Why was the Yuan Dynasty, a dynasty that was regarded as only able to fight, so persistent in protecting animals?
The Mongolian way of life is inextricably linked to hunting, which is not only an important source of food and supplies for the Mongols, but also an important means of training military skills.
Hunting plays an important role in the life of the Mongolian people, and the abundant prey can not only supplement the needs of life, contribute nutritious food, but also provide important materials such as fur and animal bones.
At the same time, collective hunting requires riding and archery skills, training combat skills and teamwork, and Genghis Khan has organized large-scale winter hunting many times as a military exercise.
The Chinese historical materials have left vivid descriptions of hunting in this period, such as Yelu Chucai's description of Genghis Khan's hunting scene in the book "The Origin of Mongolia": the emperor's winter hunting is like a marching army, and the long siege is not known for thousands of miles, and the dragon trembles and the mountain gods are shocked...... The strong man bends the bow and kills the strange beasts, and drives the tigers and leopards to chase the greedy wolves.
It can be seen that this kind of collective hunting is a large-scale military Xi, and after the Mongol rulers entered the Central Plains, their hunting techniques and equipment reached a very high level.
According to Marco Polo's records, the Mongolian aristocracy kept a large number of cheetahs, lions, falcons and other birds of prey to assist in hunting, and Kublai Khan led tens of thousands of "chinyuchi" (people who manage fierce dogs) and "Xibaochi" (people who manage falcons) to regularly conduct large-scale collective hunts in designated places.
In addition to meeting the needs of life, hunting also assumes the function of environmental protection in the life of the Mongolian people, and the concept of protecting wild animals has appeared in the ancient Mongolian Xi law thousands of years ago.
For example, the rule of not killing wild mothers and small animals reflects the spontaneous awareness of wildlife protection among the ancient nomads, which was still adhered to and developed after Genghis Khan unified the Mongolian tribes.
Genghis Khan has repeatedly released emaciated and young wild animals to wait for them to grow up before organizing round-ups, and he has also issued edicts prohibiting fires and destroying the grassland ecological environment in the wild, indirectly protecting the living space of wild animals.
Genghis Khan's successors further improved the relevant systems and regulations for the protection of wild animals, and during a large-scale hunt, Taizong Wokotai heard the miserable wails of animals, and he could not bear it, and ordered the release of all captured wild animals.
Since then, he has stipulated that only hunters who hunt falconry are allowed to hunt, and others are forbidden to enter the hunting area to hunt wild animals, which has laid the institutional foundation for the protection of wildlife resources.
Later Mongol monarchs, such as Möngke and Kublai Khan, also issued many decrees to protect mothers, young animals and dormant animals, making Mongolia's wildlife protection policy more and more complete.
For example, the court designated special no-hunting areas to restrict ordinary people from hunting, and also strictly limited the hunting season - any hunting activities were strictly prohibited in spring and summer each year, and only in autumn and winter were organized hunting by hunters in the falconry.
This management model of "land is forbidden and sometimes restricted" not only meets the hunting needs of the aristocratic elite, but also minimizes the disturbance to the habitat and breeding period of wild animals, and ensures the stability of the number of species.
The existence of hunting culture contributed to the formation of wildlife protection awareness among the Mongolian and Mongol Yuan regimes, and they were also aware of the need to rationally use and protect wildlife resources while meeting their living needs, and this concept was gradually transformed into a series of laws and regulations, which had a profound impact on later generations.
Modern society should also learn from the historical experience of Mengyuan's wildlife protection policy, formulate scientific environmental and ecological protection measures while developing the economy, and realize the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.
