Era Information 

Time: 1271-1368

Location of Capital: Kai Feng in today's Henan Province 

Emperors: 

Replaced by: Ming Dynasty

Introduction

In political terms, the fall of the Tang Dynasty (681-907) and the resultant disintegration of the empire did not mean a sharp break with the past.

The Five Dynasties all aspired to the reunification of China and by 959 the Later Zhou had brought much of the country back under a single ruler.

The changes of dynasty were due to the change of ruling family. The ruling elite remained unaltered and the civil service continued the routine tasks of government with no serious disruption

In the south in several of the Ten States the same continuity was evident and the examination system continued. When Zhao Kuangyin seized power by a coup in Chenqiaoyi in 960 he was able to consolidate and extend his control in a restrained and methodical manner.

The Song Dynasty that he founded has been divided into two periods. Firstly, the Northern Song when the capital was in Dongjing (present day Kaifeng City in Henna Province) from 960 to 1127.

Secondly, the Southern Song, with their capital in present day Hangzhou from 1127 to 1279.

The Song Dynasty ranks alongside the Tang and also the Han (206 BC - 220 AD) in importance. For a little under three and a quarter centuries under its rule, China enjoyed a period of economic growth coupled with great artistic and intellectual achievement.

It has been said that song was referred as the Renaissance of Chinese which compared to Europe’s Renaissance. It is a great period in China’s history.

The Invention of printing, compass and explosive powder

The four Great Inventions of the ancient China has played an important role in the development of ancient China's economic, polictics and culture. They also did a great contribution to the world civilization in many aspects. Three of them were appeared in Song dynasty.

Invention of Printing

Printing come into use in Sui dynasty and was developed and improved by Bisheng of Song Dynasty. Bisheng used the character mode to print a Chinese Character, which is called "live character printing". One Character has a model and the mode can be used for many times until its broken. This method saved a lot of time and energy in carving the words on the wood for every character mode can be reused.

The Character mode was made by sticky earth and then dried in a firing cave. The character mode can be reused in the next printing. Thus quicken the printing speed and save a lot of time.

The technique of printing was spread to Europe by Mongolian in the later years after its appearance. The invention had a great impact in the education and culture of the whole world.

Invention of Compass

In the south in several of the Ten States the same continuity was evident and the examination system continued. When Zhao Kuangyin seized power by a coup in Chenqiaoyi in 960 he was able to consolidate and extend his control in a restrained and methodical manner.

The Song Dynasty that he founded has been divided into two periods. Firstly, the Northern Song when the capital was in Dongjing (present day Kaifeng City in Henna Province) from 960 to 1127.

Secondly, the Southern Song, with their capital in present day Hangzhou from 1127 to 1279.

Invention of Explosive

The Song Dynasty ranks alongside the Tang and also the Han (206 BC - 220 AD) in importance. For a little under three and a quarter centuries under its rule, China enjoyed a period of economic growth coupled with great artistic and intellectual achievement.

It has been said that song was referred as the Renaissance of Chinese which compared to Europe’s Renaissance. It is a great period in China’s history.

The Politics of Yuan Dynasty

During the 13th Century a great leader, Temujin, was to emerge from among the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian steppes. These tribesmen occupied the area between the northern Daxing'an Mountains and the eastern bank of the Argun River.

As skilled horsemen, they were to become a formidable fighting force once the tribes had united under Temujin's leadership. In 1206 Temujin was formally elected as ruler over Greater Mongolia, encompassing the Mongolian Plateau and the Gobi Desert, and he adopted the name and title of Genghis Khan.

The newly elected Khan set about extending his empire and set his sights on China. In 1227 he defeated the Western Xia and in 1234 he defeated the Jin. This was to open the way to unify the whole of China for the first time under a non-Chinese regime, a people who eventually were to become a ethnic group.

Following Genghis' death, his grandson succeeded him and as Kublai Khan, the new leader established the Yuan Dynasty in 1271, with his capital city at Dadu (present day Beijing).

Kublai, who was known as Emperor Shizu continued to annex Chinese territory and in 1279 the Yuan forces captured Hangzhou, the capital city of the Southern Song (1127 -1279). The Song Emperor Gong, together with his mother the Empress Xie was taken into captivity.

Three years later in 1279, the Yuan engaged in a maritime war in Yashan and crushed the "New Song" which had been formed by exiled officials and survivors from the Southern Song.

With their dynasty now firmly established in the Chinese empire, the Yuan found themselves rulers of a complex group of peoples who inhabited the largest land based empire ever to exist, stretching from what is now Korea and western Russia in the north and from Burma to Iraq in the south. But they were rulers with no experience of administration. Consequently, they adopted Chinese political and cultural models.

