Great Lecture Hall of Chinese History -- A Brief History of the Yuan Dynasty

Author: Qiu Shusen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-31
Features: The Yuan Dynasty was a feudal regime established by Mongol rulers. In 1206, Genghis Khan unified northern Mongolia and established the Great Mongol Empire. In 1227, he conquered the Western Xia, and in 1234, he destroyed the Jin Dynasty, completing the unification of northern China. In 1235, ?gedei Khan designated Karakorum (now south of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia) as the capital. In 1260, Kublai Khan ascended the throne, making Kaiping (now Dong blue flag in Inner Mongolia) the northern capital and Yanjing (now Beijing) the central capital, shifting the political center southward. In 1271, he changed the empire's name to the Great Yuan and elevated Yanjing to Dadu. In 1276, he conquered the Southern Song, achieving national unification. The Great Mongol Empire had four khans. After Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, there were a total of 10 emperors, making 14 emperors in total. In 1368, the Ming army attacked Dadu, and the Yuan Emperor abdicated in the Central Plains, marking the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. From the establishment of the Great Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan to the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, it spanned 162 years, commonly referred to as the Yuan Dynasty. Through continuous warfare, Mongol rulers controlled vast regions of Europe and Asia. They successively established the Chagatai Khanate, the Golden Horde, and the Ilkhanate in Central Asia. These khanates were nominally vassal states of the Great Khan but actually had independent status. The Yuan Dynasty was connected to these khanates via relay routes, making transportation very convenient and facilitating frequent economic, political, and cultural exchanges. The Yuan Dynasty was a relatively open era and a significant historical period for the economic and cultural exchange between China and the West.