semuren

Chinese social class

Also known as: se-mu jen

Learn about this topic in these articles:

In Kublai Khan: Social and administrative policy
…formed the second group, the semuren, persons with special status. That class furnished the higher officialdom. In addition, its members, with their worldwide contacts and their privileged status, formed a new breed of merchants and speculators. Like the Mongols, they were exempt from taxation and enjoyed preferential use of the…
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In China: Changes under Kublai Khan and his successors
Next came the semuren (“persons with special status”), confederates of the Mongols such as Turks or Middle Eastern Muslims. The third group was called the hanren (a term that generally means Chinese but that was used to designate the inhabitants of only northern China); this class included the…
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