Ruling from their capital city Dadu, the Mongol Khans increasingly adopted the role and style of Chinese emperors. However, they failed to unite the people and caused further dissension by forming them into clearly defined ethnic groups.

 The four classes created were firstly, the Mongols themselves, next came their allies and non-Chinese people from Inner- Asia, a class to be called the Semu. The third class was made up of the people of Northern China and they were called the Han. Lastly, came the people of Southern China, who were referred to as the Nan.

The Mongols in the first group enjoyed the greatest privileges under the regime, while the fourth group, the Nan were to have the least. The same applied in so far as taxation and the penal code were concerned as this had a very divisive effect on the population as a whole. Mixed marriages were forbidden and it was impossible to gain promotion from one group to another.

During the 1340's and 1350's, internal political cohesion disintegrated due to rivalry between various factions at court, rampant corruption and a succession of natural calamities.

 These elements all fuelled the fires of rebellion. Mutinying workers, pirates, smugglers and rebel peasants ultimately were victorious in their fight with Mongol troops and the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown.

The last Yuan Emperor together with his court fled from the country while many of the Mongols were content to remain and become integrated with the Chinese population.

The man who led the final onslaught against the Yuan was Zhu Yuanzhang and he was to become the first Ming (1368 - 1644) Emperor. The Mongols were so weakened that it was not until the 15th Century that they gained sufficient strength under a leader known as Dayan Qaghan to attack the Empire's frontiers once again.

The Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644 -1911) accepted the final submission of the Mongol rulers and thus Mongolia became a part of China.

The Yuan Dynasty lasted ninety-eight years with eleven emperors. From then on, Beijing gradually ascended as the political, economic, and cultural center of China.

The economic of Yuan Dynasty 

Following their invasion, the Mongols confiscated a vast amount of arable land and turned it over to pasture. State owned land was often granted to Mongol aristocrats and to Buddhist monasteries. These actions coupled with harsh taxes impoverished the peasant farmers, many of whom migrated to the South. Due to their ignorance of the need to control flooding, the Mongols neglected river defences and the Yellow River shifted its course with a resultant large loss of life.

The incorporation of China into the Mongol empire did little to help their economy as so much trade was under foreign control. As trading profits were taken out of China, the metal currency was depleted and this led to the use of paper money and inflation.

Large scale corruption existed and this together with the Mongol desire for splendor such as demonstrated by their building of Dadu caused impoverishment.

Under Kublai, things were improved. He brought together groups of fifty households to develop land for agriculture, to improve flood defences and irrigation.

This encouraged silk production. He also promoted the interests of artisans and merchants. He supported Ortogh, an association of mainly Muslim traders, who managed the trade along the Silk Road.

He made wider use of paper currency but ensured its value was backed by adequate supplies of silver. This was an encouragement to commerce and with the construction of roads, improved canals and a postal system economic activity was enhanced. Towards the end of his reign, economic problems started to escalate. His foreign expeditions and massive public works programs such as the extension of the Great Canal imposed a heavy burden on the country's exchequer.

 Kublai employed a series of semu finance ministers who were very unpopular as a result of their taxation methods. His successors continued to suffer from financial problems which they endeavored to control by raising revenue from monopolies, currency manipulation and the profits of a growing maritime trade.

Ayurbarwada instituted a land census with a view to ensuring all holdings were suitably taxed. This led to strong opposition and so land owners in the South were left to prosper. In the North and to a lesser extent in the South, the Mongols rewarded their followers with grants of land together with rights over the tenants upon it which meant households were placed in bondage. The government sought to control the exploitation of such households but continued internal migration indicates that this was not altogether a success.

Although the Mongols did encourage agriculture, the number of peasant uprisings towards the end of their reign shows that rural life was harsh during the Yuan period.

In the fourteenth century, China suffered thirty five severe winters and in 1332 abnormal rainfall, with consequent flooding which was the cause of much loss of life.

The four class system 

The territory of the Yuan Dynasty was divided into the Central Region (腹裏) and places under control of various Xing Zhongshusheng (行中書省 or 行省) or the Xuanzheng Institute (宣政院). The Central Region, consisting of present-day Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, the south-eastern part of present-day Inner Mongolia and the Henan areas to the north of the Yellow River, was considered the most important region of the dynasty and directly governed by Zhongshusheng (中書省, "Secretariat") at Dadu; similarly, another top-level administrative department called the Xuanzheng Institute governed the whole of modern-day Tibet and a south-east part of Turkestan. Xing Zhongshusheng (行中書省,

"branch Secretariat" or "en-route Secretariat"), or simply Xingsheng (行省), were provincial-level administrative organizations or institutions, sometimes roughly translated as "Province", though they were not exactly provinces in modern sense. There were 11 Xing Zhongshusheng or Xingsheng in Yuan Dynasty.[22] 1. Gansu Xingsheng (甘肅行省) with Zhangye District as its seat of government. Under this came most of present-day Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (originally the Tangut territory), south-eastern Gansu Province, and part of north-eastern Amdo. 2. Henan Jiangbei Xingsheng (河南江北行省) with Kaifeng District as its seat of government. Under this came the Henan areas to the south of the Yellow River, north-east Hubei, Jiangsu, the north-eastern part of Jiangxi Province.

