Research on the Circuit and Province System

Author: Li Zhi'an
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The provincial system is a legacy left by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty for later generations. Over seven hundred years, it has had a profound and significant impact on Chinese society. The provincial system combines the dual nature of a central government outpost and a local administrative office. It pioneered a high-level regional centralized system with delegated authority, where the provincial system served the central government's authority, and the central government's authority always dominated the provincial system's authority. During the Yuan Dynasty's rule, provinces were widely established across the country as major regional administrative divisions, holding great significance in the history of Chinese local administrative systems. The original meaning of "province" was the imperial palace, which was extended to refer to the name of central administrative organs. Therefore, the provincial system initially referred to temporary central government outposts tasked with exercising central authority. It originated from the short-lived "provincial assemblies" (xingtai sheng) that appeared during the Northern Wei, Northern Jin, early Sui, early Tang, and early Jin dynasties. When it reappeared in the late Jin Dynasty, the term "province" was used more frequently (previously usually shortened to "provincial assembly"). The nature of the provincial system in the early Yuan Dynasty was similar to that of the Jin Dynasty, still belonging to central government outposts with unstable establishment. However, with the unification of the country, provinces quickly transformed into fixed, permanent major regional administrative divisions, "overseeing national affairs, governing prefectures and counties, controlling border regions, and serving as a complement to the central government. In all matters of finances, military equipment, resettlement, grain transport, and military-state affairs, they were in charge of everything" [1]. The Ming Dynasty abolished the prime minister, leaving no central government offices referred to as "provinces." Although the term "province" for local administrative divisions was also abolished, the newly established Circuit Intendant's Offices were still colloquially referred to as provinces or even "provinces" in practice. Thus, the meaning of "province" shifted from the imperial palace and central authority to local administrative institutions, an influence that persists to this day, with the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system being a key factor in this change.
From a institutional perspective, the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system covered vast territories and concentrated power, governing all aspects of local military, political, and financial authority, differing significantly from the previous Song Dynasty's system of dividing local power. As a unified empire established by a nomadic grassland people, the Yuan Dynasty ruled over an unprecedentedly vast territory for nearly a century, and the role of the provincial system in this cannot be underestimated.
The recently published book Studies on the Provincial System by Li Zhi'an (Nankai University Press, 2000) provides a more comprehensive, in-depth, and detailed examination of the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system, advancing research on this topic to a new level. Professor Li Zhi'an is one of the most influential mid-career scholars in the field of Mongol-Yuan studies in China. In his doctoral dissertation, Studies on the Feudal System of the Yuan Dynasty (Tianjin Ancient Books Press, 1992), supervised by Professor Yang Zhijiu, he conducted an insightful and profound examination of the Yuan Dynasty's political system from the perspective of the feudal system, touching on some specific aspects of the provincial system and laying preliminary groundwork for this research. Later, he co-authored Bureaucratic Politics in Ancient China (Book and Documents Press, 1993) and edited and wrote Studies on Central-Local Relations from the Tang to the Qing Dynasties (Nankai University Press, 1996), further establishing a macro-level foundation for studying the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system.
Therefore, Studies on the Provincial System, despite its formal writing process lasting only four years (according to the author's preface), reflects the author's decade-long academic accumulation to some extent, making it a substantial and meticulously researched work. The book is nearly 500,000 words long and divided into three parts. The first part, "The Provincial System," is the core of the book, comprising ten chapters. It first discusses the origin and standardization process of the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system, then describes the organizational structure and operational mechanisms of provincial institutions, followed by a detailed discussion of the specific powers of provinces in finance, military affairs, administration, and justice, as well as the appointment, transfer, and personnel composition of provincial officials. Building on this, it summarizes the relationship between provinces and the central government, and briefly touches on the derivative of the provincial system—the Grand Censorate.
The second part, "Examinations of Several Provinces," consists of three chapters, selecting three important provinces—Henan, Hubei, and Jiangxi—for case studies, analyzing their establishment, evolution, and functional characteristics in detail. Other provinces are either subjects of specialized academic research or lack sufficient historical materials for in-depth investigation, so they are not listed one by one.
The third part, "The Rule of the Xuanwei Shis and Lu-Fu-Zhou-Jian under the Provincial System," spans four chapters, examining the multi-tiered local administrative institutions under the provinces, from the Xuanwei Shis to the counties, providing a relatively comprehensive study of the Yuan Dynasty's local administrative system, extending beyond the provincial system itself.
The final part is the conclusion, summarizing the main features and historical role of the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system. It points out that the provincial system had a dual nature, primarily serving to centralize authority while also partially retaining power for local administration, with its own authority characterized as "broad but not specialized." It evolved into a more advanced form of the centralized model of the ancient Chinese prefecture-county system and had a significant impact on the local administration of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
This book is a rigorous academic work with substantial historical evidence, cautious arguments, and well-supported claims, filling gaps in Mongol-Yuan studies in many areas (e.g., Chapter 3 of the first part, "Provinces and Local Finance," and Chapter 7, "Provinces and the Imperial Examination"). The arguments are grounded in thorough and meticulous research, making them highly persuasive and not mere empty speculation.
Compared to other points, I believe two arguments in the book are particularly valuable. First, the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system had both the dual nature of a central government outpost and a local administrative office. Second, although the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system bore the appearance of Han Chinese bureaucratic institutions, it was fundamentally a mixed system of Mongol-Han dualism. This may also be the two fundamental characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system.