Shi Tianze (; 1202 – 5 March 1275) was a general in the early period of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

. Later, he was promoted to the post of deputy prime minister and became the first

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

minister of the Yuan dynasty. He played a key role in early Yuan politics.

Life

Shi Tianze was an ethnic

who lived in the Jin dynasty. Interethnic marriage between Han and Jurchen became common at this time. His father was Shi Bingzhi (Shih Ping-chih, 史秉直). Shi Bingzhi was married to a Jurchen woman (surname Na-ho) and a Han woman (surname Chang), it is unknown which of them was Shi Tianze's mother. Shi Tianze married two Jurchen women, a Han woman, and a Korean woman, and his son Shi Gang was born to one of his Jurchen wives. His Jurchen wive's surnames were Mo-nien and Na-ho, his Korean wife's surname was Li, and his Han wife's surname was Shi. Shi Tianze defected to the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

's forces upon their invasion of the Jin dynasty. Shi, Zhang Rou (Chang Jou) zh, and

Yan Shi Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed inde ...

(Yen Shih) zh and other high ranking Han who served in the Jin dynasty and defected to the Mongols helped build the structure for the administration of the new state.Chan, Hok-Lam. 1997. “A Recipe to Qubilai Qa'an on Governance: The Case of Chang Te-hui and Li Chih”. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 7 (2). Cambridge University Press: 257–83. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25183352.

Family of Shi Tianze

References

Yuan dynasty right chancellors Yuan dynasty generals 1202 births 1275 deaths 13th-century Chinese military personnel {{China-politician-stub