Compare And Contrast Mongol Rule In China And Russia

While both Russia and China built strong centralized governments after breaking free from the Mongols, Russia imitated the culture and technology of Europe while China became isolated and built upon its foundations. Both Russia and China following Mongol rule had local government structures that survived Mongol control and immediately tried to reinstate control of their respecting territories. Ivan the III established himself as autocratic ruler of Russia in the late 15th century under the title of tsar. Tsar is a title of Byzantine origin is a word derived from caesar. Russia’s traditional local government remained intact following the return of Russian authority as did the royal hierarchy that Russia had before the Mongols. Due to

Russia was heavily taxed while under Mongol rule. Russian princes often exempted themselves from these taxes and made their peasants compensate by paying more. This led to shortages of precious metals in the local economy due to the vast amounts of silver and gold leaving Russia and going to the Mongols. The Mongols in an attempt to fix Russia’s failing economy by introducing paper money which ultimately failed. In result of this Russia was left in terrible depression and reverted back to the barter system for transactions. Russia following the release of Mongol control sought to imitate the culture and innovations of western Europe after being impeded by what is called the “Mongol Yoke” which portrays the isolation from the innovations in western Europe during Mongol control. Russia used the orthodox Church as a reconstructive force which oriented Russia toward the Byzantine Empire. Due to this fact Russia did not cut themselves off entirely with western Europe and after the fall of the Constantinople in 1453 this relationship

The Ming brought back the civil service exam instead of the synthesized version the Mongols were using. The Mongols tried to give the appearance that everything was the same as previous Chinese dynasties when in reality they had only foreign officials ruling the government. The result of bringing back Confucianism as the leading government philosophy brought back the civil service exam and meritocracy. The Ming did this to return China back to its previous glory and they thought the best way to do this was by building on its foundations. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty during the 15th century China was a direct participant in the global trade as is seen in the Voyages of Zheng He. Zheng He was an admiral sent by emperor Yongle to explore new trade routes and countries. However, Yongle's death ended this period of Chinese expansion. This was because Zheng He failed to bring back anything of importance during his voyages that would justify the expense. The Ming Dynasty returned Chinese control and authority to China after a period of foreign rule under the Mongols during the Yuan Dynasty. China in response to this control developed Xenophobia the irrational fear or extreme dislike of outside influence. The result of this was that China previously a pioneer in trade and exploration with inventions such as the astrolabe and magnetic compass retreated back