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The 'Yuan Dynasty' (; pinyin: Yuáncháo; Classical Mongolian: 'Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus'), lasting officially from 1271 to 1368, followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty in the historiography of China. The dynasty was established by ethnic Mongols under Kublai Khan, and it had nominal control over the entire Mongol Empire (stretching from Eastern Asia to the fertile crescent to Russia). Later successors did not even attempt to stake claim over the Khakhan title and saw themselves as ''Emperor of China'', as the Yuan Dynasty grew from being an imperial Mongol administration under Kublai Khan to becoming a basically Chinese institution under his successors. At its height, the Yuan Dynasty had a population of 80 million people.

Contents

Mongol empire

Founding

Yuan Dynasty

Kublai Khan and Ariq Boke

Rule of Kublai Khan

Early rule

Impact

Downfall

Civil unrest

Northern Yuan

Other notes

References

See also

External links

Mongol empire

Founding

Temüjin, later to be more prominently known as Genghis Khan, was officially the first in the line of Yuan Dynasty emperors. He was the son of Yesügei, the tribal chief of the Kiyad — a tribe in fragmented Mongolia under nominal control of the Jin Dynasty at the time. His father was killed in his early life by a rival tribe, leaving him the heir. This led to bitterness on the part of Senggum, Wang's former heir, who planned to assassinate Temüjin. Temüjin learned of Senggum's intentions Senggum and succeeded to the title of Wang Khan. Temüjin created a written code of laws for the Mongols called Yassa, and he demanded it to be followed very strictly.
Temüjin followed with attacks on other neighboring tribes, which further increased his power. By combining diplomacy, organization, military ability, and brutality, Temüjin finally managed to unite the tribes into the single nation, a monumental feat for the Mongols, who had a long history of internecine dispute. In 1206 Temüjin successfully united the formerly fragmented tribes of what is now Mongolia. At a Khurultai (a council of Mongol chiefs), he was named the "'Genghis Khan'", or the "Universal Ruler". The birth of Mongolia marked the start of what would become the largest continuous empire in history, ruling large parts of Asia, the Middle East and parts of Europe, over the following two centuries. While his empire extended in all directions, Genghis Khan’s main interest was always with China, specifically Western Xia, Jin Dynasty and southern Song Dynasty.
At the time of the kurultai, Genghis was involved in a dispute with Western Xia — which eventually became the first of his wars of conquest. Despite problems in taking well-defended Western Xia cities, he substantially reduced the Western Xia dominion by 1209, when peace with Western Xia was made. He was acknowledged by their emperor as overlord. This marks the first in a line of successes in defeating all the kingdoms and dynasties in China which wasn't complete until Kublai Khan's rule. A major goal of Genghis was the conquest of the Jin Dynasty with the aid of the Song Dynasty, allowing the Mongols to avenge earlier defeats, gain the riches of northern China and mostly to establish the Mongols as a major power among the Chinese world order.
He declared war in 1211, and at first the pattern of operations against the Jin Dynasty was the same as it had been against Western Xia. The Mongols were victorious in the field, but they were frustrated in their efforts to take major cities. In his typically logical and determined fashion, Genghis and his highly developed staff studied the problems of the assault of fortifications. With the help of Chinese engineers, they gradually developed the techniques to take down fortifications. Islamic engineers joined later and especially contributed counterweight trebuchets, "Muslim phao", which had a maximum range of 300 metres compared to 150 metres of the ancient Chinese predecessor. It played a significant role in taking the Chinese strongholds and was as well used against infantry units on battlefield. This eventually would make troops under the Mongols some of the most accomplished and most successful besiegers in the history of warfare.

