In
China there was a greater political intervention than in Russia. In Russia there
was more leniency. The Mongols banned the civil service examinations, which
held such importance in Chinese society. They elected foreigners and Mongols
for the higher positions of power, leaving the Chinese to the local ruling
jobs. In Russia though, the Mongols allowed the princes and rulers to remain as
long as taxes were paid.
The
people in both China and Russia were heavily taxed, but in Russia it was worse.
The peasants in Russia not only had to pay taxes to the Mongols, they had to
pay taxes to their own governments and churches too. In China the Mongols were the government so there was no
double taxing. The taxes the Mongols received led to the richer, stronger and
more advanced government that they wanted.
Both
China and Russia experienced an economic boom with the arrival of the Mongols.
Their infrastructure and technology improved. The Mongols created and protected
easy and effective trading routes. Having safe trade routes was crucial to the
Mongols’, China’s and Russia’s economic prosperity. The Mongols facilitated
commerce and communication; even creating their own mail system. They also
recognized the value of the merchant and artisan classes established in China
and contributed resources to them. Although China already had a rather stable
economy when the Mongols invaded; Russia did not. Thus this stable Mongol
economy, aided greatly by protected trade routes, had a larger effect on
Russia.
The Mongols
followed the dynastic cycle like previous dynasties in China, because it seemed
to work well. Although they repudiated
the Confucian Bureaucracy, they recognized the value in it and adopted it’s
administrative principles. In Russia the Mongol take-over actually made it
possible for the princes and church leaders to be harsher in their governing
and tax systems. While the Mongols took over rule and incorporated Chinese
ideals in China, in Russia they let the Princes rule themselves and the
Although
the Mongols entry into both China and Russia was violent it led to great
political and economic innovations such as safe trade. The rule of the Mongols
eventually led to the reunification of China. Despite the differences in ruling, there was
unified economic and political outcome that allowed the Mongols to be very
wealthy and powerful for a time.
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