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UID:343@harvard-yenching.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231109T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231109T130000
DTSTAMP:20231027T213538Z
URL:https://www.harvard-yenching.org/events/man-is-the-slave-of-kindness-%
 e2%80%95-a-gift-sau%c9%a4a-giving-culture-and-social-economic-political-ne
 twork-in-the-mongol-empire/
SUMMARY:“Man is the Slave of Kindness” ― A Gift (Sauqa)-giving Cultur
 e and Social\, Economic\, Political Network in the Mongol Empire
DESCRIPTION:Co-sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies\n\nThis
  talk examines the culture of the sauqa in the Mongol empire and the appar
 ently new type of individual and society it created\, which spawned politi
 cal networks focused on securing political and economic gain from the Mong
 ols.\n\nMeaning “gift” in Mongolian\, the sauqa functioned as a medium
  of exchange serving the networks of politics\, economy\, and culture that
  integrated the society of the Mongol empire. Having long favored gift-giv
 ing\, a practice that dates back to the traditional nomadic culture of the
  steppe\, the Mongols preserved the custom as a political tactic under the
  Great Qans.\n\nConsequently\, gifts and bribes served the function of con
 necting the many diverse people of the Qa’an ulus. Literati\, for exampl
 e\, bestowed gifts on officials and other people in power from whom they w
 ished to obtain a governmental post\, gain commercial profits\, win help i
 n lawsuits\, and secure assistance in controlling officials and their gove
 rnmental offices. Through such means\, they could even influence a Great Q
 an.\n\nA number of historical sources reveal how observers of rulers and t
 heir officials “accurately” sensed the ways in which their subjects br
 azenly offered “[bribe-like] gifts” and “washed hands for flattery
 ” for personal gain\, often satirizing them. Many Great Qans developed a
 nti-corruption policies in order to defend imperial wealth and interest\; 
 however\, in the end\, they could never relinquish both gifts and anti-cor
 ruption policies as useful political instruments.
CATEGORIES:Visiting Scholar Talks
LOCATION:Common Room (#136)\, 2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambridge\, MA\, United S
 tates
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