Kipchak Networks of Power in Mongol China

Kipchak tribes have always had an important military role in the Mongol Empire. In this article, a Kipchak tribe that was at the center of this military role and formed a strong social and political network in Mongolian China is discussed. In addition to their military roles and the social capital they use to strengthen their influence in the Mongolian civil bureaucracy in China, the functioning of their family structure and its benefits are shown. Accordingly, even the marriages of the members of the Kipchak tribe in question served to establish or expand their power networks. Local records of the Jiking Region in China, which hosted many prominent immigrants during the Yuan period, provide important evidence for this investigation. Tuq Tuq’a’s relatives and descendants, who took care to preserve their identity as an elite military unit until the end of the dynasty, both in the civil bureaucracy and in the military field, successfully maintained the position of Commander of the Imperial Guard; In addition, this important and powerful military clan gained significant property and financial advantages in the Jiking Region. This nomadic group that settled in China became an important part of the Yuan Dynasty.