeong-soo of Chungnam National University critically reviewed the recent discussion on the four-social-estate system, the representative class system of the Yuan Dynasty. Recently, several researchers, including Yoshiyuki Funada, criticized the existing beliefs about the Yuan Dynasty's four-social-estate system and argued that the Yuan government divided subjects as "Mongols, Semu, Han people, and southerners" not to treat people discriminatively according to their rank but to divide the common people according to culture and customs to apply different systems to different groups. Professor Goh discovered that there was actually the principle of treating Semu people better than Han people for the appointment of darughachi, recommendation of officials, and recruiting children of meritorious retainers and incumbent vassals. In short, in the Yuan Dynasty, there were strict class differences and discrimination between Mongolians, Semu people, Han people, and the southerners, and Yuan’s ruling class intentionally favored the former and discriminated against the latter.
Kim In-hee, Director of the Korea-China Relations History Research Institute of the foundation, examined the process by which the Yuan Dynasty declared itself to be an orthodox Chinese dynasty through the compilation of the 『History of Song』, 『History of Liao』, and 『History of Jin』. After unifying the northern and southern regions of China, Kublai Khan was confident that the Yuan Dynasty he ruled was the orthodox dynasty of China. However, for effective governance of the Chinese region, the Yuan Dynasty had to be recognized by Chinese people as the orthodox dynasty of China. The Yuan government tried to secure historical legitimacy by compiling three historical records: 『History of Song』, 『History of Liao』, and 『History of Jin』. Since the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, the Chinese tradition of Sinocentrism was dismantled, and a new notion that both “Chinese” and “Non-Chinese” could become orthodox took hold. Yuan Emperor Shundi ordered the compilation of three historical records that recognized the Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, and Jin Dynasty as orthodox dynasties. By recognizing Liao and Jin Dynasties from Non-Chinese regions as orthodox dynasties, the Yuan Dynasty could naturally become the orthodox dynasty.
Exploring Karakorum and A Day at Mongolian Ger
After the conference, we explored the ruins of Karakorum Castle. The Karakorum was the Mongol Empire's first capital, about 300 kilometers southwest of Ulaanbaatar. The expedition that continued for two days was guided by Director Chelangdorgi himself. Director Chelangdorgi guided Korean researchers to the Karakorum Museum and Erdene Zuu Monastery, explaining Mongolia's history and culture in detail. Our group stayed in a Mongolian ger, and Director Chelangdorgii prepared traditional Mongolian food called Khorkhog. Khorkhog is a roasted whole mutton cooked with hot stones inside and is served to treat precious guests. Scholars from Korea and Mongolia discussed ways to vitalize future academic exchanges until late into the night.
The Korea-Mongolia Joint Academic Conference in 2022, hosted by the foundation and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, was a meaningful event where historians from Korea and Mongolia met and shared new research achievements after a long time. I would like to end this article by expressing my deep gratitude to the Mongolian Academy of Sciences researchers for welcoming Korean historians. I am also looking forward to the Joint Korea-Mongolia Academic Conference in Korea next year in 2023.
동북아역사재단이 창작한 '한·몽 공동 학술회의 개최 “원나라의 통치전략 연구”' 저작물은 "공공누리" 출처표시-상업적이용금지-변경금지 조건에 따라 이용 할 수 있습니다.
