Jennifer Sun, Chapter 12 (MONGULZZ) DQ Question?
How do the effects of Mongol rule on China compare with the effects of Mongol rule on Russia?
Both China and Russia experienced similar economic and cultural strain, but the political effects of
Mongol rule for China differed from those for Russia.
Effects on Russia
♣ Mongols received incoming wealth
and “starved the economy of
precious metal.”
♣ Mongols tried to introduce paper
money in response to a shortage
of currency; this had little effect
(or improvement) because the
economic system was largely
nonmonetary and depended on an
Economically exchange of goods.
♣ The Russian term for paper money
(denga) comes from the influence
of Mongols.
Mongols had negative effects on the
economy of Russia, as they were
greedy and took all the precious
metals for themselves.
♣ Russia suffered the spreading of
the Bubonic Plague. Ukraine
suffered population loss when
Mongol armies raided villages to
collect taxes.
♣ Russian scholars shun Byzantine
Greek in exchange for Russian.
♣ Russians become culturally
Culturally isolated. The Mongol Rule
discouraged contact with Western
Europe. This effect is debatable
amongst scholars.
Due to the Mongol influence during
their rule, Russian culture suffered
population loss and isolation from
Western Europe.
Effects on China
♣ China suffered under an
oppressive tax-farming system
imposed by Great Khan.
♣ Beijing, the Yuan capital, became
the center of economic and
cultural life.
♣ Though treatises on farming were
passed and each village had an
occupation, the countryside did
poorly under Mongol Rule. Farmers
were either evicted or taxed
outrageously. When conditions had
gotten better, Farmers were in low
supply.
China’s economy, like that of Russia’s,
experienced negative effects from an
oppressive, heavily taxing system.
Urban areas of the Yuan empire, such
as China, benefitted.
♣ Mongols brought about secure
routes of transport and
communication, exchange of
experts between the East and
West ends of Eurasia, and
transmitted new information,
ideas, and skills.
♣ Beijing, the Yuan capitol, was more
Chinese in character than its
predecessor.
♣ The countryside also suffered from
bubonic plague. The population
(may have) shrunk 40% over the
course of 80 years of Mongol rule.
♣ Khubilai builds an observatory in
China. Muslim doctors and Persian
medical texts circulate in China.
“Chinese medicine” gains
popularity.
 ♣ Because Alexander Nevskii, prince
of Novgorod assisted the Mongols
politically, the Mongols favored
Novgorod and Moscow. These
overshadowed Kiev.
Decentralization in the 1300s
allowed Moscow to slowly
dominate.
Politically
♣ The traditional structure of Local
Government persisted throughout
Mongol rule. The princely families
did as well.
The Mongols, in their favoritism,
transformed the “capitol” from Kiev
into Moscow, though not strongly
affecting the political structure of
Russia.
♣ The Khans destroyed the three
empires: Tanggut, Jin, and
Southern Song, only to reunite
them to restore and preserve the
features of Chinese government
and society. Thus, the Mongols
permanently unite China.
♣ Confucians lower in position in
Mongol times.
Unlike the effects of Mongol rule on
the Russians, which overall did not
make the governmental structure
budge, the effects of Mongol rule on
China (sadly) practically constructed
China’s government by tearing down
three empires and rebuilding them as
one.