China

Mongol government and administration

After their initial successes in northern China in 1211–15, the Mongols faced the problem of how to rule and extract material benefits from a largely sedentary population. They were assisted by Khitan and Chinese and even Juchen renegades; these defectors were treated as “companions” (nökör) of the Mongols and were given positions similar to the higher ranks of the steppe aristocracy. Their privileges included the administration and exploitation of fiefs considered as their private domain.

The Yuan (Mongol) empire (c. 1300), showing the extent reached under Kublai Khan.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.