The Yuan Dynasty (元朝, Yuán Cháo, 1271–1378, or 1635, in form of the Northern Yuan remnant in Mongolia that is not recognized by the official Chinese history.) is notable for being generally referred to as the first 'foreign' Dynasty of China. The Yuan Dynasty started out as a successor to the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and eventually encompassed China entirely.
Wars against China started with Genghis Khan in 1205. By the time of his death, Genghis Khan had already conquered much of Northern China. Genghis' successor, Ögedei Khan, then completed the conquest of Western Xia and the Jin Dynasty in 1234, with much enthusiasm and support from the Mongols' then ally, the Southern Song Dynasty. After just one year, the Song, believing the Mongols were weakened by wars in Northern China and tied-up in their campaigns elsewhere, launched an attack to retake their lost Northern territories, starting with the city of Kaifeng. This was repelled. What followed was a lengthy conflict between the Mongol Empire and the Southern Song Dynasty, which may just be the single most costly and deadliest war ever fought at the time, dwarfing all Mongol conquests before or since.
Contrary to popular perception, Southern Song did not capitulate easily. For the next half-century, the Mongols utilized every known tactic, weapon and soldier from all corners of the Mongol Empire in their attempt to subdue the Song Dynasty. The relentless Mongol assault also included one of the largest encirclement in history, where Mongol forces invaded Northern India, Tibet, the Dali Kingdom of what is now Yunnan, Northern Vietnam, Korea, islands in the South China Sea, and even the invasion of Japan were all part of an effort to isolate the Song Dynasty from contact with the outside world. But subjugating what was then the richest and most populous Empire was not easy, and forced the Mongols to abandon their usual cavalry tactics in favor of a grueling war of attrition of pitched battles between large columns of infantry. The Song armies resisted fiercely, outlasting three Mongol Khans (Ögedei, Güyük & Möngke) and even killing one (Möngke) in the process. It was not until the reign of Kublai Khan did the situation definitely shifted in favor of the Mongols.
A Chinese-style dynasty was not established until 1271 when Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, declared himself the Chinese Emperor as well as the Great Khan of the Mongols. The dynasty name, meaning "the Origin", broke from the existing tradition in which dynasty names were derived from the historical regions where the dynasty rose from. Within 8 years of declaring himself Emperor, Kublai unified all of China, with the Mongol forces finally conquering the last remnants of the Song at the Battle of Yamen in Guangdong, at the conclusion of which a Song general named Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea with the 8-year-old boy Emperor rather than face capture and possible execution. Though this was probably unnecessary as Kublai detracted from the usual Mongol practice of executing the nobilities of conquered territories, and actually spared the Song imperial family, even granting them titles in the new dynasty. Nonetheless, the conquest of the Song was never quite complete, due to numerous large-scale rebellions sought to resist Mongol rule. It would not be until the 1280s did Kublai cement his rule in China. In addition, there were brewing conflicts among various descendants of Genghis Khan, Kublai also wound up having to fight several of his Mongol cousins in Central Asia and Russia who disputed his claim as the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. As it were, even as Kublai's successors claimed emperorship of all under heaven as Emperors of China, their grip on the actual power of the Great Khan gradually begins to slip.
Kublai would continue to expand Yuan China's influences after conquest of the Song, and this was the court of "Cathay" visited by Marco Polo. Beijing (then Dadu, 'Great Capital') became the capital of an empire enlarged by Kublai Khan's conquests to include Korea, Burma and Vietnam as well as China and Mongolia, though invasions of Japan and Java were disastrous failures. Though trade and commerce would flourish, the war against the Song plunged much of the world (as much of it was under Mongol control) into an economic recession. This was not helped by Kublai's additional wars of expansion and those of his successors. To alleviate China's economic stress, the Yuan court issued paper money as remedy, and even banned the circulation of coinage for half-century. This effort proved fruitless, and the Chinese economy stagnated. It was not until the Ming Dynasty did the Chinese economy recover and reach a new height.
In terms of culture, drama and literature flourished extensively. This was partially due to Chinese intellectuals not being able to attend nationalized testing or finding placement in the government, thus limiting their talents to the creation of entertainment. After all, Yuan Mongols did not trust the ethnic Han much and preferred to bring in their bureaucrats from the parts West, mostly Central Asians, Arabs, and Persiansnote —although, the Mongol rulers in Russia and the Ilkhanate apparently preferred to bring in Chinese administrators to rule their territories.
Even as the Yuan Empire collapsed into a morass of feuding states, and even after Zhu Yuanzhang's state conquered them and founded the Ming, the House of Genghis Khan continued to style itself as the ruling dynasty of the Yuan Empire (or Northern Yuan) and claimed to be the legitimate rulers of all China. Stories persist that, as they abandoned China, Mongols took with them the Imperial Seal of Qin Shi Huangdi, carved from the legendary stone called He Shi Bi
(和氏璧, "the Jade Disc of Mr. He), that had been kept by the "legitimate" Chinese emperors until then. It was not, however, among the Chinese imperial treasures captured by the Ming when its forces sacked Karakorum, the new Mongolian capital, in 1370 and its whereabouts are unknown since then.note The Mongol khans nevertheless maintained the claim as true rulers of all China until the early 17th century when they surrendered to the Manchus, who, of course, would become masters of all China as the Qing Dynasty.
Of the "24 Histories", "History of Yuan" (元史, Yuánshǐ) covers this era.
Incidentally the Yuan royal house wound up having a peculiar and close familial relations with the Goryeo (Korean) royal family. Crown Prince Sim (later known as King Chungyeol, father of King Chungseon below), son of King Wonjong, proposed a peace pact with Kublai Khan under which he would marry Princess Qutugh Kelmysh, a daughter of the Khan who would later be known as Queen Jangmok, as a sign of fealty in 1271. For next century, Korean monarchs were also an extended kin of Genghis Khan: Generations of Goryeo kings continued to marry Mongolian princesses, usually of other branches of the House of Genghis Khan. As Genghisid princes, although of matrilineal line, they enjoyed certain privileges and titles within the Mongolian Empire and Korea under their rule became known as Son-in-Law state to Yuan Empire (although they had to give up the "emperor at home, king abroad" system.) This led to odd situations such as that of King Chungseon: he was a Korean king who was half-Mongolian, held a Chinese title, and spent most of his life in Beijing; alleged conspiracy by Prince Yeonan, also known by the title King of Shenyang granted to him by the Yuan emperors, not only to become the king of Goryeo, but also the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire; and the plea by Biligtu Khan (the first Yuan emperor who, in official Chinese chronicles, is not recognized as a legitimate Chinese emperor: incidentally, a son of the Korean noblewoman who became empress of China, Empress Ki) to King Gongmin for aid against the rising Ming Dynasty citing their familial ties as the kin of Genghis Khan.
Depictions in fiction
- The King Loves: Although made and set in Korea, the main character (the aforementioned King Chungseon) is the son of a Yuan princess and a descendant of Genghis Khan. The Yuan dynasty is frequently mentioned, and at the end of the series, Chungseon leaves Goryeo and moves to Yuan.
- Korean TV series Empress Ki takes mostly in Yuan China: it depicts highly dramatized life of a Korean noblewoman who was sent to Yuan China to serve in the Palace and eventually rose to become the empress to Ukhaghatu Khan, the last Mongol khan recognized by official Chinese chronicles as a legitimate Yuan emperor.
- Kubla Khan
- Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre
- Various adaptations of The Travels of Marco Polo
