The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
The Mongol-led dynasty that ruled China under Kublai Khan and his successors, uniting China after centuries of division, opening it to unprecedented Eurasian exchange, and collapsing amid floods, currency failure, and the Red Turban rebellions.
Events
Kublai Khan Proclaims the Great Yuan
Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, proclaimed the Great Yuan dynasty, adopting a Chinese dynastic title while ruling as Mongol khagan. The move claimed the Mandate of Heaven and shifted the Mongol Empire's center of gravity from the steppe to China. Dadu, on the site of modern Beijing, became the capital.
Location: Dadu (Beijing), China
Marco Polo Serves at the Yuan Court
The Venetian merchant Marco Polo arrived at Kublai's court and served the Yuan administration for some seventeen years, later recounting journeys across China in his "Description of the World." His account, circulated across Europe, described paper money, coal, and cities far larger than any in the West. The travels became medieval Europe's principal image of East Asia.
Location: Dadu (Beijing), China
The Fall of the Song Completes the Conquest of China
Yuan naval forces destroyed the last Song fleet at the Battle of Yamen, ending the Southern Song dynasty and giving China its first unified rule under a non-Han dynasty. The conquest completed a campaign begun decades earlier by Mongke Khan. Song loyalist officials and the child emperor died in the battle.
Location: Yamen, Guangdong, China
Failed Invasions of Japan
The second Yuan invasion of Japan, launched with a far larger fleet than the 1274 attempt, was destroyed by typhoons and Japanese coastal defenses after weeks of fighting at Hakata Bay. The disasters, which the Japanese called the "divine wind" or kamikaze, drained Yuan treasury and prestige. They marked the limit of Mongol expansion in East Asia.
Location: Kyushu, Japan
The Grand Canal Extended to Dadu
Kublai's government completed the extension of the Grand Canal to Dadu, creating a direct grain-shipping route from the Yangzi basin to the capital. Together with the Mongol courier (yam) system and protected overland routes, the project bound China into the wider Eurasian exchange network. Persian, Central Asian, and Arab merchants settled in Chinese cities under Yuan rule.
Location: China
The Restoration of the Civil Examinations
Under Emperor Ayurbarwada, the Yuan restored the Confucian civil service examinations, suspended for decades under Mongol rule. Quotas divided candidates unequally between Mongols, Central Asians, northern Han, and southern Han, reserving half the positions for the Mongol and Semu groups. Confucian scholars gained a limited path to office while ethnic hierarchy remained law.
Location: Dadu (Beijing), China
Currency Collapse and the Yellow River Floods
Years of over-issuance had rendered Yuan paper money nearly worthless, compounding the fiscal strain of court purges and natural disasters. The Yellow River, which had shifted course and flooded the Huai region from the 1340s, killed thousands and ruined farmland. The government drafted some 150,000 laborers in 1351 to repair dikes and reopen the river's course.
Location: China
The Red Turban Rebellion Erupts
White Lotus-inspired rebels wearing red turbans rose against the Yuan as the river corvée and famine spread unrest, beginning the Red Turban Rebellion. Han Lin'er was proclaimed emperor of a restored Song; rival rebel fleets and warlords rose across the Yangzi and the north. Yuan generals who fought the rebels increasingly acted as autonomous warlords.
Location: Yingzhou, China
The Ming Founded and the Yuan Court Flees North
Zhu Yuanzhang, a former Red Turban commander, proclaimed the Ming dynasty at Nanjing and sent armies that took Dadu with little resistance. Emperor Toghon Temur fled with the Yuan court to the steppe, where his descendants ruled as the Northern Yuan. Mongol rule of China ended after 97 years, and Dadu was renamed Beiping under the Ming.
Location: Dadu (Beijing), China