From conquest to dynasty
The Mongols began attacking northern China in the early thirteenth century under Genghis Khan, and over several decades they overthrew the Jin dynasty and pressed against the Southern Song in the south. The man who turned this conquest into a Chinese-style dynasty was Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. After a struggle for the succession in the 1260s, he emerged as the Great Khan, and in 1271 he adopted the dynastic name Yuan, taken from a classical Chinese text. In 1279 the last Song resistance collapsed, and the Yuan ruled all of China for the first time under non-Chinese rulers from the steppe.
Kublai’s position was complicated. He was both the Great Khan of the wider Mongol Empire and the emperor of China, and other Mongol branches in Central Asia, Persia and Russia did not always accept his authority. In practice, the Yuan became a largely separate state with its own concerns.
The capital and the court
Kublai moved the main capital from Karakorum capital to a new city built on the site of today’s Beijing, called Dadu in Chinese and Khanbaliq in Turkic and Mongolian sources. A second city, Shangdu in the grasslands to the north, served as a summer residence; it is the model for the “Xanadu” of English poetry. The court moved between these places seasonally, a nod to steppe habits of movement.
How the Mongols governed
The Yuan rulers kept many Chinese institutions, but with significant changes:
- Mongol dominance at the top. Key posts often went to Mongols and to foreigners from Central and Western Asia, known as semu people, who were trusted for their skills in administration, finance and trade.
- Social categories. Later writers often describe a four-class hierarchy, with Mongols, semu, northern Chinese and southern Chinese in descending order. Historians now debate how rigid or systematic this was, and the exact rules varied.
- Examinations. The traditional civil service examinations were suspended for a long period and revived in the early fourteenth century on a limited scale, which reduced opportunities for many Chinese scholars.
- Paper money. The Yuan relied heavily on paper currency, which supported trade but also contributed to inflation when it was overissued.
- Communications and trade. The yam relay system was extended across China, and the Grand Canal was improved to carry grain north to the capital. Foreign merchants and envoys were welcomed. The best-known European traveler of the period, Marco Polo, wrote about China under Mongol rule, although historians continue to debate details of his account.
- Religion. Rulers supported several faiths, including Tibetan Buddhism, Daoism, Islam and Christianity. The ties with Tibetan lamas had effects that echoed in Mongolian Buddhism for centuries.
Culturally, the period saw notable achievements in theater, painting and ceramics, though this was often the work of Chinese artists operating within the new political setting.
Problems and decline
By the middle of the fourteenth century, the dynasty faced multiple strains. Struggles over succession at court weakened central authority. The costs of the military and the court were high, and currency problems hurt the economy. Floods on the Yellow River, famine and disease caused hardship in several regions, and these contributed to unrest. From the 1350s, rebellions spread, including movements often linked to the Red Turbans. Regional commanders gained independence, and the court in Dadu lost control over large parts of the country.
The end in 1368
One rebel leader, Zhu Yuanzhang, eventually defeated his rivals in the south and founded the Ming dynasty in 1368. His armies advanced on Dadu, and the last Yuan emperor, Toghon Temür, withdrew with his court to the steppe. The Ming took the capital.
This is a point where the usual summary, “the Mongols were driven out,” needs a note. The Mongol rulers who retreated to the north still claimed to be the legitimate dynasty, and historians refer to their state as the Northern Yuan. It continued for generations, with the Ming and Mongol groups fighting on the frontier. Over time the Mongol world fragmented into rival groups, and real power often lay with regional leaders rather than with descendants of Kublai.
What happened to the Mongols in China
Many Mongols who lived in China during the Yuan period either returned north or were gradually absorbed into the local population, although some groups remained in different regions. The long-term effects included a larger and more integrated territory under a single government, which later dynasties inherited, and a lasting memory of foreign rule. Some of those who went north brought with them administrative experience, religious ties, and objects and ideas from China.
Why it matters for Mongolia
For Mongolians the Yuan is a complex memory: a moment of imperial reach and prestige, but also one in which many Mongols lived far from the steppe. It also explains why borders and populations in the region are as they are today. To place it in the larger story, the Mongol Empire in brief provides the wider context, and the history of Mongolia continues from the Northern Yuan period into the later Qing era.