Yuan Dynasty - Administrative Divisions

Administrative Divisions

The territory of the Yuan Dynasty was divided into the Central Region (腹裏) and places under control of various Xing Zhongshusheng (行中書省 or 行省) or the Xuanzheng Yuan (宣政院).

The Central Region, consisting of present-day Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, the south-eastern part of present-day Inner Mongolia and the Henan areas to the north of the Yellow River, was considered the most important region of the dynasty and directly governed by Zhongshusheng (中書省, "Secretariat") at Dadu; similarly, another top-level administrative department called the Xuanzheng Yuan governed the whole of modern-day Tibet and a part of Kashmir.

Xing Zhongshusheng (行中書省, "branch Secretariat" or "en-route Secretariat"), or simply Xingsheng (行省), were provincial-level administrative organizations or institutions, sometimes roughly translated as "Province", though they were not exactly provinces in modern sense. There were 11 Xing Zhongshusheng or Xingsheng in Yuan Dynasty.

1. Gansu Xingsheng (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.
2. Henan Jiangbei Xingsheng (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.
3. Huguang Xingsheng (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.
4. Jiangxi Xingsheng (江西行省) with Nanchang as its seat of government. Under this ya of present-day Jiangxi and Guangdong Province.
5. Jiangzhe Xingsheng (江浙行省) with Hangzhou as its seat of government. Under this came Jiangsu and Anhui areas to the south of the Yangtze River, Zhejiang, Fujian, and a small area in the north-east of Jiangxi Province.
6. Liaoyang Xingsheng (遼陽行省) with present-day Liaoyang District in Liaoning Province as its seat of government. Under this came north-east China and the northern part of Korea.
7. Lingbei Xingsheng (嶺北行省) with Karakorum as its seat of government. Under this province came the present-day Mongolia, northern Inner Mongolia and parts of Siberia.
8. Shaanxi Xingsheng (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.
9. Sichuan Xingsheng (四川行省) with Chengdu at its seat of government. Under this came most of present-day Sichuan Province and parts of south-western Shaanxi.
10. Yunnan Xingsheng (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.
11. Zhendong Xingsheng (征東行省) with Kaesong of present-day Korea as its seat. It was a special institution set up when Kublai Khan attempted to invade Japan in 1281, with the king of Goryeo as its head. The setting of this Xingsheng was considerably different from all other Xingsheng, and unlike other Xingsheng, Zhendong (征東), literally "Conquer East" or "Eastern Expedition", was not a geographic name, and this institution was also referred to as "Japanese Expedition Xingsheng" (征日本行省) or just "Japan Xingsheng" (日本行省). It was abolished when the invasion of Japan had failed, though set up again later.

Below the level of Xing Zhongshusheng or Xingsheng, the largest political division was the circuit (道), followed by prefectures (府) operating under a prefect and subprefectures (州) under a subprefect. The lowest political division was the county (縣) overseen by a magistrate. This government structure at the provincial level was later copied by the Ming and Qing dynasties.