Shi Tianze
Shi Tianze, courtesy name Runfu, posthumous name Prince Zhongwu of Zhenyang, was a general and official of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan dynasty. He was subsequently promoted to the post of Right Grand Chancellor of the Secretariat and became the first ethnic Han Grand Chancellor of the Yuan dynasty. He played a key role in early Yuan politics.
Name
Shi Tianze is also mentioned under the name Samka ba'tur in Persian historical sources such as the Jami' al-tawarikh. This name is derived from the Chinese word "三哥," meaning "third son".Life
Shi Tianze was an ethnic Han who lived in the Jin [dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]. Interethnic marriage between Han and Jurchen became common at this time. His father was Shi Bingzhi. Shi Bingzhi was married to a Jurchen woman and a Han woman, it is unknown which of them was Shi Tianze's mother.Shi Tianze married two Jurchen women, a Han woman, and a Korean woman, and his son Shi Gang was born to one of his Jurchen wives. His Jurchen wives's surnames were Mo-nien and Na-ho, his Korean wife's surname was Li, and his Han wife's surname was Shi.
Shi Tianze defected to the Mongol Empire's forces upon their invasion of the Jin dynasty. Shi, Zhang Rou zh, and Yan Shi zh and other high ranking Han who served in the Jin dynasty and defected to the Mongols helped build the structure for the administration of the new state.