Yuan or Mongol Dynasty元朝 1279 - 1368
The story of the unstoppable killing machine in the north - is told in a separate description on theMongol conquest, this section concerns itself with the Yuan or Mongol empire once it became established over the whole of China in 1279.
The early history of China from pre-history to 770BCE
Most of the ancient traditions of China had become established 3,000 years ago. The institution of Emperor, the written scripts and the key technologies (including silk) all come from China's distant past. The longevity and continuity of Chinese culture are the two key principles to understanding China - even today.Read more…Foundation
The Yuan (or Mongol) dynasty was declared in Zhongdu (nowBeijing) in 1271. In the Chinese classicYi Jing ‘Yuan’ means ‘Great Originator’ giving Kublai Khan an important credential to justify his right to rule China.
The overthrow of theSouthern Song south of the Yangzi was delayed for fifty years by the death ofGenghis Khan in 1227 and also by the physical barrier: the mountains and rivers of southern China. The area controlled by the Chinese Song dynasty is shown with brown stippling on the map. It was Kublai Khan, Genghis's grandson who eventually defeated the Song Chinese in 1279 to unify the whole of China under the Mongol dynasty. Once established in China further attempts at Mongol expansion toJapan, Java and Indo-China all failed. As the Mongols were hugely outnumbered by theHan Chinese, they could only govern through existing institutions and they became to some extent absorbed into Chinese culture.
Cosmopolitan Era
Teacup media audio podcast byLaszlo Montgomery.The Mongol Yuan Dynasty
➚The rule by a foreign people widened contact outside China and the Yuan dynasty is seen as a cosmopolitan era with a great mingling of cultures. The huge area from the Mediterranean to the Pacific under Mongol rule was split between Genghis's descendents as four great Khanates. The Khanate governed by Kublai was the principal ‘Khanate of the Great Khan’ as it covered the Mongolian people's heartland as well as China. The large numbers of foreigners brought to the Mongol court counterbalanced the power of the indigenous Chinese who could not then block the Khan's plans. Arabs, Persians, Venetians all provided new knowledge and technology that the great Empire utilized. People were divided into a hierarchy of classes of Mongols, westerners, northern Chinese and, lowest, southern Chinese. Appointments went to the candidates of highest ‘class’ rather than merit. The conversion of the western Khans to Islam prevented a single Great Mongol leader ever emerging again because the Great Khan in China was classed as aBuddhist and therefore an infidel. The vastness of the Mongol Empire made exploration by Chinese adventurers and scientists possible and a number of important journeys are recorded.
At this timeMarco Polo lived in China, and the tales of his travels provoked huge European interest in this fabulous far away land of ‘Cathay’. Marco Polo reported on many unusual scenes including one where that the Great Khan traveled on a great wooden room built on top of the backs of fourelephants.
Patreon pictures
Thanks to the generous donations from Chinasage'sPatreon➚ sponsors we've just added quality photographs to many of our pages.
Although you can get images of all sorts of thing for free you do still have to pay for quality, particularly for specialist subjects. This time we have used 123rf for the new images who claim to have 200 million images to choose from. It takes a long time to make a choice and then they all need editing for usage, tagging and finally putting on the appropriate place on our hundreds of pages. We hope you will agree that they make a significant improvement.
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Imperial Capital
The Mongols moved the Imperial capital for the first time to the site of present dayBeijing (then called Dadu - Great capital orKhanbaliq➚). A number of large infrastructure projects began. TheGrand Canal was extended north from theYellow River to Dadu. A paved track between Hangzhou and Beijing alongside the canal cut travel time for Imperial messengers to travel the 435 miles[700 kms] in only 40 days. The famous blue and whiteporcelain began to be produced now that there was access to the blue cobalt glaze from Central Asia. The Mongols promoted the cotton industry as an alternative textile tosilk. A new astronomical observatory was set up with foreign help and new detailed maps of their extensive territories were produced.
Kublai moved the capital of the Great Khanate from Karakoram to Khanbaliq / Dadu (Beijing)汗八里. An alternative capital to escape the summer heat was built at Shangdu (Samuel Taylor Coleridge➚'s ‘Xanadu’)上都; on the Mongolian plain and the whole Imperial court moved between the two sites.
Administration was somewhat hampered by the continued use of both Mongolian and Chinese language and culture. The ancient Civil serviceexamination system was suspended until 1315, appointments of officials was made by patronage rather than intellectual merit - the military always had the upper hand. However, many of the efficient parts of the administrative system of China were maintained. Thepunishments for crimes were rather strangely made less severe giving strong evidence for the cruel and deterrent nature of the Chinese criminal system. The SinologistArthur Waley➚ has described the influence of the Mongols as ‘merely policemen’, the Chinese systems (tax, justice, welfare etc.) continued unchanged beneath the numerically tiny Imperial Mongol court. The excessive expenditure of the Emperor (unsuccessful attacks on Cambodia, Japan etc.) did however bring a burden of high taxation and inflation.
In China the most famous remaining relic is the White Dagoba inBeihai Park but the cultural legacy in China is very limited - they are only really remembered for their military prowess.
