This study examines the Mongolian and Mongolian-Chinese bilingual documents excavated in 1983–1984 from the ruins of Qara-Qota (Heishuicheng 黑水城) in Inner Mongolia. These documents pertain to the Yuan local government’s administration of seasonal provisions for the Chinggisids and serve as primary sources for exploring the multilingual practices within the Mongol-Yuan administration. The study begins by reconstructing the complete formula of Mongolian request documents for the assigned provisions, using two fragmented Mongolian texts. It then revises the previous editions of fourteen damaged Mongolian documents, as well as those in the Sino-Mongolian translation style, a distinctive form of direct translation that preserves Mongolian syntax (known as zhiyiti 直譯體 or yingyiti 硬譯體). Based on these revisions, the author restores the translation process from Mongolian to Chinese in the Sino-Mongolian style and analyzes the transmission of directives from Mongolian documents to Chinese texts circulated within the local governorate’s administration. These analyses lead to the conclusion that, in their chancellery practices, the Yuan government placed significant emphasis on the precise quotation of Sino-Mongolian texts, which were considered “Mongolian” in conveying the intentions of the Mongol ruling elite.
Dai MATSUI (Mon,) studied this question.