A UYGHUR AT THE HEAD OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN CHINA

Arid or semi-arid zones are not immediately associated with notions of culture and civilisation. The severity of the climate and the distance from the great cultural centres are the most obvious reasons for this. Of course, along the roads that cross these inhospitable lands, travellers from very different countries are at the root of uncountable cultural exchanges but the merchants who constitute the great majority of these travellers are not generally considered to be the greatest promoters of intellectual exchanges as such. As far as traditional China is concerned, the major zones of civilisation are centred around the principal Chinese cities in the centre or on the east coast of the country. The other regions are less culturally developed and the civil servants of the Empire feared being posted or banished there; and all the more so for desert zones or regions peopled by “barbarians”. Indeed, during the majority of the dynasties, the arid and semi-arid zones produced very few remarkable civil servants who played an important role in central government. However, there were certain periods during which educated men from the northern frontiers of the Empire obtained key roles in the country’s dministration. This was the case in the Tabghach, Khitan, Jurchen, Mongol and Manchu dynasties. Among these, the Mongol dynasty of th e Yuan (circa 1260-1368) occupied a particular place.