Kublai Khan was born into the family of Genghis Khan and grew up a warrior on the Mongolian steppe. After decades of rivalry among Genghis’s descendants, Kublai emerged as the empire’s most powerful ruler. Unlike his grandfather, who spent his life conquering new lands, Kublai faced a different challenge: governing the vast territories the Mongols had already won.
The First Foreign Ruler
For more than a century before Kublai’s time, the Song Dynasty had been retreating south as it lost territory in the north. In 1271, Kublai declared the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, becoming the first foreign ruler to establish a dynasty over all of China. Eight years later, his armies completed the conquest of the Southern Song, bringing the entire country under Mongol rule.
But Kublai did not rule like a foreign conqueror. While Genghis Khan had governed from a mobile court across the steppe, Kublai established a permanent capital at Beijing. The city lay closer to the Mongol homeland than the old Chinese capitals farther south. From there, he could govern China while remaining connected to the world from which the Mongols had come.
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Governing a Vast Empire
By Kublai’s time, he and other descendants of Genghis Khan controlled the largest land empire in history, stretching from the Korean Peninsula in the east to Hungary in the west and as far south as Vietnam. The Mongols did not try to control every town and village directly. Instead, they demanded loyalty, taxes, and obedience while allowing many local rulers to remain in power. This network of messengers, roads, and trade routes helped hold the vast empire together.
A merchant traveling from China to Persia might pass through many cultures and languages, but he moved through territory ultimately under Mongol rule. Bandits, rebellious governors, and rival armies all risked drawing the Mongols’ wrath.
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Keeping the Empire Together
A specialized communication system linked these distant parts of the empire. Emissaries carrying official badges could obtain fresh horses at relay stations, allowing messages and orders to travel quickly across thousands of miles.
While the illiterate Genghis Khan relied on captured scribes, Kublai grew up in a palace surrounded by scholars and officials. This upbringing fueled a genuine interest in the cultures he ruled. He welcomed visitors from many cultures. Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and traditional Mongol priests were all respected. Instead of forcing everyone to become Mongol, Kublai borrowed any idea that worked. His flexibility was his strength.
One Emperor, Two Cultures
Many Chinese people admired Kublai’s ability to bring stability after years of warfare, but to many others, Kublai was an outsider. They resented the Mongols as a privileged ruling class who held advantages ordinary citizens lacked. Kublai created one of the most powerful empires in history, a feat that would prove difficult for his descendants to maintain.
The Fall of the Mongols
Kublai outlived his son, so his grandson, Temür Khan, inherited power in 1294 and continued Kublai’s policies. Later rulers proved less capable. Soon, a series of natural disasters beset China. The Yellow River flooded repeatedly, washing away millions of acres of farmland and killing an estimated six million people. This famine and disease, combined with corruption among the ruling class, convinced many Chinese people that the Mandate of Heaven no longer favored the Mongols. In 1368, a Buddhist peasant who later became Emperor Hongwu led a rebellion that drove the foreigners from China, beginning the Ming Dynasty.
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Mr. Donn has an excellent website that includes a section on Chinese History.