As a result of a number of overwhelming victories in the field and a few successes in the capture of fortifications deep within China, Genghis had conquered and consolidated Jin territory as far south as the Great Wall by 1213. He then advanced with three armies into the heart of Jin territory, between the Great Wall and the Huang He. With the help of Chenyu Liu, one of the top officers who betrayed Jin, Genghis defeated the Jin forces, devastated northern China, captured numerous cities, and in 1215 besieged, captured, and sacked the Jin capital of Yanjing (later known as Beijing). But the Jin emperor, Xuan Zong, did not surrender, but moved his capital to Kaifeng. There his successors were eventually defeated in 1234.
The vassal emperor of Western Xia had refused to take part in the war against the peoples of the Khwarizm, and Genghis had vowed punishment. While he was in Central Asia, Western Xia and Jin had formed an alliance against the Mongols. After rest and a reorganization of his armies, Genghis prepared for war against his biggest foes. By this time, advancing years had led Genghis to prepare for the future and to assure an orderly succession among his descendants. He selected his third son Ogedei as his successor and established the method of selection of subsequent khans, specifying that they should come from his direct descendants. Meanwhile, he studied intelligence reports from Western Xia and Jin and readied a force of 180,000 troops for a new campaign.

Yuan Dynasty

Kublai Khan and Ariq Boke

In 1259 the Great Khan Möngke died while Kublai Khan, his brother, was campaigning against Song empire and Ariq Boke, his other brother commanded the Mongol homelands. After Möngke's demise, Ariq Boke decided to attempt to make himself Khan. Hearing of this, Kublai aborted his Chinese expedition and had himself elected as Khan in April of 1260. Still, Ariq Boke had his supporters and was elected as a rival khan to Kublai at Karakorum. The brothers then engaged in a series of battles, ending with Ariq Boke's capture in 1264. Kublai held him prisoner until he died two years later. The khans of the Golden Horde and of the Chagatai Khanate did not recognize Kublai khan as the great khan. Hulego, another brother of Kublai khan, ruled his il-Khanate and paid homage to the Great khan but actually established a separate khanate. The four major successor khanates never came again under one rule.

Rule of Kublai Khan

After winning the war against Ariq Boke, Kublai Khan began his reign over his khanate with great aspirations and self-confidence — in 1266 he ordered the construction of a capital near the modern city of Beijing. The city was originally called 'Zhongdu' ("Central Capital") by the Chinese during the Jin Dynasty, and in 1272 it came to be known as 'Dadu' or 'Tatu' ("Great Capital") in Chinese, 'Daidu' to the Mongols, and 'Khanbalikh' ("City of the Khans") to the Turks.^[1] He began his drive against the Southern Song, establishing, in 1271 — eight years prior to Southern conquest — the first non-Han dynasty to rule all of China: the Yuan Dynasty. In 1272, Dadu officially became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1279, Guangzhou was conquered by the Yuan army, which marks the end of the Southern Song and the onset of China under the Yuan. During Kublai Khan's reign he was put under pressure by many of his advisers to further expand the territory of the Yuan through the traditional Sino-centric tributary system. However, they were rebuffed and expeditions to Japan (twice), Myanmar, Vietnam (thrice), and Java, all would later fail (see Mongol invasions of Japan).
Kublai Khan's early rule involved widespread plunder. As if expecting to lose the country, the Mongols attempted to remove as much money and resources as was possible. The Mongol conquest never affected China's trade with other countries. In fact the Yuan Dynasty strongly supported the Silk Road trade network, allowing the transfer of Chinese technologies to the west. Though many reforms were made during Kublai Khan's life, and despite his notable warming to the populace, the Yuan was a relatively short lived dynasty.

