The Yuan Dynasty
5 min readThe Yuan Dynasty（1279-1368AD）
The Yuan Dynasty，which lasted from 1279-1368AD，was the first of only two times that the entire area of China was ruled by foreigners，in this case，the Mongols.During the Yuan Dynasty，China was part of the Mongol Empire.Chinggis Khan （1167？一1227AD）（see Figure12）led the Mongols in their defeat of much of China，however，it was his grandson，Kublai Khan （1215一94AD），who became the emperor and founder of the Yuan Dynasty.The Mongols were able to conquer China due to their superior military capabilities.
The First Foreign Reign in China-the Yuan Dynasty By the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongols had subjugated north China, Korea, and the Muslim kingdoms of CentralAsia and had twice penetrated Europe. With the resources of his vast empire, Kublai Khan,a grandson of Chinggis Khan and the supreme leader of all Mongol tribes, began his driveagainst the Southern Song. Even before the extinction of the Song dynasty, Kublai Khan had established the first alien dynasty to rule all China-the Yuan Dynasty.
While time of Mongol rule was called a dynasty, it was in fact a government of occupation. While the Mongols did use existing governmental structures for the duration, the language they used was Mongol, and many of the officials they used were non-Chinese. Mongols, Uigurs from central Asia, some Arabs and even an Italian named Marco Polo all served as officials for the Mongol government. One of the more significantaccomplishments of the Mongol tenure was the preservation of China as we know it in that China wasn’t turned into pastureland for the Mongolian ponies which not only was common Mongolian practice for territories they’d overrun but had actually been advocated by some of the conquering generals.
The Yuan dynasty also featured the famous Kublai Khan, who, among other things, extended the Grand Canal. While in many ways, the Yuan was a disaster, the reluctance of the Mongols to hire educated Chinese for governmental posts resulted in a remarkable cultural flowering; for example, Bei-jing Opera was invented during the Yuan. On the other hand, attempts to analyze the failure of the Song Dynasty in keeping Barbarians out of China led to the rise and dominance of NeoConfucianism,a notoriously conservative(if not outright reactionary) brand of Confucianism that had originally developed during the Song.
Although the Mongols sought to govern China through traditional institutions，using Chinese（Han）bureaucrats，they were not up to the task.The Hans were discriminated against socially and politically.All important central and regional posts were monopolized by Mongols，who also preferred employing non-Chinese from other parts of the Mongol domain-Central Asia，the Middle East，and even Europe-in those positions for which no Mongol could be found.Chinesewere more often employed in non-Chinese regions of the empire.
The Mongolian government adopted the caste system，classifying peoples into four castes:the first were the Mongols，the second were called“Semus” ，i.e.，the NonChinese or other nomadic people，the third were the North Chinese and the last and least were the Southerners，who can be bullied even killed at will.
The Fundamental Problem of Distrust
The Mongols were culturally very different from the Chinese.This made ruling them very difficult.The Mongols and the Chinese spoke different languages，and had a different form of dress and many different customs.These background differences proved impossible to overcocentrism were deeply rooted in both the nations.They could hardly understand each other.The Chinese culture used to the agrarian while the Mongolian pastoral.Despite attempting to rule in a Chinesecustom，the government of the Yuan Dynasty had virtually no Chinese.Mongols and other foreigners were given all government positions.The cultural gap resulted in lighter gov-ernment than that of previous empires，punishments were much less severe.The Chinese nobility were better educated than theMongol invaders and the best scholars refused to teach in government schools，rather they founded private academies.The Mongols did not succeed in censoring Chinese literature and drama or in providing intellectual or cultural leadership.The disharmony was the greatest danger for Mongolian rulers.
There were some remarkable Mongols who were alert to the problems.Yeltichucai ，an army supervisor during the reign of Chinggis Khan was deeply touched by the richly civilized Chinese way of life.Thanks to his strong objections，farmland was not changed into pasture.And he firmly opposed the deeds of smuggling goods fro and to Mongolia and the Central Land.Consequently，he was disliked by somepowerful persons in the court who were intolerant for the sedentary Chinese way of life.Finally he was out of favor and pushed aside.
The End of the Yuan Dynasty
Towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty，racial oppression，corrupt government，and natural disasters made life difficult for the people.Again，peasant uprisings broke out.One peasant army was led by a man called Liu Futong.
After a big flood，people living along the Yellow River were completely impoverished.In addition，they were forced by the Yuan Government to repair the river bands.150，000 men were recruited and Liu Futong was among them.They toiled from morning till night，suffering from hunger and coldness.The Mongolian foremen beat them all the time with whips if they worked a litle bit slowly.That was the”last straw”.Liu Futong and his friends decided to rebel.They had a plan.Firstly，they sculpted a stone man with one eye only and buried it in the worksite.Then they spread a little rhyme”If a stone man with one eye is found，it will provoke a rebellion along the Yellow River.”Soon the stone man was dug out andpeople rebelled immediately.Many people answer the call of Liu Futong and his army grew very quickly.
To distinguish themselves from other people，the soldiers of this army tied red scarves around their heads，and gradually they were called the”Red Scarf Army.”They fought mainly in the Yellow River valley，capturing one town after another，and more and more men joined them.For some time they occupiedKaifeng，Henan Province，and the surrounding areas.But then they made military and political mistakes，and Liu was forced to withdraw to northern Anhui，where he died in action.
Another branch of the Red Scarf Army，led by Guo Zixing ，was active in the area around Fengyang ，Anhui Province.Under Guo Zixing was a man called Zhu Yuanzhang ，who was to found the Ming dynasty.Finally，the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by large scaled peasant uprising.The Han’s rule was restored.
