Yuan four-class system

Timeline

1. c. 1260–1271Kaiping and Dadu · ChinaAfter Kublai consolidated rule in North China, Mongol and Semu officials and military households held priority in kheshig and darughachi posts, while former Jin subjects were classified as Han, and status hierarchies emerged in administrative practice.
2. 1271–1279Yuan Dadu · North ChinaAfter the state was renamed Great Yuan in 1271, with the fall of the Song, residents of the former Southern Song realm were classified as Southerners, more restricted than Han in military posts, criminal law, and certain prohibitions. The four-class division became a common framework for describing Yuan social hierarchy.
3. 1313–1315Yuan Dadu · North ChinaThe Youyou restoration of the examinations admitted candidates by separate papers and quotas for Mongols, Semu, Han, and Southerners, embedding status hierarchy in selection regulations—one of the clearest institutional expressions of the four-class framework, though daily appointments still relied heavily on the kheshig and recommendations.
4. c. 1351–1368Dadu · North ChinaLate Yuan wars disrupted the household and military household systems. After Ming forces took Dadu in 1368, the officeholding and legal privileges centered on the four-class status hierarchy ended with Yuan rule in Han lands, and the early Ming built new household and selection systems.