Kublai Khan began to serve as a true emperor, reforming much of China and its institutions, a process that would take decades to complete. He, for example, consolidated Mongol rule by centralizing the government of China — making himself (unlike his predecessors) an absolutist monarch. He reformed many other governmental and economic institutions, especially the tax system. Although the Mongols sought to govern China through traditional institutions, using Han Chinese bureaucrats, they were not up to the task initially. The Hans were discriminated against politically. Almost all important central posts were monopolized by Mongols, who also preferred employing non-Hans from other parts of the Mongol domain in those positions for which no Mongol could be found. Hans were more often employed in non-Chinese regions of the empire. In essence, the society was divided into four classes in order of privilege: Mongols, "Color-eyed" (Central Asians, mostly Uyghurs and Tibetans), Han (Han Chinese in northern China, Manchus, and Jurchens), and Southerners (Han Chinese within Southern Song and other ethnic groups). During his lifetime, Kublai Khan developed the new capital of the Yuan, Dadu, and built a second capital in present-day Beijing. He also improved the agriculture of China, extending the Grand Canal, highways and public granaries. Marco Polo described his rule as benevolent: relieving the populace of taxes in times of hardship; building hospitals and orphanages; distributing food among the abjectly poor. He also promoted science and religion.
Like other emperors of non-Han dynasties, Kublai Khan considered himself a legitimate Chinese emperor. While he had nominal rule over the rest of the Mongol Empire, his interest was clearly in China. By the time of Kublai Khan’s death in 1294, the Mongol Empire had broken up into a number of independent Khanates.

Early rule

Succession was a problem for the Yuan Dynasty, later causing much strife and internal struggle. This emerged as early as the end of Kublai's reign. His original choice was his son, Zhenjin — but he died before Kublai in 1285. Thus, Zhenjin's son ruled as Emperor Chengzong for approximately 10 years following Kublai's death (between 1294 and 1307). Chengzong decided to maintain and continue much of the work begun by his grandfather. However, the corruption in the Yuan Dynasty began during the reign of Chengzong.
Wuzong became Emperor of China after the death of Chengzong. Unlike his predecessor, he did not continue Kublai's work, but largely rejected it. During his short reign (1307 to 1311), China fell into financial difficulties, partly due to bad decisions made by Wuzong. By the time he died, China was in severe debt and the Yuan Dynasty faced popular discontent.
The fourth Yuan emperor, Renzong is seen as the last competent emperor. He stood out among the Mongol rulers of China as an adopter of mainstream Chinese culture, to the discontent of some Mongol elite. He had been mentored by Li Meng, a Confucian academic. He made many reforms, including the liquidation of the Department of State Affairs (resulting in the execution of 5 of the highest ranking officials). Starting in 1313 examinations were introduced for prospective officials, testing their knowledge on significant historical works. Also, he codified much of the law.

Impact

A rich cultural diversity developed during the Yuan dynasty. The major cultural achievements were the development of drama and the novel and the increased use of the written vernacular. The political unity of China and much of central Asia promoted trade between East and West. The Mongols' extensive West Asian and European contacts produced a fair amount of cultural exchange.
Western musical instruments were introduced to enrich the Chinese performing arts. From this period dates the conversion to Islam, by Muslims of Central Asia, of growing numbers of Chinese in the northwest and southwest. Nestorianism and Roman Catholicism also enjoyed a period of toleration. Tibetan Buddhism flourished, although native Taoism endured Mongol persecutions. Confucian governmental practices and examinations based on the Classics, which had fallen into disuse in north China during the period of disunity, were reinstated by the Mongols in the hope of maintaining order over Han society. Advances were realized in the fields of travel literature, cartography, geography, and scientific education.
Certain Chinese innovations and products, such as purified saltpetre, printing techniques, porcelain, playing cards and medical literature, were exported to Europe and Western Asia, while the production of thin glass and cloisonne became popular in China.
The first recorded travels by Europeans to China and back date from this time. The most famous traveler of the period was the Venetian Marco Polo, whose account of his trip to "Cambaluc," the Great Khan's capital, and of life there astounded the people of Europe. The account of his travels, ''Il milione'' (or, ''The Million'', known in English as the ''Travels of Marco Polo''), appeared about the year 1299. The works of John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck also provided early descriptions of the Mongol people to the West.
The Mongols undertook extensive public works. Road and water communications were reorganized and improved. To provide against possible famines, granaries were ordered built throughout the empire. The city of Beijing was rebuilt with new palace grounds that included artificial lakes, hills and mountains, and parks. During the Yuan period, Beijing became the terminus of the Grand Canal, which was completely renovated. These commercially oriented improvements encouraged overland and maritime commerce throughout Asia and facilitated direct Chinese contacts with Europe. Chinese travelers to the West were able to provide assistance in such areas as hydraulic engineering. Contacts with the West also brought the introduction to China of a major food crop, sorghum, along with other foreign food products and methods of preparation.