Religion and Culture 

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. The other cultures and peoples in the Mongol World Empire permanently influenced China.

Tibetan-rite Tantric Buddhism also took permanent root in Chinese buddhism. The Muslims of the Yuan Dynasty introduced Middle Eastern cartography, astronomy, medicine, clothing, and diet in East Asia. Middle Eastern crops such as carrots, turnips, new varieties of lemons, eggplants, and melons, high-quality granulated sugar, and cotton were all either introduced or successfully popularized by the Yuan Mongols.[17] Western musical instruments were introduced to enrich 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.

Buddhism (especially Tibetan Buddhism) flourished, although Taoism endured certain persecutions in favor of Buddhism from the Yuan government. 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 Yuan court, probably in the hope of maintaining order over Han society. Advances were realized in the fields of travel literature, cartography, geography, and scientific education.

Diplomatic Relationship 

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 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; outlaws ravaged the country without interference from the weakening Yuan armies. Regardless of the merits of his reign, Shidebala (Emperor Yingzong) ruled for only two years (1321 to 1323); his rule ended in a coup at the hands of five princes. They placed Yesün Temür (or Taidingdi) on the throne, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to calm the princes, he also succumbed to regicide. When Yesün Temür died in Shangdu in 1328, Tugh Temür was recalled to Dadu by the Qipchaq commander El Temür.

He was installed as the emperor (Emperor Wenzong) in Dadu while Yesün Temür's son Ragibagh succeeded to the throne in Shangdu with the support of Yesün Temür's favorite retainer Dawlat Shah. Gaining support from princes and officers in Northern China and some other parts of the dynasty, Dadu-based Tugh Temür eventually won the civil war against Ragibagh in 1329. Afterwards, Tugh Temür abdicated in favour of his brother Kusala who was backed by Chagatai Khan Eljigidey and announced Dadu's intent to welcome him.

However, Kusala suddenly died only 4 days after a banquet with Tugh Temür. He was supposedly killed with poison by El Temür, and Tugh Temür then remounted the throne. Tugh Temür also sent delegates to the western Mongol khanates in order to be accepted as the suzerain of Mongol world. He gave Eljigidey the imperial seal and precious gifts and sent 3 Chingisid princes to Ilkhanate and Golden Horde. Western khanates responded favorably and sent tribute missions to the Yuan emperor.

However, he was mainly a puppet of the powerful official El Temür during his latter three-year reign. El Temür purged pro-Kusala officials and brought power to warlords, whose despotic rule clearly marked the decline of the dynasty.

Decline and Fall 

The Yuan remnants retreated to Mongolia after the fall of Yingchang to the Ming in 1370, where the Yuan Dynasty was formally carried on. Under the name Northern Yuan the Mongols resisted the Ming. According to Chinese political orthodoxy, there could be only one legitimate dynasty whose rulers were blessed by Heaven to rule as Emperor of China (see Mandate of Heaven), and so the Ming and the Northern Yuan denied each other's legitimacy as emperors of China, although the Ming did consider the previous Yuan which it had succeeded a legitimate dynasty. Historians generally regard Míng Dynasty rulers as the legitimate emperors of China after the Yuan Dynasty, though Northern Yuan rulers also claimed this title.

Importance of Yuan Dynasty

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. Kublai originally named his eldest son, Zhenjin (Chinese: 真金) as the Crown Prince (Chinese: 皇太子) — but he died before Kublai in 1285. Thus, Zhenjin's son ruled as Temür Khan for approximately 10 years following Kublai's death (between 1294 and 1307).

Temür Khan decided to maintain and continue much of the work begun by his grandfather. He also made peace with the western Mongol khanates as well as the neighboring countries such as Vietnam, which recognized his nominal suzerainty and paid tributes for a few decades. However, the corruption in the Yuan Dynasty began during the reign of Temür Khan. Külüg Khan became Khagan of the Yuan after the death of Temür Khan. Unlike his predecessor, he did not continue Kublai's work, but largely rejected it. During his short reign (1307 to 1311), Yuan fell into financial difficulties, partly due to bad decisions made by Külüg. By the time he died, China was in severe debt and the Yuan Dynasty faced popular discontent.