The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China

1. For two periods discussed in this course, the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), China was ruled by foreign conquerors. How were these groups able to conquer the vast land of China?
The Yuan dynasty was ruled by the Mongols. The Mongols started as small nomadic tribes that were unified under one ruler. They conquered the majority of West and Central Asia including China (Ebrey, 1981, p. 286). When Northern Song fell to the hands of the Jurchen, they established the Jin dynasty. The Southern Song made attempts to control Northern China by employing the notion of “barbarian against barbarians”; however, their plan became disastrous as the Barbaric Mongolian army conquered China (Schirokauer & Brown, 2013, p. 134). The Mongol army was an overwhelming force with superior organization, battle strategy, and manpower. Their army was enough to surround and fight the Jin armies and capture the capital of Beijing while establishing supremacy in Central Asia, battling Russia, and destroying Xi Xia (Schirokauer & Brown, 2013, p. 162). Eventually, when Kublai Khan became the Great Khan of the Mongol army, they become successful in conquering the Southern Song and transferred Mongolia's capital to Beijing (Schirokauer & Brown, 2013, p. 163).
The Manchus established the Qing dynasty. The Ming dynasty fell when the empire can no longer contain the rebellions of the peasants. China was under chaos, turmoil, and civil wars that led to the fall of Beijing. One of the famous rebels, Li Zicheng, overthrow the Ming's control in Beijing. The Ming generals invited the Manchus to help them subdue the situation; however, the Manchus take over the throne for themselves. Ming loyalists tried to revolt against the conquerors but the Manchus slaughtered thousands to overcome the retaliation (Ebrey, 1981, p. 393).
What administrative techniques did they use to rule the land once they had been victorious?
After the destruction of the Mongol conquerors, they know that the local administration of China cannot all be replaced with Mongolian officials. The Mongols retained the Chinese administration while supervising their actions (Ebrey, 1981, p. 286). Additional provisions were made including the prohibition of intermarriage between Mongols and Chinese and the retaining of Chinese ceremonies (Schirokauer & Brown, 2013, p. 165). The Mongolian governors observed that the people are having grievances towards the new empire, the Mongols issued an order to protect the people against oppression, including the opening of businesses without fear and freedom of farmers to till the land. After the order was issued, people became obedient to the new administration and the guilty oppressors are punished (Ebrey, 1981, p. 287).
After the Manchus pillaged and killed Chinese residents, they established civil administration to give order to the Chinese residents. One of the administrative orders was to burn the thousands of corps. Another is the rationing of food to the people (Ebrey, 1981, p. 404). The Qing Dynasty then imposed taxes and forced labor service to revitalize the economy of China (Ebrey, 1981, p. 408). They allowed permanent property on upper-class people to amass wealth for the country and efficient managem...