trictly speaking, the Council of State is composed of four Ch'ing-sang
(_Ch'ing-siang_) or great officers (_Wazirs_ he afterwards terms them),
and four Fanchan (_P'ing-chang_) or associated members, taken from the
nations of the Tajiks, Cathayans, Ighurs, and Arkaun" (i.e. Nestorian
Christians). (Compare p. 418, supra.)

[A Samarkand man, Seyyd Tadj Eddin Hassan ben el Khallal, quoted in the
_Masalak al Absar_, says: "Near the Khan are two amirs who are his
ministers; they are called _Djing San_ [Arabic] (Ch'ing-siang). After them
come the two _Bidjan_ [Arabic] (P'ing Chang), then the two _Zoudjin_
[Arabic] (Tso Chen), then the two _Yudjin_ [Arabic] (Yu Chen), and at last
the _Landjun_ [Arabic] (Lang Chang), head of the scribes, and secretary of
the sovereign. The Khan holds a sitting every day in the middle of a large
building called _Chen_ [Arabic] (Sheng), which is very like our Palace of
Justice." (_C. Schefer, Cent. Ec. Langues Or._, pp. 18-19.)--H. C.]

In a later age we find the twelve Barons reappearing in the pages of
Mendoza: "The King hath in this city of Tabin (Peking), where he is
resident, a royal council of twelve counsellors and a president, chosen
men throughout all the kingdom, and such as have had experience in
government many years." And also in the early centuries of the Christian
era we hear that the Khan of the Turks had his twelve grandees, divided
into those of the Right and those of the Left, probably a copy from a
Chinese order then also existing.

But to return to Rashiduddin: "As the Kaan generally resides at the
capital, he has erected a place for the sittings of the Great Council,
called _Sing_.... The dignitaries mentioned above are expected to attend
daily at the Sing, and to make themselves acquainted with all that passes
there."

The _Sing_ of Rashid is evidently the Shieng or Sheng (_Scieng_) of Polo.
M. Pauthier is on this point somewhat contemptuous towards Neumann, who,
he says, confounds Marco Polo's twelve Barons or Ministers of State with
the chiefs of the twelve great provincial governments called _Sing_, who
had their residence at the chief cities of those governments; whilst in
fact Polo's _Scieng_ (he asserts) has nothing to do with the _Sing_, but
represents the Chinese word _Siang_ "a minister," and "the office of a
minister." [There was no doubt a confusion between _Siang_ [Chinese] and
_Sheng_ [Chinese].--H. C.]

It is very probable that two different words, _Siang_