Yuan dynasty

Great Yuan
大元
*Dà Yuán* (Chinese)
ᠳᠠᠢ ᠦᠨ
ᠤᠯᠤᠰ
*Dai Ön ulus* (Mongolian)
^[1]
Great Yuan 大元; Dà Yuán (Chinese); ᠳᠠᠢ ᠦᠨ ; ᠤᠯᠤᠰ; Dai Ön ulus (Mongolian);
1271–1368
	Yuan dynasty (c. 1290)
Status	Khagan-ruled division of the Mongol Empire; Conquest dynasty of Imperial China
Capital	Khanbaliq (now Beijing); Shangdu (summer capital);
Common languages	Middle Mongol; Chinese (Old Mandarin); Old Uyghur;
Official script	'Phags-pa script
Religion	Buddhism (Tibetan Buddhism as de facto state religion), Confucianism, Taoism, Shamanism, Mongolian Tengrism/Chinese Heaven worship, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Nestorian Christianity, Roman Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Chinese Manichaeism, Islam
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 1260–1294	Kublai
• 1332–1368	Toghon Temür
Chancellor
• 1264–1282	Ahmad Fanakati
• 1340–1355	Toqto'a
Historical era	Postclassical Era
• Kublai proclaimed Emperor	5 May 1260
• Kublai's proclamation of the dynastic name "Great Yuan"	5 November 1271
• Battle of Xiangyang	1268–1273
• Conquest of Southern Song	4 February 1276
• Battle of Yamen	19 March 1279
• Red Turban Rebellion	1351–1368
• Fall of Khanbaliq	14 September 1368
• Formation of Northern Yuan dynasty	1368–1388
Area
1310	11,000,000 km2 (4,200,000 sq mi)
Currency	Jiaochao banknotes, Chinese cash
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Mongol Empire
	Song dynasty
Northern Yuan
Ming dynasty
Phagmodrupa dynasty

The Yuan dynasty (Chinese: 元朝; pinyin: Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan^[10] (Chinese: 大元; pinyin: Dà Yuán; Mongolian: ᠶᠡᠬᠡ
ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ
ᠤᠯᠤᠰ, Yeke Yuwan Ulus, literally "Great Yuan State"),^{[note 4]} was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division.^{[note 2]} It was established by Kublai (Emperor Shizu or Setsen Khan), the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In Chinese history, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty.

Although Genghis Khan's enthronement as Khagan in 1206 was described in Chinese as the Han-style title of Emperor^{[note 3]}^[6] and the Mongol Empire had ruled territories including modern-day northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Han style,^[13] and the conquest was not complete until 1279 when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yamen. His realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including modern-day Mongolia.^[14] It was the first dynasty founded by a non-Han ethnicity that ruled all of China proper.^[15]^: 312^[16] In 1368, following the defeat of the Yuan forces by the Ming dynasty, the Genghisid rulers retreated to the Mongolian Plateau and continued to rule until 1635 when they surrendered to the Later Jin dynasty (which later evolved into the Qing dynasty). The rump state is known in historiography as the Northern Yuan dynasty.

After the division of the Mongol Empire, the Yuan dynasty was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven. The dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty and accorded him the temple name Taizu.^{[note 3]} In the edict titled Proclamation of the Dynastic Name issued in 1271,^[8] Kublai announced the name of the new dynasty as Great Yuan and claimed the succession of former Chinese dynasties from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the Tang dynasty.^[8] Some of the Yuan emperors mastered the Chinese language, while others only used their native Mongolian language, written with the 'Phags-pa script.^[17]

Kublai, as a Khagan (Great Khan) of the Mongol Empire from 1260, had claimed supremacy over the other successor Mongol khanates: the Chagatai, the Golden Horde, and the Ilkhanate, before proclaiming as the Emperor of China in 1271. As such, the Yuan was also sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, even though the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was recognized by the western khans in 1304, their subservience was nominal and each continued its own separate development.^[18]^[19]^{[page needed]}

