Branch Secretariats (行中書省), or simply
provinces (行省), were provincial-level administrative organizations or institutions subordinated to the Zhongshu Sheng, though they were not exactly provinces in modern sense. There were 11 "regular" provinces in Yuan dynasty.[1]
Below the level of provinces, the largest political division was the
circuit (道), followed by
lù (路),
fǔ (府) and
zhōu (州). These are three kinds of prefecture-like divisions. The lowest political division was the xiàn or
counties (縣).
Basically, lù is higher than fǔ, and fǔ is higher than zhōu.However, the actual relationship between them could be very complicated. Both lù, fǔ and zhōu could administer counties. Some fǔ and zhōu are directly administered by the province, while some exist inside a lù. A lù usually administers several counties, along with several fǔ and zhōu, and the fǔ or zhōu themselves could also administer their own counties. As a result, it is impossible to exactly define how many tiers of divisions there are under a province.
This government structure at the provincial level was later inherited and modified by the
Ming and
Qing dynasties.
Regular provinces (Branch Secretariats)
Gansu province (甘肅行省) with
Zhangye District as its seat of government. Under this came most of present-day
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (originally the
Tangut territory), south-eastern
Gansu Province, and part of north-eastern
Amdo. The
Kingdom of Qocho (present-day
Xinjiang) was ruled by the
Chagatai Khanate and was never part of the Yuan.
Henan Jiangbei province (河南江北行省) with
Kaifeng District as its seat of government. Under this came the
Henan areas to the south of the Yellow River, north-east Hubei, Jiangsu, the north-eastern part of Jiangxi Province. Founded in 1268.
Huguang province (湖廣行省) with
Wuhan of the present-day
Hubei Province as its seat of government. Under this came a part of south-east Hubei,
Hunan,
Guangxi, most of
Guizhou, and parts of south-western
Guangdong Province. Founded in 1274.
Liaoyang province (遼陽行省) with present-day
Liaoyang District in Liaoning Province as its seat of government. Under this came north-east
China, the northern part of
Korea and the southern part of the
Russian Far East.
Shaanxi province (陝西行省) with
Xi'an as its seat of government. Under this came the majority of present-day
Shaanxi Province, the south-western part of
Inner Mongolia, south-eastern
Gansu, north-western
Sichuan, and a small part of
Qinghai. Founded in 1260.
Sichuan province (四川行省) with
Chengdu at its seat of government. Under this came most of the eastern half of present-day
Sichuan Province,
Chongqing, and parts of north-western
Guizhou. Founded in 1294.
Yunnan province (Yuan dynasty) (雲南行省) with
Kunming as its seat of government. Under this came present-day
Yunnan Province, parts of western
Guizhou and north-eastern part of
Burma. The Duan family of the
Dali Kingdom reigned in Dali as Maharajahs while the Governors served in Kunming. Founded in 1274.
Zhengdong province (征東行省) with
Kaesong of present-day
Korea as its seat of government. Despite being listed as a regular province, it was still special in that it had the king of
Goryeo, who married to the imperial Mongol princesses, as its head, and Goryeo survived
under Yuan overlordship. Furthermore, it was originally set up to invade
Japan (see "Special provinces" below).
Special provinces (Branch Secretariats)
These provinces or Branch Secretariats were set up before or during the invasions of certain regions outside the Yuan, such as
Japan,
Vietnam and
Burma. They were usually abolished after the wars.
Zhengdong province (征東行省, lit. "Conquer East province"), also referred to as "Japanese Expedition province" (征日本行省): Originally set up during the
invasion of Japan in 1281, with the king of
Goryeo as its head. It was abolished when the invasion of Japan had failed. However, it was again set up in 1287, and gradually became a regular province which special characteristics (see "Regular province" above).
Zhengmian province (征緬行省, lit. "Conquer Burma province"), also referred to as "Middle of Burma province" (緬中行省), was the Branch Secretariat set up during the
invasion of Burma.
The
Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, or Xuanzheng Yuan was a government agency and top-level administrative department set up in
Khanbaliq that supervised
Buddhist monks in addition to managing the territory of
Tibet. Besides modern-day
Tibet Autonomous Region, it also governed a part of
Sichuan,
Qinghai and
Kashmir. It was separate from the other provinces of the Yuan dynasty such as those of former
Song dynasty of China, but still
under the administrative rule of the Yuan. While no modern equivalents remain, the political functions of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs might have been analogous to the India Office in
London during the
British Raj. To emphasize its importance for
Hangzhou, the capital of the former Southern Song dynasty, a branch (行) Xuanzheng Yuan was established in that city in 1291.[2]