Chinese Hegemony by Feng Zhang

Author:Feng Zhang [Zhang, Feng]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2015-05-10T16:00:00+00:00

The pattern of the Yongle emperor’s strategies toward the Eastern Mongols and the Oirats was considerably more interesting. They alternated between expressive hierarchy when his relations with the Mongols were relatively amicable and instrumental hierarchy when relational conflict broke out. Thus, his strategy toward the Eastern Mongols shifted between expressive hierarchy (1403–April 1409), instrumental hierarchy (July 1409–1410), expressive hierarchy (1411–1418), and instrumental hierarchy (1419–1424). And his strategy toward the Oirat Mongols similarly shifted between expressive hierarchy (1403–1412), instrumental hierarchy (1413–1414), and expressive hierarchy (1415–1424). Table 5.1 shows the trajectory of Chinese strategies toward the Mongols.

On the whole, the Mongols were on the defensive against Chinese encroachment on the steppe. During the Hongwu reign they had to ensure political and military survival. Although the Eastern Mongols and the Oirats attempted to achieve hegemony in the steppe during the Yongle reign, survival was still a basic task. All of the main Mongol leaders during both reigns tried the strategy of exit by defying and challenging Ming authority. A more prominent strategy adopted by the Eastern Mongol leader Arughtai and the Oirat leader Mahmud during the Yongle reign was deference—exploiting Chinese resources through tributary relations for self-strengthening. In contrast to the strategies of Korean and Japanese rulers toward the Ming in which elements of identification existed, the Mongols could not have entertained such a notion, because the overriding motive of their tribute to the Ming was material benefit rather than cultural borrowing. Table 5.2 shows the evolution of the Mongols’ strategies toward Ming China.

TABLE 5.2

Evolution of Mongol strategies toward China

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