^ Walter Koh, ed. (2014). "China under Mongol Rule: The Yuan dynasty" (PDF). China Symposium.
^ Tan Qixiang; et al. (1987). 《中国历史地图集》 [The Historical Atlas of China] (in Simplified Chinese). SinoMaps Press. Vol. 7. ISBN 978-7-5031-1844-9.
^ Rossabi 1994, pp. 436–437.
^ Rossabi 1988, p. 77.
^ Andrew West, ed. (21 December 2006). "'Phags-pa Script: Description". BabelStone. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
^ ^a ^b Song Lian (1976) [1370]. "太祖本紀 [Chronicle of Taizu]". 《元史》 [History of Yuan] (in Literary Chinese). Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju. 元年丙寅，帝大會諸王群臣，建九游白纛，即皇帝位於斡難河之源。諸王群臣共上尊號曰成吉思皇帝。"
"In the first year, on the bingyin day, the emperor greatly assembled the many princes and numerous vassals, and erected his nine-tailed white tuğ banner, assuming the position of Emperor of China at the source of the Onon river. And the many princes and numerous vassals together bestowed upon him the reverent title Genghis Huangdi.
^ Yang Fuxue (杨富学) (1997). 回鹘文献所见蒙古"合罕"称号之使用范围 [The scope of use of Mongolian "Khagan" title found in Old Uyghur literature]. 内蒙古社会科学 [Inner Mongolia Social Sciences] (5). 甘肃敦煌研究院. S2CID 224535800.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cite error: The named reference Proclamation1271 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 499. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
^ Cite error: The named reference CivilSociety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ" (in Mongolian). Монголын түүхийн тайлбар толь. 2016.
^ Cite error: The named reference GreatYuan1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Mote 1994, p. 624.
^ Atwood, Christopher Pratt (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4671-3.
^ Cite error: The named reference San was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Eberhard, Wolfram (1971). A History of China (3rd ed.). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 232. ISBN 0-520-01518-5.^{[page needed]}
^ Franke, Herbert (1953). "Could the Mongol emperors read and write Chinese?" (PDF). Asia Major. Second series. 3 (1). Academica Sinica: 28–41.
^ Saunders, John Joseph (2001) [1971]. The History of the Mongol Conquests. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-8122-1766-7.
^ Grousset, René (1939). L'empire des steppes: Attila, Gengis-Khan, Tamerlan [The Empire of Steppes] (in French).

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

[1] Walter Koh, ed. (2014). "China under Mongol Rule: The Yuan dynasty" (PDF). China Symposium.

[tan-2] Tan Qixiang; et al. (1987). 《中国历史地图集》 [The Historical Atlas of China] (in Simplified Chinese). SinoMaps Press. Vol. 7. ISBN 978-7-5031-1844-9.

[FOOTNOTERossabi1994436–437-3] Rossabi 1994, pp. 436–437.

[FOOTNOTERossabi198877-4] Rossabi 1988, p. 77.

[7] Andrew West, ed. (21 December 2006). "'Phags-pa Script: Description". BabelStone. Retrieved 22 April 2023.

[Enthronement1206-8] Song Lian (1976) [1370]. "太祖本紀 [Chronicle of Taizu]". 《元史》 [History of Yuan] (in Literary Chinese). Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju. 元年丙寅，帝大會諸王群臣，建九游白纛，即皇帝位於斡難河之源。諸王群臣共上尊號曰成吉思皇帝。"
"In the first year, on the bingyin day, the emperor greatly assembled the many princes and numerous vassals, and erected his nine-tailed white tuğ banner, assuming the position of Emperor of China at the source of the Onon river. And the many princes and numerous vassals together bestowed upon him the reverent title Genghis Huangdi.

[9] Yang Fuxue (杨富学) (1997). 回鹘文献所见蒙古"合罕"称号之使用范围 [The scope of use of Mongolian "Khagan" title found in Old Uyghur literature]. 内蒙古社会科学 [Inner Mongolia Social Sciences] (5). 甘肃敦煌研究院. S2CID 224535800.

[Proclamation1271-11] Cite error: The named reference Proclamation1271 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[12] Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 499. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.

[CivilSociety-13] Cite error: The named reference CivilSociety was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[14] "ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠨ ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ" (in Mongolian). Монголын түүхийн тайлбар толь. 2016.

[GreatYuan1-16] Cite error: The named reference GreatYuan1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEMote1994624-17] Mote 1994, p. 624.

[Mongol_Empire_p.611-18] Atwood, Christopher Pratt (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4671-3.

[San-19] Cite error: The named reference San was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[20] Eberhard, Wolfram (1971). A History of China (3rd ed.). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 232. ISBN 0-520-01518-5.^{[page needed]}

[21] Franke, Herbert (1953). "Could the Mongol emperors read and write Chinese?" (PDF). Asia Major. Second series. 3 (1). Academica Sinica: 28–41.

[22] Saunders, John Joseph (2001) [1971]. The History of the Mongol Conquests. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-8122-1766-7.

[23] Grousset, René (1939). L'empire des steppes: Attila, Gengis-Khan, Tamerlan [The Empire of Steppes] (in French).

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