Gaming and the Process of Integrating Differences between Northern and Southern China during the Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties

Author(s): Li Zhi’an

Source: Historical Research

Abstract: The unification of China in the Yuan dynasty did not eliminate the differences between northern and southern China,leading to the co-existence of and gaming between the northern and southern elements at the level of state institutions.During the Yuan dynasty,the expansion and transplantation of northern institutions to the southern region were more obvious than the reverse due to the strength of northern elements in the government,so that the first of these games ended with the northern elements securely gaining the upper hand.After the Yuan was replaced by the Ming,the latter inherited many of the former’s institutions,and this,in addition to the interaction of a variety of forces,such as the personal factors of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and Emperor Zhu Di as well as their relations with society,meant that institutional integration during the early years of the Ming dynasty was still dominated by the northern side.Later,in the middle of the Ming dynasty,a new integration was obtained,but this time it was with the southern elements dominant.It was not until the late Ming dynasty,after the three integrations mentioned above,that the southern institutions representing the results of the reforms of the Tang and Song dynasties were finally recovered and further developed.This was the basic course of the development of the social integration of the differences between the north and the south during the Yuan and Ming dynasties.From the perspective of the central issue in social formations-social relations,the main essence of the northern system was the patron-client relationship,as that in the south was the tenancy and hired employee relationship.