Downfall

Civil unrest

The last years of the Yuan Dynasty were marked by struggle, famine, and bitterness among the populace. The dynasty was, significantly, one of the shortest-lived dynasties in the history of China, covering just a century, 1271 to 1368. In time, Kublai Khan's successors became sinicized, then lost all influence on other Mongol lands across Asia, while the Mongols beyond the Middle Kingdom saw them as too Chinese. Gradually, they lost influence in China as well. The reigns of the later Yuan emperors were short and were marked by intrigues and rivalries. Uninterested in administration, they were separated from both the army and the populace. China was torn by dissension and unrest; bandits ravaged the country without interference from the weakening Yuan armies.
Emperor Yingzong ruled for just two years (1321 to 1323); his rule ended in a coup at the hands of five princes. They placed Taidingdi on the throne, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to calm the princes, he also succumbed to regicide. The last of the nine successors of Kublai Khan was expelled from Dadu (present-day Beijing) in 1368 by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Míng Dynasty (1368–1644).
Basalawarmi established a separate pocket of resistance to the Ming in Yunnan and Guizhou, but his forces were decisively defeated by the Ming in 1381.

Northern Yuan

The Mongols retreated to Mongolia, where the Yuan Dynasty was formally carried on. It is now called the 'Northern Yuan' by modern historians. According to Chinese political orthodoxy, there could be only one legitimate empire, and so the Ming and the Yuan denied each other's legitimacy. (The Ming did consider the previous Yuan which it had succeeded a legitimate dynasty, however). Historians generally regard the Míng Dynasty as the legitimate dynasty.
The Ming army invaded Mongolia in 1380 and won a decisive victory in 1388. About 70,000 Mongols were taken prisoners, and Karakorum (the Northern Yuan capital) was destroyed. Eight years later, the Northern Yuan throne was taken over by Yesüder, a descendant of Arigh Bugha. He restored the throne to descendants of Kublai Khan. The following centuries saw a succession of Chinggisid rulers, many of whom were mere figureheads put on the throne by those warlords who happened to be the most powerful. Periods of conflict with the Ming empire intermingled with periods of peaceful relations with border trade.
In the 17th century, the Mongols came under the influence of the Manchu. In 1634, Ligdan Khan, the last Great Khan of the Mongols, died on his way to Tibet. His son, Ejei Khan, surrendered to the Manchu and gave the great seal of the Yuan Emperor to its ruler, Hong Taiji. As a result, Hong Taiji established the Qing Dynasty as the successor of the Yuan Dynasty in 1636. (Some sources such as Encyclopædia Britannica give the year as 1637).

Other notes

★ During the reign of the Yuan the world population grew from about 330 million to approximately 360 million, a difference of 30 million.

References

1. Rossabi, M., ''Khubilai Khan'', p131


★ J. J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests (1971)

★ Ahmad Y. al-Hassan and Donald R. Hill, Islamic Technology (1988)

See also

★ List of Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty

★ Yuan Dynasty family tree

★ Jin Dynasty (金朝)

★ Song Dynasty

★ Ming Dynasty

★ Islam during the Yuan Dynasty

★ Western Xia

★ Chinese sovereign

★ History of Mongolia

★ List of Mongol Khans

★ List of tributaries of Imperial China

★ Jun ware

★ Timur

External links

★ Yuan Dynasty Earthen City Wall Park, Beijing