TheYuan dynasty was aMongol-ledimperial Chinese dynasty. During its existence, its territory was divided into the Central Region (腹裏) governed by theCentral Secretariat (Zhongshu Sheng) and places under control of various provinces (行省) or Branch Secretariats (行中書省), as well as the region under theBureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs (Xuanzheng Yuan). In addition, theYuan emperors held nominal suzerainty over the western Mongol khanates, but in reality none of them were governed by the Yuan dynasty due to thedivision of the Mongol Empire.

The most important part of the Yuan Empire was the Central Region, which covered the region of the Yuan capitalKhanbaliq (Dadu, modernBeijing). The Central Region consisted of present-dayHebei,Shandong,Shanxi, the south-eastern part of present-dayInner Mongolia and theHenan areas to the north of theYellow River. Since it was considered the most important region of the dynasty, it was directly governed by theZhongshu Sheng at Khanbaliq; similarly, another top-level administrative department called theBureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs (or Xuanzheng Yuan)held administrative rule over Tibet.

Branch Secretariats (行中書省), or simplyprovinces (行省), were provincial-level administrative organizations or institutions subordinated to the Zhongshu Sheng, though they were not exactly provinces in modern sense. There were 11 "regular" provinces in Yuan dynasty.^[1]

Below the level of provinces, the largest political division was thecircuit (道), followed bylù (路),fǔ (府) andzhōu (州). These are three kinds of prefecture-like divisions. The lowest political division was the xiàn orcounties (縣).

Basically, lù is higher than fǔ, and fǔ is higher than zhōu. However, the actual relationship between them could be very complicated. Both lù, fǔ and zhōu could administer counties. Some fǔ and zhōu are directly administered by the province, while some exist inside a lù. A lù usually administers several counties, along with several fǔ and zhōu, and the fǔ or zhōu themselves could also administer their own counties. As a result, it is impossible to exactly define how many tiers of divisions there are under a province.

This government structure at the provincial level was later inherited and modified by theMing andQing dynasties.

1. Gansu province (甘肅行省) withZhangye District as its seat of government. Under this came most of present-dayNingxia Hui Autonomous Region (originally theTangut territory), south-easternGansu Province, and part of north-easternAmdo. TheKingdom of Qocho (present-dayXinjiang) was ruled by theChagatai Khanate and was never part of the Yuan.
2. Henan Jiangbei province (河南江北行省) withKaifeng District as its seat of government. Under this came theHenan areas to the south of the Yellow River, north-east Hubei, Jiangsu, the north-eastern part of Jiangxi Province. Founded in 1268.
3. Huguang province (湖廣行省) withWuhan of the present-dayHubei Province as its seat of government. Under this came a part of south-east Hubei,Hunan,Guangxi, most ofGuizhou, and parts of south-westernGuangdong Province. Founded in 1274.
4. Jiangxi province (江西行省) withNanchang as its seat of government. Under this came part of present-dayJiangxi andGuangdong Province. Founded in 1277.
5. Jiangzhe province (江浙行省) withHangzhou as its seat of government. Under this cameJiangsu andAnhui areas to the south of theYangtze River,Zhejiang,Fujian, and a small area in the north-east ofJiangxi Province. Founded in 1276.
6. Liaoyang province (遼陽行省) with present-dayLiaoyang District in Liaoning Province as its seat of government. Under this came north-eastChina, the northern part ofKorea and the southern part of theRussian Far East.
7. Lingbei province (嶺北行省) withKarakorum as its seat of government. Under this province came the present-dayMongolia, northernInner Mongolia and parts ofSiberia.
8. Shaanxi province (陝西行省) withXi'an as its seat of government. Under this came the majority of present-dayShaanxi Province, the south-western part ofInner Mongolia, south-easternGansu, north-westernSichuan, and a small part ofQinghai. Founded in 1260.
9. Sichuan province (四川行省) withChengdu at its seat of government. Under this came most of the eastern half of present-daySichuan Province,Chongqing, and parts of north-westernGuizhou. Founded in 1294.
10. Yunnan province (Yuan dynasty) (雲南行省) withKunming as its seat of government. Under this came present-dayYunnan Province, parts of westernGuizhou and north-eastern part ofBurma. The Duan family of theDali Kingdom reigned in Dali as Maharajahs while the Governors served in Kunming. Founded in 1274.
11. Zhengdong province (征東行省) withKaesong of present-dayKorea as its seat of government. Despite being listed as a regular province, it was still special in that it had the king ofGoryeo, who married to the imperial Mongol princesses, as its head, and Goryeo survivedunder Yuan overlordship. Furthermore, it was originally set up to invadeJapan (see "Special provinces" below).

These provinces or Branch Secretariats were set up before or during the invasions of certain regions outside the Yuan, such asJapan,Vietnam andBurma. They were usually abolished after the wars.

1. Zhengdong province (征東行省, lit. "Conquer East province"), also referred to as "Japanese Expedition province" (征日本行省): Originally set up during theinvasion of Japan in 1281, with the king ofGoryeo as its head. It was abolished when the invasion of Japan had failed. However, it was again set up in 1287, and gradually became a regular province which special characteristics (see "Regular province" above).
2. Zhengmian province (征緬行省, lit. "Conquer Burma province"), also referred to as "Middle of Burma province" (緬中行省), was the Branch Secretariat set up during theinvasion of Burma.
3. Jiaozhi province (交趾行省), also known as Annan province (安南行省), was the Branch Secretariat set up during theinvasion of Trần dynasty (Đại Việt orJiaozhi).
4. Zhancheng province (占城行省), was the Branch Secretariat set up during theinvasion of Champa.

TheBureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, or Xuanzheng Yuan was a government agency and top-level administrative department set up inKhanbaliq that supervisedBuddhist monks in addition to managing the territory ofTibet. Besides modern-dayTibet Autonomous Region, it also governed a part ofSichuan,Qinghai andKashmir. It was separate from the other provinces of the Yuan dynasty such as those of formerSong dynasty of China, but stillunder the administrative rule of the Yuan. While no modern equivalents remain, the political functions of the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs might have been analogous to the India Office inLondon during theBritish Raj. To emphasize its importance forHangzhou, the capital of the former Southern Song dynasty, a branch (行) Xuanzheng Yuan was established in that city in 1291.^[2]

• Administrative divisions of the Tang dynasty
• Administrative divisions of the Liao dynasty
• Administrative divisions of the Qing dynasty
• Political divisions and vassals of the Mongol Empire
• Administration of territory in dynastic China
• Yuan dynasty in Inner Asia

• Administrative divisions of the Yuan dynasty
• Administrative divisions of Imperial China

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Chinese-language text