Political and economic effects of Mongol rule on China and Middle East Essay

Yuan frugal policies also accommodated traditional Chinese practices. Yuan rulers did non try to exchange China into the Mongol-style nomadic economy instead, they fostered agriculture. They restored the she, rural organizations composed of about 50 families, to assist in farming. These organizations also improved flood control, established munificence granaries for orphans and widows, and introduced such upstart crops as sorghum. In addition, early Yuan emperors desire to protect the peasants by devising a regular, fixed system of taxation. foreign previous Chinese dynasties, the Yuan rulers fostered trade and accorded merchants a high favorable status. Moreover, they promoted duty by increasing the use of paper m whizy, by whirl cheap loans to merchant associations (ortogh), by building roads, and by allowing traveling merchants to edict and to obtain supplies at government postal send, which were located about 32 km (20 mi) apart throughout the empire.Concern about supp lying the new capital led the Yuan court to initiate the ambitious meet of rerouting and expanding the Grand Canal, aiding the shipping of surplus grain from southern China to the less(prenominal) fertile lands of the north.Such government support for merchants, together with the peace impose on much of Asia by the Mongols, resulted in the greatest expansion of commerce in Eurasian history. Indian, southeasterly Asian, Persian, Arab, and even European merchants arrived in China. Moslem merchants, the principal intermediaries in the overland trade between China and important Asia, West Asia, and Europe, brought horses, carpets, medicines, and spices to China, and exported Chinese textiles, ceramics, and lacquerware. From the southern port cities of Quanzhou (Chan-chou), Guangzhou (Kuang-chou), and Yangzhou (Yang-chou), they conveyed Chinese ceramics and silks by ship and returned with spices, precious stones, incense, pepper, and medicines.The growing agricultural and commercial economy initially provided satisfactory revenue for the court, but not for long. The original tax structure did not exploit the Chinese and was not burdensome on landlords, peasants, merchants, or artisans. In fact, Kublai Khan repeatedly reduced or postponed taxes on those of his Chinese subjects whose lands had suffered during inborn disasters.Yet the various construction projects he had undertaken, the building of the capital, postal stations and roads, and the enlargement of the Grand Canal, as well as military campaigns against Japan, Java, and mainland Southeast Asia, were costly. As the governments expenditures soared, its need for additional revenue became more(prenominal)(prenominal) pressing.The court responded by appointing two new non-Chinese ministers whose principal duties were to raise more funds. However, their authoritarian methods only worsened the problem. By imposing higher taxes on merchants, deliberately inflating the currency, and increasing prices on salt , iron, and other goods monopolized by the government, they succeeded only in alienating Chinese officials. Finally, their highhanded treatment of the bureaucracy and their profiteering led to the assassination of one and the execution of the other. The economic situation merely declined further.