Pat's Asian Studies Blog

Yuan Dynasty

Dates of power: 1279-1368 A.D.

Map of the Yuan Dynasty: http://www.chinatownconnection.com/images/yuandynastymap.gif

Reasons for take-over:

The Yuan Dynasty was the first time in history that China was controlled by foreigners, which were the Mongols. Mongolian is a group of people in the northeastern areas of China. Since the 12^th century, the Mongols were not united, but in 1204, leader of a Mongolian tribe named Tiemuzhen unifies together all the Mongolian tribes. Tuemuzhen was later called Genghis Khan as the ruler of the Mongolian empire. Mongol began to invade China. First, they were able to capture Xixia and the Jin Dynasty, and they continued to send military forces in to the Southern Song. The Song was the dynasty that has the most advanced technology and culture at that time therefore their military were not powerful. Due to superior military capabilities, China defeated against the Mongol empire in 1279.

Leaders of the Civilization:

Even though Genghis Khan was the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, he didn’t become the emperor of the Yuan. It was instead his grandson, Kublai Khan, who was fighting against Ariq Boke for the control of China. Lastly, Ariq Boke was captured in 1264. A few years after Kublai Khan became the emperor of China, he was able to control the whole China. Many of his advisors pressured him to expand the territory of the Yuan, but the expanding of the territory later failed against Japan Myanmar, Vietnam and Java. The Yuan Dynasty was successful under Kublai Khan’s control until his death in 1294. He wished that his son, Zhenjin would become the next emperor of China, but his son died before his death in 1985. Chengzong, Zhenjin’s (Kublai’s brother) son became the next emperor of China after the death of Kublai Khan. He tried to continue his grandfather‘s work, but corruption began when China was under Chengzong’s control.

Kublai Khan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kublai_Khan.jpg

Leader from another civilization:

Charles I of Hungary was the military and financial reformer, who restores the Kingdom of Hungary to power. He was also called Charles Robert and was the king of Hungary from August 27, 1310. He controlled people by absolute rules. Under the control of Charles Robert of Hungary, there were many important political and economical reforms. He established the honour system, which is a system where good servants are given high positions and power instead of money. However, the king also have the right to remove them at anytime if he found out that the person in power is not worthy with it. He also controlled inflation, introducing new coins system, which became popular throughout Europe. This coin system help improve the merchant class as well as the treasury in Hungary. He also encouraged trade and kept taxes for the improvement of his army, which he used to expand his territory. He was able to make Hungary the major European power.

Charles I of Hungary: http://grunwald.iatp.by/pl/POLAND_files/21k.jpg

Accomplishments:

Technology:

The paiza was a passport that was made up of metal plaque. It later became a symbol of Mongol administration, and was used to control the communication of the Mongol empire. Most of the paizi were shaped as circles or rectangles and were worn either on clothing or worn as a necklace where the customs officers are able to see.

Mongol passport: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yuan/ho_1993.256.htm

Economy:

The Yuan spent a lot of money on trade and they have a lot of restrictions so the economy of the Yuan was pulled down. Even though roadways, canals, agriculture, irrigation, silk production, and postal system helped improved communication, higher taxes are required from peasants. Peasants would have to leave their homes to build canals and palaces to supply more tax money. At that time unsuccessful campaigns were launched against Japan which destroyed a large number of Chinese ships. That also causes difficulty in external trade due to the language difficulty; because Chinese people weren’t allowed to learn any other language. On the other hand, the foreigners outside of China were able to trade within China without any tax payment and restrictions. They were also given privileges by the Yuan. Marco Polo was one of the foreign merchants who were allowed to trade in China.

Marco Polo: http://elementaryteacher.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/marcopolo.jpg

Government Changes:

The Mongols were totally different from the Chinese in term of culture, language, form of dress, and customs, which make governing system harder than the other dynasties. Due to these differences, none of the government positions of the Yuan Dynasty were given to Chinese. They were instead given to the Mongols and other foreigners. The cultural gap between the Mongols and the Chinese led to a weaker government comparing to the other dynasties in the history of China. That also causes the punishments to be less cruel.

Current religion or philosophy:

The Yuan Dynasty promoted religious freedom. Mongolian people favored Daoism and Buddhism. They didn’t pressured China on religious and philosophy therefore Chinese people kept their same religion. Taoism remained vital all over China, while Confucianism continued.

The temple of Confucius: http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper988/stills/3fb42bc5c55ea-92-1.jpg

Reasons for fall:

The Yuan was considered to be the shortest dynasty comparing to the other major dynasties in the history of China. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols were considered to be one of the strongest military forces in the world, but the military forces became weaker due to the duty of the governing the new land of China. Another reason for the downfall of the Yuan was due to the fact that there were only non-Chinese people in the governing positions therefore the Chinese people were considered to be lower class people therefore they lost their influence in China as well. However, the Yuan also lost influence on the other Mongol lands across Asia. Mongols who were in China also see them as too Chinese therefore nobles, peasants and other military groups decided to overthrow the Yuan. The uprisings were led by Zhu Yuanzhang, which was able to capture the Yuan capital in 1367. Nature is also another factor that caused the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. The flooding of the Yellow River along the irrigation canals brought famine in the 1340’s.