Temur Oljeitu➚, Kublai's grandson maintained the Empire's peace and prosperity but after his death in 1307, seven weak rulers followed in just 26 years. Divisions within the Mongol aristocracy fueled the decline in stability. The emperors did not rule long enough to establish themselves and their successors typically reversed their predecessor's policies. A return to Mongol brutality advocated byBayan of the Merkid➚ (for instance massacring all Chinese with certain family names, which would have amounted to 90% of the population) was not carried out. The resentment of 'foreign' rule continued, but it was really theBlack Death pandemic➚ that heralded the end of Mongol control of China and the beginning of theMing dynasty.
Marco Polo [1254 - 1324]
The visit of theVenetian➚ Marco Polo to China during theMongol (Yuan) dynasty is widely seen as the first important contact between Europe and China. Although trade between Europe and China dates back into theHan dynasty when the Romans are known to have imported vast quantities ofsilk contact was rarely direct. Transport over theSilk Route was in stages through central Asian intermediaries, Europeans did not travel to China or meet Chinese people. It was the establishment of theMongol conquest of China that opened up access to not just Europeans but to all nations. The court of Emperor Khublai was cosmopolitan where he trusted Europeans more than the native Chinese.
Marco Polo was certainly not the first European to visit. The reason he is so much remembered is that the book describing his visit gained a wide audience, Europeans were fascinated to hear about this mysterious far away kingdom. Previous visitors had includedGiovanni di Pian del Carpine➚ in 1245 andWilliam of Rubruck➚ in 1253 who described the use ofpaper money, a novel concept to Europeans.
To Cathay
Marco Polo's visit was far longer and better planned than previous visitors. Marco's father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo Polo traveled overland to China (1260-69) and were received by theEmperor, as merchants they were principally interested in trade. The Emperor was impressed enough to send them back to Italy with a request for the Pope to send him 100 European scholars. Soon after, in 1275, the brothers returned to China with Niccolo's 17 year old son Marco and all three spent 17 years there.
Marco Polo describes the Emperor's court with an intimate portrait of the every day life. As well asBeijing and Xanadu he traveled to the previous capital of the Southern SongHangzhou on theGrand Canal. He describedHangzhou as ‘The finest city in the World’. At the time the European name for the country was exotic sounding‘Cathay’. He noted the animosity to the Mongol conquerors by the Han Chinese and learned theMongol but not the Chinese language. On return to Italy he was imprisoned by theGenoese➚ and it was while in prison that he dictated his book, the ‘Description of the World’. It was widely printed in many editions and languages and promoted a lot of interest and speculation throughout Europe about this vast, rich country far away. Many believed at first that the book was pure fiction as his descriptions were so fantastical.
Teacup media audio podcast byLaszlo Montgomery.
The Silk Road - Marco Polo
➚The Travels
Marco Polo's account in ‘The Travels’ is incomplete and inaccurate in places (compounded by copying and translation mistakes) which has led to one expert,Frances Wood➚, to even doubt that he ever went to China. As the work was dictated, it could be the actual writer added some exaggeration; modified and omitted material. He does not mention theGreat Wall,tea drinking,foot binding,chopsticks orprinting for instance. Nor is Marco Polo mentioned in any Chinese histories of the period, another curious fact. Many of his descriptions could have been collected from actual travelers to China, including his father and uncle. However much of this can be explained by the fact that Marco mingled only with Mongols and not the Chinese and did not speak the Chinese language. The Mongols, for example, considered tea drinking as decadent and Marco may not have seen it at first hand. Nevertheless it gives a tantalizing glimpse of lavish luxury. Marco Polo was sometimes called contemptuously ‘il Milione’ (the braggart) because of the exceptional size and number of the wonders he reported. For example:
“ToQuanzhou come all the ships of India with such quantities of costly merchandise, priceless precious stones and large, fine pearls. Here too all the merchants from south China, or at least those from the surrounding regions, stand out to sea.... I tell you, that for every ship loaded with pepper that goes into Alexandria or some other place, to be transported to Christendom, more than a hundred come to Zayton (Quanzhou). The massive amount of merchandise assembled in this town is almost unbelievable...”
Concerning theMongol capital of Dadu, near present dayBeijing, he wrote:
“There were all kinds of goods in its market and more than 1,000 cartloads of silk were shipped into the city each day. No city in the world could be compared to Dadu in terms of the unusual goods from foreign countries and goods in general that were available”.
When Marco Polo was released from prison in 1299 he went back to Venice to continue the family work as a merchant, he became a wealthy man by these efforts but did not go on any more grand journeys. He died in 1324 aged 70.
Marco Polo's Legacy
Marco Polo was followed by many more European travelers to China, perhaps most importantly the Jesuit mission underMatteo Ricci. With the fall of the Mongol empire the lasting effect of Marco's visits on China was minimal as his contact was with Mongols not native Chinese. However in Europe the tales of his visit did stimulate long-lasting interest for the Far East with the allure of an exotic and wealthy land far away. Over the next five centuries many anadventurer was inspired to go East and seek their fortune.
A bridge in Beijing was named in his honor - the ‘Marco Polo bridge’. It is called in ChineseLugou bridge卢沟桥 and was built in 1189-92; it is an impressive 874 feet[266 meters] in length. It was described and admired by Marco Polo and so European travelers named the bridge after him. The bridge was the scene 700 years later of the opening skirmish of theJapanese occupation.
