In the history of our country, during the Yuan Dynasty, Genghis Khan and his descendants expanded strongly to the outside world, and the territory became extremely vast. The four khanates of Chincha Khanate, Chagatai Khanate, Wokoutai Khanate and Ilkhanate were fiefdoms of genghis Khan's sons and the Yuan Dynasty as suzerain.
After the Yuan Dynasty entered the Central Plains, Dadu (Beijing) was the capital city, and Zhongshu Province was set up near Dadu, called Belly. Zhongshu Province was the highest deliberative organ of the imperial court, and all local affairs were under the management of Zhongshu Province. However, due to the vast territory and the many affairs of the whole country, it is obvious that only Zhongshu Province cannot manage it.
In order to strengthen the rule of the imperial court and weaken the local forces, the principle of staggering the teeth of the dog was used to divide the rest of the country into 10 Xingzhongshu provinces, representing the Zhongshu Province to administer the localities, referred to as the provinces or provinces, which have been used to this day.
In the early days, most of the provinces were temporary military institutions, regardless of civil affairs, and later gradually the military and the people took on the responsibility of each other, forming a relatively stable local administrative division. Next, we will briefly introduce the various provinces of the Yuan Dynasty one by one.
1. Zhongshu Province
First of all, to introduce the core center of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhongshu Province, the original Zhongshu Province had a very large jurisdiction, roughly including today's Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, central Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, as well as the three eastern provinces, outer northeast, Mongolia and other places. Because the scope of the jurisdiction was too large, it caused inconvenience to the management, and later from Zhongshu Province, Liaoyang Province, Lingbei Province, etc., leaving only Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, central Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, parts of Henan, Shandong and other places.
2. Liaoyang Province
In 1287, the three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and the outer northeast were separated from Zhongshu Province and established Liaoyang Province, with the "provincial capital" in present-day Liaoyang, Liaoning Province.
3. Lingbei Province
In 1307, the areas of present-day Mongolia and Siberia (excluding the outer northeast) were demarcated from Zhongshu Province, and lingbei province was officially established, with the "capital" at Helin (harhelin in the upper reaches of the Orkhon River in present-day central Mongolia). ）。
4. Shaanxi Province
Located in the west of Zhongshu Province, Shaanxi Province was established in 1260, and initially covered the area of present-day Shaanxi and Sichuan, and the "provincial capital" was located in Xi'an, but it was often changed, and Hanzhong and Guangyuan both served as "provincial capitals". Later, Sichuan was divided into separate provinces, and Shaanxi Province consisted of only the present-day Shaanxi Province and the eastern part of Gansu Province.
5. Gansu Province
Gansu Province is located in the west of Shaanxi Province, the "capital" is in Wuwei, and the jurisdiction area generally includes the Hexi region of present-day Gansu Province, Ningxia, and the westernmost part of Inner Mongolia.
6. Sichuan Province
In 1281, Sichuan was separated from Shaanxi Province and established as a separate province, chengdu as the "capital of the province", but it was repeatedly repeated, and in 1284 it was merged into Shaanxi and separated from Shaanxi in 1286. The jurisdiction of Sichuan Province roughly included Sichuan Province and Chongqing City, east of present-day Ya'an.
7. Henan Jiangbei Province
The Yuan Dynasty's initial division of provinces was very extensive, with large blocks of rivers and rivers as the boundary, as exemplified by the establishment of the Henan Jiangbei Province in 1291. The jurisdiction of Henan Jiangbei Province is roughly from the western part of Henan and Hubei to the sea in the east, sandwiched between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, including the area between present-day Henan, Hubei, north-central Anhui, and north-central Jiangsu, and the "provincial capital" is in Kaifeng.
8. Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces
Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are a relatively special province, the initial jurisdiction is very large, roughly including present-day Jiangsu, Anhui (northern Anhui), Zhejiang, jiangxi northeast, the provincial capital was initially in Yangzhou, called Jianghuai Province; later, the provincial capital moved to Hangzhou, called Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province. The area where Jianghuai Province was located was very rich, which made the imperial court very uneasy. Later, the part of Jiangbei was dismantled, and the Province of Jiangbei of Henan was established only after Henan and other places. In 1299, after the abolition of Fujian Province, it was merged into Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces.
9. Jiangxi Province
To the west of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces is Jiangxi Province, set in 1277, the "capital of the province" is in Nanchang, and the jurisdiction area roughly includes present-day Jiangxi Province (excluding the east of Nanchang) and Guangdong (excluding the area around the Leizhou Peninsula). Jiangxi Province was established for just one year, and then abolished, merged into Fujian Province, and two years later re-established Jiangxi Province.
10. Huguanghang Province
To the west of Jiangxi Province is Huguanghang Province, set in 1274, the "capital" of Wuchang, the jurisdiction of a large area, roughly including present-day Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hainan and the Leizhou Peninsula in western Guangdong and other areas. The provincial capital, Wuchang, is located in a remote corner, more than 1,700 kilometers away from Sanya, Hainan, which is unimaginable.
11. Yunnan Province
Yunnan Province was established in 1274, the "capital" of the province is in Kunming, the jurisdiction is also very large, roughly including the present-day Yunnan Province, Sichuan Panzhihua region, most of northeast Burma, thailand farther north, almost copied the territory of the Dali State.
12. The Xuanzheng Yuan
On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, west of Ya'an, Sichuan, and south of the Qilian Mountains in Gansu, a Xuanzhengyuan was set up for special administration, mainly including present-day Qinghai, Tibet, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region in western Sichuan.
In addition, the central and western regions of present-day Xinjiang were then under the jurisdiction of the Chagatai Khanate. In short, the division of the Yuan Dynasty at that time was basically one Zhongshu Province (Belly) plus ten provinces and one Xuanzheng Yuan. During the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial court had a very high degree of centralization, and although the provinces had large jurisdictions, they did not have military autonomy, and their power was much smaller than that of the Eastern Han Dynasty's state pastors and the Tang Dynasty's jiedushi.
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