14 - Agriculture

Summary

One of the most intriguing but least known facets of the cultural collaboration of Rashīd al-Dīn and Bolad is in the field of agronomy. Bolad, it will remembered, helped to found and initially headed the Office of the Grand Supervisors of Agriculture (Ta ssu-nung ssu; Mongolian, dai sinungsi). This was a very old institution in China going back to the Han; even of dynasties Inner Asian, nomadic origin commonly had such an office.

Founded in 1270, the Office of the Grand Supervisor of Agriculture superseded the Office for the Encouragement of Agriculture (Ch'üan-nung ssu) created in 1261 when Qubilai came to power. This office, whose name underwent frequent changes during the Yuan, was charged with the oversight of agriculture, sericulture, and water resources in North China, since, at the time of its inception, the Southern Sung was yet to be defeated. During the period 1270–90 the office had regional organs at the level of the tao (region) called Mobile Offices for the Encouragement of Agriculture (Hsün-hsing ch'üannung ssu). On several occasions starting in 1275, the duties of these Mobile Offices were temporarily transferred to the regional censorial bureaus, an organization that Bolad also headed. The basic responsibility of this organization was “to exhort [the people] to devote themselves to the completion important agricultural tasks.” More specifically and concretely, the office worked with local communes (she), nominally fifty peasant families, to improve agricultural techniques, introduce new seeds, and raise productivity.