Color eyed

Ma Haji, an official of the Yuan Dynasty in Yunnan (a descendant of Seid Ajal Shamsuddin ) and his young son Ma He, the future admiral Zheng He , as the modern sculptor from Kunyang portrayed.

Captain Sa Shijun (1895-1938), a descendant of the Fuzhou branch of the Sa family from Yanmen ( 雁门 萨氏 )

Colorful-eyed ( Chinese р 色目人 , pinyin : sèmùrén , fully 各色 名目 之 人) - designation of people of different nationalities as a separate population group during the Yuan dynasty by the Mongol administration. It is connected with the mistrust of the Mongol rulers towards ethnic Chinese. In this regard, they preferred to recruit literate people from non-Chinese populations to higher administrative posts.

The name in popular knowledge is due to the fact that, unlike the Chinese, the eyes of these people could be of different colors (although the brown-eyed were also in their midst). However, the full name 各色 名目 之 人 did not imply appeal to eye color, but literally meant “different”. The meaning "color-eyed" was formed due to the abbreviation of the full term.

The "colored-eyed" was a kind of caste or estate on the grounds of non-belonging to the Mongols and Chinese. Characteristic in this regard is the provision of a high position to the young Marco Polo . Tibetans were assigned to this category.

However, first of all, the “colored-eyed” layer was made up of immigrants from Muslim peoples, among whom were Turks , partly Persians and Arabs . The antagonist Marco Polo at the court of Khubilai, Ahmad Fenaketi , belonged to the same layer. Subsequently, this part of the color-eyed, having retained its religion, became part of the Huizu people.

Many representatives of the "color-eyed" adopted Chinese culture and played a significant role in its development. ^[one]