Yuan dynasty
Structure

The Mongols had employed foreigners long before the reign of Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan dynasty. But during Kublai's reign a hierarchy of reliability was introduced in China. The population was divided into the following classes:

The ordering of the classes and the placement of people in them came down to how loyal and trustworthy to the Mongols they were. This was defined by the date they surrendered to the Mongols and had little to do with their ethnicity. Ethnic Han Chinese could be classified as either Han ren or Nan ren while Khitans and Jurchens from Qara Khitai were not considered Han but Semu. The earlier they surrendered to the Mongols, the higher they were placed, while the more they held out, the lower they were ranked. As a result, the Northern Chinese were ranked higher than the Southern Chinese, because the Song dynasty in southern China fought longer and surrendered later. Similarly, the Uighur and Karluk monarchs were ranked higher than the Korean monarch at court because they surrendered earlier while the Koreans surrendered later. The Uighurs in particular were noted to not have fought at all.
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