Editing 1340s (section)

====China====
[[File:HukouWaterfall4.jpg|thumb|left|Flooding of the [[Yellow River]] posed a serious problem for the Yuan administration, effecting a recentralisation and regulation of power by the end of the decade]]
In China, the Mongol Yuan dynasty was in a gradual state of decline, due to complex and longstanding problems such as the "endemic tensions among its ruling elites".<ref name="Franke561">Franke, p 561</ref> [[Ukhaantu Khan, Emperor Huizong of Yuan|Toghon Temür]] had been installed as emperor at age thirteen in 1333, and was to reign as the last Yuan emperor until 1368.<ref name="Franke561"/> In March 1340, the Yuan chancellor, [[Bayan of the Merkid]], was removed in a carefully orchestrated coup, and replaced by his nephew [[Toqto'a (Yuan dynasty)|Toqto'a]].<ref name="Franke572">Franke, p 572</ref> In Bayan's overthrow by the younger generation, the movement to restore the status quo from reign of [[Kublai Khan]] effectively died.<ref>Franke, p 568, 572</ref> Bayan's purges were called off; his supporters dismissed; positions he had closed to the Chinese were reopened; the meritocratic system of examinations for official service was restored.<ref name="Franke573">Franke, p 573</ref> By this time, Temür had just begun to participate in the formal functions of state, and assisted in the "anti-Bayan coup": he issued a posthumous denunciation of his uncle [[Tugh Temür]]; he exiled the grand empress dowager Budashiri and his cousin El Tegüs; and entrusted the upbringing of his infant son Ayushiridara to Toghto's household.<ref name="Franke573-574">Franke, p 573-574</ref>

Toghto's first term exhibited a fresh new spirit which took a predominantly centralist approach to political solutions.<ref name="Franke573"/> He directed an unsuccessful project to connect the imperial capital to the sea and the [[Shanxi]] foothills by water; he was more successful in his attempt to organise funds for the completion of the official histories of the [[Liao dynasty|Liao]], [[Qin dynasty|Qin]] and [[Song dynasty|Song]] dynasties.<ref name="Franke573"/> In June 1344, however, he tendered his resignation following a series of local rebellions that had broken out against the Yuan in scattered areas of China.<ref name="Franke574">Franke, p 574</ref>

Toghto's replacement as chancellor was Berke Bukha, an effective provincial administrator who took the opposite, decentralised approach to Toghto.<ref>Franke, p 573, 574</ref> Bukha had learned firsthand from the great [[Hangzhou]] fire of 1341 that central regulations had to be violated to provide immediate and effective relief.<ref name="Franke574"/> Accordingly, he promoted able men to local positions and gave them discretionary authority to handle relief and other problems.<ref name="Franke574"/> Similarly, he granted local military garrisons blanket authorisation to prevent the spread of banditry.<ref name="Franke574"/> In 1345, Bukha's administration sent out twelve investigation teams to visit each part of China, correct abuses, and "create benefits and remove harms" for the people.<ref name="Franke574"/>

Bukha's approach failed to arrest the mounting troubles of Yuan China in the 1340s, however.<ref name="Franke574"/> The central government was faced with chronic revenue shortfalls.<ref name="Franke574"/> Maritime grain shipments — vital for the inhabitants of the imperial capital — had seriously declined from a peak of 3.34 million bushels in 1329 to 2.6 million in 1342.<ref>Franke, 574–575</ref> From 1348 on, they continued only when permitted by a major piratical operation led by Fang Kuo-chen and his brothers, which the authorities were unable to suppress.<ref name="Franke575">Franke, p 575</ref> Additionally, the [[Yellow River]] was repeatedly swelled by long rains, breaching its dykes and flooding the surrounding areas.<ref name="Franke575"/> When the river finally began shifting its course, it caused "widespread havoc and ruin".<ref name="Franke575"/> In 1349, the emperor recalled Toghto to office for a second term.<ref name="Franke575"/> With high enthusiasm and strong belief from his partisans that the problems were soluble, he began a radical process of recentralisation and heavy restriction of regional and local initiative in the following decade.<ref name="Franke575"/>