sidengren zhi 四等人制

The four-classes system (sidengren zhi 四等人制) was believed to have been a system of classifying the population of the Yuan empire 元 (1279-1368) into four different classes or "castes" with different judicial rights and administrative measures.

It had precursors in the Jin empire 金 (1115-1234) of the Jurchens (Nüzhen 女真), who applied ethnic segregation between Jurchens, people from Bohai 渤海, Kitans (Qidan 契丹) and Chinese (Han'er 漢兒), and was adopted by the Mongols when they took over control over northern, and then the whole of China. They discerned between Mongols, Semu 色目 or Semuren 色目人, northern Chinese (Hanren 人) and southern Chinese (Nanren 南人, Manzi 蠻子 or Nangjiadai 囊加歹).

The classification of ethnic groups are mentioned by Tao Zongyi 陶宗儀 (1329-1410) in his book Chuogenglu 輟耕錄. He reports that the Mongol federation itself – constituting the highest class in the system – consisted of 72 tribes. The Semu people were mainly peoples of Central Asia. The class of north Chinese also included Koreans and Chinese who became subjects in the early phase of the conquest, when the Mongols occupied Sichuan and Yunnan. The class of the Semu people produced experts not just in various sciences, but also professional entrepreneurs and merchants who supported the Mongols in the economic management of their empire.

One reason to introduce and uphold the ethnic segregation system was that the Mongols as conquerors of China were numerically far outnumbered by their Chinese subjects. They attempted therefore to reserve important political and administrative functions for Mongols and close collaborators, rather than give them into the hands of Chinese, even if they adopted the administrative structure of the Chinese empire. The function of the Counsellor-in-chief (chengxiang 丞相) could only be carried out by Mongols or close allies, like the Chinese-Jurchen general Shi Tianze 史天澤 (1202-1275), who was counsellor in 1261, or the Kitan Yelu Zhu 耶律鑄 (1221-1285), the son of the famous collaborator Yelü Chucai 耶律楚材 (1190-1244) who was counsellor in 1261 and 1268. The office of Manager of Governmental Affairs (pingzhang zhengshi 平章政事) was only to be occupied by Mongols and Semu people. The same is true for the highest officials in the Branch Secretariats (xingsheng 行省), the precursors of the provincial administration. Posts in the central military administration, the Bureau of Military Affairs (shumiyuan 樞密院), were strictly forbidden to Chinese, just like the higher echelon in the Censorate (yushitai 御史臺). The local administration was in the hands of Mongol or Semu (if no Mongol person was electable) daruγači (Ch. daluhuachi 達魯花赤), with the only exception of the miasmic southwestern region, where Mongols did not want to reside. Southern Chinese were - at least in theory - not even allowed to serve as scribes in the local investigation commissions (lianfangsi 廉訪司).

The most prestigious position in the Mongol administration of China was that of being a member of the khan's bodyguard (kišig, Ch. quexue 怯薛), a privilege only granted to few southern Chinese. In 1308, when the inflated corps of the bodyguard were cut down in size, Chinese were totally eliminated. When the state examinations were reintroduced in 1314, each of the four classes was given a quota for the provincial (75) and metropolitan (25) examinations, but on equal relation, which means that the number of Mongols accepted surpassed their share of the total population by far. Mongols and Semu people were only subjected to two sessions (chang 場), while Northern and Southern Chinese had to pass three. There was also a different level of difficulty for each of the four social classes.

The Mongol law did not allow Chinese to strike back when beaten by a Mongol, but had only the right of legal recourse. A Mongol who had beaten a Chinese to death was not punished according to manslaughter but only had to pay the expenditure for burial money burnt during the funeral. A Chinese hurting or killing a Mongol, on the other hand, was punished by execution. Generally spoken, the degree of penalties for various crimes was heavier for Chinese that it was for Mongols or Semu people. Mongols and Semu people, for instance, were exempted from the punishment of tattooing (cizi 刺字). While Chinese were judged by regular courts and – in case of the death penalty – the Ministry of Justice (xingbu 刑部) was involved, Mongols and Semu people were judged by the Mongol High Court of Justice (dazong zhengfu 大宗正府), and the verdict was to be confirmed by a high Mongol dignitary.

The Mongols carried out strict supervision of the Chinese people, as far as possible. For this purpose, so-called tammači (Ch. tanmachi jun 探馬赤軍) regularly combed through the regions of Henan and Shandong and were garrisoned there for quick action in case of resistance. Chinese-Jurchen troop contingents from the north were sent to the south to support newly enlisted (xinfujun 新附軍, see Yuan military) troops on the territory of the former Southern Song empire 南宋 (1127-1279). Northern and Southern Chinese alike were not allowed to own weapons. In 1285, the Mongols even collected all weapons in the middle and lower Yangtze regions, preserved the better ones and destroyed such of lower quality or use. For the suppression of bandits, only Mongol and Semu members of the local administration were allowed to carry weapons. Chinese members of the newly enlisted armies were only given their arms when needed. The possession of falcons, hawks and hounds was prohibited. In 1336, the radically conservative Counsellor-in-chief Bayan 伯顏 (d. 1340) had the idea to deprive Chinese peasants of their iron farming tools, and to prevent Chinese from gathering at shrines, temples or places of public entertainment.

The privileges described above did only pertain to high-standing members of the Mongol and Semu classes, while commoners had no more rights than the Chinese, but had to serve in the army, pay taxes, deliver various corvée services like in the postal system, and even suffered the same fate as impoverished Chinese. Among the classes of Northern, and Southern Chinese, were also some who were happy enough to hold an office, and thus enjoyed privileges similar to the Mongols and the Semu people.

After Funada (1999) has proved that the term semuren did not have a counterpart in Mongolian, but was a purely Chinese concept, Hu (2013) has demonstrated that the Mongolians did in fact not impose four classes on their subjects of the Yuan empire, but only two, namely Mongols, and non-Mongols (qari irgen "foreigners"), and that even this distinction was not always absolute. The "four social classes" seem to be a post-Yuan interpretation of the social system of the Yuan empire made by Chinese historians. Yang (2015) gave evidence that the expression and concept of four social classes was created by Tu Ji 屠寄 (1856-1921) in his history book Mengwu'er shiji 蒙兀兒史記 that was first published in 1934. Tu himself might have been influenced by the Japanese historian Yanai Watari 箭內亙 (1875-1926), author of several books on the Mongols, and "inventor" of a triple "caste system" of Mongols, Semuren, and Chinese.