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Biography of Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai
Name: Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai
Birth Date: 1189
Death Date: 1243
Place of Birth: N/A
Nationality: Chinese
Gender: Male
Occupations: secretary, astrologer, writer
Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai
Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai (1189-1243), secretary-astrologer to Genghis Khan and chief of the Secretariat under his son Ögödei, was famous for his administrative reforms introduced in North China during the early years of the Mongol conquest.The son of a Sinicized Khitan noble serving the Jürchen-Chin dynasty (1115-1234), Yeh-lü Ch'uts'ai was born in the Chin capital Chung-tu (modern Peking). He began the study of Chinese classics at the age of 12. Placing first in the degree examination, he was appointed a district vice-prefect in modern Hopei (1213); when the Chin emperor transferred his court to Pien-ching (K'ai-feng) in 1214, Yeh-lü returned to the old capital to become an auxiliary secretary in the Secretariat Council. He stayed to witness the fall of Peking to the Mongol forces in 1215.Meanwhile, Yeh-lü had developed an interest in Buddhism and lived in seclusion as a lay disciple until he was summoned by …showed first 150 words…
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…showed last 150 words…of letters in the Confucian tradition. His collected works, in 14 chapters, were published after 1236. The record of his journey to central Asia, entitled Hsi-Yu lu, was written in 1228 and published in 1229. Further Reading An English translation of Yeh-lü's record of travel in central Asia is in Emil V. Bretshneider, Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources, vol. 1 (1888; repr. 1967). Another translation, with annotations by Igor de Rachewiltz, is in Monumenta Sinica, vol. 21 (1962). There is no book-length biography of Yeh-lü in English. The authoritative essay on his life and career is Igor de Rachewiltz's "Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai (1189-1243): Buddhist Idealist and Confucian Statesman" in Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett, eds., Confucian Personalities (1962). Recommended for general historical background are Michael Charol (pseudonym of Michael Prawdin), The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy, translated by Eden and Cedar Paul (1940), and René Grousset, The Rise and Splendour of the Chinese Empire (trans. 1952).
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