Yeh-lü Ch ' u-ts ai

Background

Yelü Chucai was the son of a Sinicized Khitan noble serving the Jürchen-Chin dynasty (1115 - 1234), Yeh-lü Ch'uts'ai was born in the Chin capital Chung-tu (modern Peking).

Education

Placing first in the degree examination, Yelü Chucai was appointed a district vice-prefect in modern Hopei (1213); when the Chin emperor transferred his court to Pien-ching (K'ai-feng) in 1214, Yeh-lü returned to the old capital to become an auxiliary secretary in the Secretariat Council.

Career

Yelü Chucai began the study of Chinese classics at the age of 12.

He stayed to witness the fall of Peking to the Mongol forces in 1215.

He is said to have invoked the legend of the unicorn to dissuade the Great Khan from prolonging his futile campaign against Khwarezm.

Genghis retreated with his forces in 1222, but Yeh-lü delayed his return to Peking until 1227.

In September 1229 Ögödei was elected Khan by the Mongol assembly in succession to Genghis, who had died in 1227.

Ögödei was faced with a double task in North China: to annihilate the Chin and to consolidate the Mongol rule and devise effective means of exploiting the conquered territory.

While the first task presented little problem, the second was beset by serious difficulties.

His fiscal reforms of 1229-1230 represented the first step toward transforming these confused fiscal practices into a rational system on Chinese lines.

He also curbed the excess privileges of the clergy by rescinding some of their exemption from levies granted by Genghis Khan.

To implement his program, Yeh-lü began to build up a network of civil officials, but he gained little headway, as the Mongols resented the appointment of Chinese nationals to positions of responsibility.

These fiscal reforms bore the first fruit in September 1231 as the amount of revenue collected in Yün-chung (in modern Shansi) tallied with the figure Yeh-lü had projected.

Ögödei was so pleased that he appointed Yeh-lü chief of the secretariat.

He ran into difficulty when he wanted to carry out his reforms on a wider scale, because of the displacement of the population owing to war and famine and the impossibility of taxing the privileged non-Chinese residents of North China (Mongols, central Asians, and others).

Upon Yeh-lü's recommendation, a national census was ordered in 1234 and was completed 2 years later.

He was in favor of the census for administrative reasons, but the Mongol nobles supported it as the basis of appropriating a larger share of land in the conquered areas.

Much against Yeh-lü's advice, Ögödei divided North China into a series of appanages and distributed them among the Mongol nobles and other dignitaries.

This measure further weakened the central authority and presented a serious obstacle to Yeh-lü's reform programs.

Examinations were held, but the successful candidates only served in an advisory capacity on local administrative matters to their Mongol or central Asian superiors.

This system was abolished after 1238.

Yeh-lü's Loss of Power Yeh-lü's failure to reintroduce the traditional examination system coincides with the decline of his power at the Mongol court.

Several factors contributed to this: Ögödei's withdrawal of support after 1235, the growing anti-Chinese feeling at court, the rise of central Asian merchants as tax collectors, and Yeh-lü's conflicts with his colleagues in the Secretariat.

His support of the election of Siremün, the successor designated by Ögödei, to the khanate against the wishes of Töregene, who favored the candidacy of Ögödei's son Güyüg (who was finally elected in 1246), must have further jeopardized Yeh-lü's relationship with the Mongol ruling oligarchy.

His collected works, in 14 chapters, were published after 1236.

The record of his journey to central Asia, entitled Hsi-Yu lu, was written in 1228 and published in 1229.

Further Reading An English translation of Yeh-lü's record of travel in central Asia is in Emil V. Bretshneider, Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources, vol. 1

There is no book-length biography of Yeh-lü in English.

Recommended for general historical background are Michael Charol (pseudonym of Michael Prawdin), The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy, translated by Eden and Cedar Paul (1940), and René Grousset, The Rise and Splendour of the Chinese Empire (trans.

1952).

Achievements

• Yelü Chucai was the first of Genghis Khan's retainers to formulate policy during the Mongol conquests, and he also introduced many administrative reforms in North China during the reign of Genghis Khan and his successor Ögedei.