Reign of Emperor Renzong
Ayurbarwada set out at once to reverse his brother's policies. He abolished the Department of State Affairs (Shangshu Sheng), which Khayishan had created to manage the empire's finances.
The Civil Service Examinations
His most lasting reform was the revival of the imperial examinations for public office, which had lapsed under Mongol rule. The idea had been debated repeatedly under Kublai Khan without result. Ayurbarwada decreed the examinations in 1313, and the first were held in 1315.
The syllabus was based on the Four Books with the commentaries of the Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi. This choice had consequences far beyond the Yuan: Zhu Xi's interpretation remained the orthodox basis of the examinations until they were abolished in 1905.
The Yuan examinations were not open on equal terms. Candidates were divided into four ethnic categories (Mongols, Central and Western Asians, northern Chinese and southern Chinese), each with an equal quota of passes, and Mongols and Central Asians sat easier papers. Because the Chinese categories were far larger, this favoured the ruling groups, but it still opened a path into government for a number of Chinese scholars.
Relations with the Other Khanates
In 1314 Esen Buqa of the Chagatai Khanate attacked Yuan forces on the western frontier. Ayurbarwada was allied with the Ilkhan Öljeitü of Persia, and the Yuan armies drove the Chagatai forces back.
Curbing the Princely Courts
Ayurbarwada also moved against the independent powers of the Mongol princes. In 1311 he restricted the jarghuchi, the judges attached to the princely appanages since the time of Ögedei Khan, limiting them to judicial matters and placing them under the Court of the Imperial Clan.
His reign fell in the period when the potters of Jingdezhen were developing the blue-and-white porcelain for which the Yuan is famous. You can see examples from the dynasty in our Yuan dynasty porcelain collection.
