{"id":548,"date":"2020-10-04T18:09:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T16:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riseofthewhitesun.com\/?p=548"},"modified":"2020-10-07T11:08:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T09:08:03","slug":"history-china-a-very-brief-historical-summary-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riseofthewhitesun.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/04\/history-china-a-very-brief-historical-summary-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"[HISTORY] China: a very brief historical summary (part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear readers, fellow gamers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has come for us to resume this series of posts on the history of China! We are now reaching a time of unity for the country: the Yuan Dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They rode down from the North<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Fearsome Mongol warriors charging at full speed<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the previous DD<\/a>, we left you with the death of the S\u00f2ng ch\u00e1o<\/em> (\u5b8b\u671d, S\u00f2ng dynasty). They managed to survive until 1279 and the battle of Yamen but, as you already know, their demise had started a long time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1206, a formerly obscure Mongol warrior, Tem\u00fcdjin, is elected Great Khan of the Mongols after having united the Mongol tribes. He will from now on be known as Genghis Khan. If you are interested in his rise to power prior to these years, there are few sources available. We highly recommend you to read the Secret History of the Mongols<\/em> (available in full text here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A modern rendition of what Genghis Khan may have looked like<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our purpose is not to go through the entirety of the history of the Mongol Empire, which was the largest continuous empire ever. We will instead zoom on the briefly summarised conquest of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1227, the Western Xia had been integrated in the Mongol Empire shortly after the death of the Genghis Khan during the siege of Xingqing, their capital. In 1234, the Jin Empire ruling the north of China is destroyed and integrated as well by \u00d6g\u00f6dei Khan, son of Genghis Khan and leader of the Empire. In 1260, Kublai Khan starts ascending to power after the successive death of his brothers M\u00f6ngke and Ariq B\u00f6ke. Needless to say, this was not a quiet succession…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founding a new dynasty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Portrait of Kublai Khan drawn shortly after his death but made to make him look 30 years younger<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 1264, once his brother Ariq B\u00f6ke is defeated and he formally assumes control of the empire, he plans for the transfer of the capital from Kakakorum to a new city, Khanbalik (Daidu in Chinese, nowadays Beijing), whose construction begins in 1266. Kublai Khan is the one who decided to give birth a new dynasty for China in 1271 and claimed the Mandate of Heavens<\/a>: Mongol China would be known as D\u00e0 Yu\u00e1n <\/em>(\u5927\u5143) or Great Yuan, known in Mongol as Dai \u00d6n Ulus<\/em>. Recognised in name only as the Khagan of the entities of Mongol Empire, he made the Chinese territory his land and intended to settle into a sedentary Empire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developing the image of a wise Emperor, respecting Confucean traditions and venerating the ancestors, Kublai Khan also had to keep cultivating his steppe origins. China undertakes an administrative reorganisation, achieved by 1294.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kublai Khan is a keen supporter of commerce, science and culture. The Silk Road system is encouraged by protecting the Mongol postal service, expanding infrastructure to host caravans and promoting the use of paper money. Kublai Khan also has the Grand Canal expanded to Khanbalink in the north. The Pax Mongolica<\/em> enables the circulation of technologies, goods and cultures between the East and the West. Kublai Khan’s court is extremely cosmopolitan: people from South East Asia, the Middle East and even Europe are present. You all know about Marco Polo who stayed in the Khan’s court for 17 years. But have you heard of the Musliam explorer Ibn Batt\u00fbta? Or the Franciscan monk Guillaume de Rubrouck, sent by King Louis XI and the Pope to (unsuccessfully) convert the Khan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expanding the empire, keeping it together<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kublai Khan and his sucessors will continuously seek to expand their territory. We have already mentioned the campaigns against the Songs, whose conquest is completed by 1279. These campaigns were aided by a military integration policy began under Genghis Khan. Kublai Khan established a \u00ab\u00a0Han Army\u00a0\u00bb made of troops from the now defunct Jin Empire and a \u00ab\u00a0Newly Submitted Army\u00a0\u00bb with defectors from the Song. Thanks to the recent Ghost of Tsushima game, you also learned that the Mongols attempted to invade Japan twice, in 1274 and 1281. Both expeditions failed miserably, the 1281 invasion being thwarted by an unpredicted typhoon (Kamikaze<\/em>, rings a bell?). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mongols invading Japan, 1274<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What we seldom know is that the Mongols also attempted to invade \u0110\u1ea1i Vi\u1ec7t, Champa, Java and Burma to establish tributaries. The first three were also failures but these kingdoms eventually recognised the Chinese hegemony and paid tributes. A Pyhrric victory in Burma led to nothing of interest for Yuan China. Unfortunately for Kublai Khan, his rule was contested from the inside. By 1279, the Empire was running short on funds due to war and great projects, encouraging corruption and wishes of independence. A former ally, Kaidu, attempts to seize the Chagatai Khanate in 1268, prompting a long war to protect this territory. Revolts in Tibet and the North East wore down the late year of Kublai Khan’s rule, who neglected his duties as Emperor in 1293 to die the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surviving a population that hates you<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kublai Khan’s successors are overshadowed by him when you talk about the Yuan dynasty. His succession in the Yuan dysnasty was sort a nightmare, sources of conflicts and internal struggles. Some 11 sovereigns came after him and the dynasty reigned until 1368. How can the demise of the dynasty in barely 100 years be explained?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key factor was the foreign origin of the Yuans. The Yuan emperors never really managed to strike the right balance between maintaining their Mongol identity and embracing the Chinese culture and modes of governance. Despite their willingness to surround themselves with Chinese counselors like Chengzong (\u6210\u5b97) et Renzong (\u4ec1\u5b97) who were respectively given authority over the Northern and Southern Daoist sects, the Mongol rulers were and remained considered foreigners occcupying China. Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan (1311 – 1320) who was the first to fully embrace the Chinese culture, only managed to anger part of the Mongol aristocracy while having little impact on the Chinese opinion. The Yuan decision to abolish the imperial examination system to give way to the Mongol aristocracy for key positions was also instrumental in generating dissatisfaction. Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan did reestablish the examination system in 1313 but this only marginally improved the situation for Han Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among other key element, the loss of prestige across the Mongol world. Over time, the Mongols realms outside of China began to consider the Yuans had become too sinicised and were no longer worthy of ruling the Mongols as Kaghans. In a nutshell: the Yuans were too Chinese for their Mongol brethens outside of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The increasingly divided Mongol Empire around 1300 (Green: Yuan dynasty; Yellow: Golden Horde; Grey: Chagatai Khanate; Purple: Ilkhanate)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The rules of the last Yuan emperors are short and plagued by coups, factionalism and revolts. From the 1340s onward, droughs and floodings generate severe famines across the country. The absence of efficient and committed governmental policies favoured revolts. These were increasingly taking a nationalist turn, as the feudal lords manipulated the people against the Mongol rulers. In 1351, the Red Lotus (also known as the Red Turbans) sect rises against the emperor. When commander Toghtogha takes the leadership of an army to quell them in 1354, he is immediately dismissed by Emperor Toghon Tem\u00fcr out of fear of betrayal. While strengthening Toghon Tem\u00fcr’s power for a while, this move weakens the administration and forces the emperor to rely on local warlords to beat the rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Red Turban rebellion (1351-1368)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A terrible idea. Zhu Yuanzhang (\u6731\u5143\u748b, zh\u016b yu\u00e1nzh\u0101ng<\/em>), a Han Chinese who learned Mongol military tactics and took the lead of the Red Turbans, eventually overthrew the Yuan dynasty, capturing Khanbalik in 1368. The Yuan dynasty fell to give birth to a new Chinese dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang crowned himself Emperor H\u00f3ngw\u01d4 (\u6d2a\u6b66) and founded the Ming<\/strong> dynasty (\u660e\u671d, m\u00edng ch\u00e1o<\/em>) in 1368. Toghon Tem\u00fcr however managed to flee to Shangdu beforehand, narrowly escaping death and unsuccessfully attempted to recapture Khanbalink until his death in 1370. Chinese armies attacked Mongolia from 1380 onward and Kakarakorum, the old capital, was taken in 1388. The former overlord was now ruled by a Han Chinese dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture, economy and science under the Yuan dynasty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese society under the Yuan was marked by an ethnic casts system designed to maintain strict control over the Chinese:<\/p>\n\n\n\n