Compare And Contrast The Sinicization Of The Yuan And Qing Dynasties

Sinicization of the Yuan and Qing Dynasties China is one of the oldest civilizations in human history. Since the emergence of the Xia (夏, c. 2070-1600 B.C.) Dynasty in around 2000 B.C., China has had a profound impact on South East Asia and the world as a whole. Today, China spans from the Pacific Ocean in the East to the Himalayas in the West and is home to some 1.5 billion people. In China’s diverse history, there appears to be a rather surprising anomaly: the rule by ethnic minorities in a country with an astoundingly homogenous population that is 92% Han Chinese. Somehow, the Mongols and Manchus were able to conquer China and establish the Yuan (元, 1271-1368) and Qing (清, 1644-1912) dynasties, respectively. The Mongol’s Yuan Dynasty
While the leaders of the Yuan Dynasty did not study Chinese language, literature or arts, the Qing leaders did. Nurhaci, for example, “proved very enthusiastic and adept at adopting Chinese ways,” as William Rowe, Professor Emeritus at Purdue University finds. Nurhaci recruited Chinese elites dissatisfied with the political divide of the Ming Dynasty and assiduously studied the Chinese language and even translated Chinese classics. The Mongols adopted some of the structures of the Chinese government they replaced, but the Manchus were much more proficient at this. The Qing formed an imperial government closely imitative of the Ming Dynasty. In terms of religion, once again the Qing proved to sinicize much better. The Qing embraced Confucian models of ethical conduct. In fact, unlike the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the Qing kept Confucianism as the state orthodoxy, left government and religious institutions intact, and “employed equal numbers of Manchus and Chinese in their government.” This last part about equal representation is of the utmost importance. Because the Qing adopted Chinese ways of governance and included Han Chinese in the government “they became in effect civilized Chinese and their rule was